Seki Japanese Restaurant: Freshest Sashimi From Tsukiji Market

Seki @ Rendezvous Hotel

Japanese food is one of my favorite cuisine. I constantly crave for sashimi and this can happen anytime of the day. To be honest, I was very thrilled when Seki Japanese Restaurant opened its doors at Rendezvous Hotel on 31 December last year but I never had the chance to sample some of its offerings. Sashimi is flown in directly from Tsukiji Market, Tokyo Japan, on Tuesdays and Thursdays so we are talking about ultimate freshness and quality at Seki.

Rendezvous Hotel

Sashimi

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Seki follows a traditional Japanese restaurant layout where preparation of oneโ€™s food is in full view of the customer.

Chef 3-horz

At Seki, enjoy fine fusion cuisine without the stiff and cumbersome feel associated with fancy restaurants. With a casual, pleasant and inviting environment coupled with impeccable service, patrons can indulge in the best dining experience.

Sushi

The Chewys

The husband and I were invited to try out Seki’s Omakase menu. In Japanese, Omakase entails entrusting the chefs and leaving the selection of dishes to them. As I was still recovering from a recent surgery, I had some dietary restrictions. I wasn’t allowed to consume seafood especially prawns and cuttlefish. Not supposed to eat chicken either but… ๐Ÿ˜› Anyway, please note that the dishes we had were served in tasting portions.

Fugu Mirin Boshi

This starter of Fugu Mirin Boshi was served to misterchewy only. *Pouts* Ok but I took a tiny bite ๐Ÿ˜› Essentially blowfish seasoned in sweet sake, it kinda tasted like a cross between cuttlefish and bak kwa. Very interesting dish. I didn’t know that fugu can be prepared in such a manner. Having said that, I finally had my first bite of fugu. Haha! But I would really love to try raw fugu liver soon!

SEKI Kamo Salad

I don’t think anybody mentioned this during the tasting session but I personally thought that the order of the dishes served was a little bizzare. My Japanese sensei (from my ‘Food in Japan’ module in NUS) told us that typically, light dishes such as sashimi are being served first and the dishes get richer as we go along, so as not to cover up the taste of the light dishes. The Seki Kamo Salad was quite flavorful, given the homemade dressing drizzled over it.

3-Kind Sashimi Moriawase

Again, I didn’t have the luxury of devouring this 3-Kind Sashimi Moriawase on my own ๐Ÿ™ I was told that I can eat salmon though so I koped a thick, fat slice from misterchewy! Ohmygod. It’s like so super awesome melt-in-the-mouth salmon!

Bacon with asparagus

This Bacon with Asparagus was part of my special menu. Nothing to shout about but I liked that bit of crunch from the asparagus.

Foie Gras Chawanmushi

I have been forbidden to eat eggs but I forgot to make that known to the chefs so for some reason, they gave me Cheese Chawanmushi which tasted a little odd. The husband had the Foie Gras Chawanmushi and it seemed clear that he was enjoying it a great deal.

Teriyaki Chicken

I thought that the Teriyaki Chicken was a bit overdone. Didn’t quite enjoy the charred bits of chicken skin. Apart from that, the chicken was well-marinated.

Sushi Moriawase and California Roll

See what I mean about the order of dishes being served? By now, I don’t think we can judge the Sushi Moriawase and California Roll as accurately as we all want to, although I can safely say that the ingredients used are of optimal freshness.

Miso Soup

Pretty standard Miso Soup.

Watermelon

Chef and keith

Seki is having a Mother’s Day Promotion and also a value for money 1-for-1 lunch set for a limited period of time. Do check them out!
Thank you Juliana and Seki Japanese Restaurant for the invite.

Seki Japanese Restaurant
Rendezvous Gallery
9 Bras Basah Road #01-02
Singapore 189559
Tel: 6336 3806 / 6336 3807

Opening Hours:
Daily
Lunch: 11.45am to 3.00pm (last order 2.15pm)
Dinner: 6.00pm to 11.00pm (last order 10.15pm)

Rakuichi: My very first Kaiseki in Singapore

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Thought I should share my experience at Rakuichi now since the Rakuichi Course Special ($68) which my friend and I both had is only till March 2010. You need to have a minimum of two orders before they will serve you this. Although they call it the “Course Special”, in reality it is known as Kaiseki – a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The food is served in a certain order beginning with appetizer and ends with dessert.

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Appetizer (individual portion) was served on a rectangular plate consisting of four items – river shrimp, salmon roe, semi-grilled salmon and tamago.

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Next came the Sashimi (sharing portion) – thick slices of assorted raw fish. Extreme freshness and quality guaranteed!

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The Grilled scallop and mushroom served in foil (individual portion) was also very fresh and juicy. The dish by itself looked interesting enough.

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Wagyu Beef served on hot plate (sharing portion) was a wee bit disappointing after having tried wagyu in Hokkaido! I half expected it to also melt in my mouth but sadly, it failed to produce the same results with the wagyu I had previously ๐Ÿ™ Well, I guess it’s foolishness on my part.

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After having oily fare, Steamed Tenaga prawn with egg custard (individual portion) was served. Steamed egg custard never looked so good with that huge a prawn lying on top of it! But we were tricked. We were actually given a cross section of a prawn each. Haha! Nevertheless, I still love this very much. I’m an egg custard fan!

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And now comes the rice part, Grilled spicy tuna cut roll & Raw tuna sushi (sharing portion). I learned that rice is served towards the end of a kaiseki but in the past, it was served at the beginning. The reason for such a change is so that people can have room for the other dishes. And how right it is to implement this change!

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We were already filled to the brim when the last dish (before dessert) arrived! The Snapper soup served in claypot (sharing portion) didnt leave much of a lasting impression probably because we were really too full. Didnt manage to finish up the entire thing.

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Dessert was just fresh fruits but it was beautifully decorated on top a bowl of crushed ice. There was some vanilla ice cream in the strawberries as well.

For more information on kaiseki: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2348.html

Total bill was $160 after GST.

Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant
10 Dempsey Road
#01-22 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)
Tel: +65 6474 2143

Opening hours:
Mon to Sun
11.30am โ€“ 2.30pm (Lunch)
6pm – 10pm (Dinner)

Tatsu Sushi: Is it worth the (over)price?

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I can never get sick of Japanese food but the birthday girl is an even more ardent fan than anyone else I can think of. We decided to check out Tatsu Sushi because it looked like a place that serves authentic Japanese food. In the meantime, you might wanna ask yourself what exactly is authentic Japanese food. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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We looked through the menu from the first page to the last quite a few times and couldn’t decide what to get! I don’t remember seeing any pictures and so we randomly chose a few dishes.

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Otoshi ($2) is served even if you do not order it, but it is not free. It is a starter also referred to as “tsukidashi”. Otoshi varies depending on the restaurant and season. Common food tends to be served, but you never know what you will get. Our otoshi came in the form of mashed potato with strips of crabmeat and bits of flying fish roe. It was slightly sweet and I liked it.

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I don’t remember why we ordered the Unagi Kabayaki ($20) but it probably was just random. ๐Ÿ˜› The sweet soy sauce base had the right amount of sweetness and the unagi was grilled in such a way that its firmness was retained.

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While the seaweed was wrapped within the rice for the Tempura Maki ($15), the Kani Maki ($15) had seaweed on its exterior. Personally, I preferred the latter because it was crunchier. ๐Ÿ™‚

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The Uramaki ($15) served here is slightly bigger in size. For those who prefer to eat it whole in one mouthful, you really gotta have a big mouth ๐Ÿ˜› One thing I like about the sushi here is that the rice is not scattered so when you eat it, it really feels like you are eating something substantial.

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Sushi Jyou ($35) features a variety of raw fish on individual slabs of rice and we each had to quickly ‘chope’ the ones that we wanted ๐Ÿ˜› The slices of fish were thick and fresh. But I feel that it is slightly overpriced.

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The waitress recommended the Aji Fried ($28) and asked if we wanted to try it. Basically it’s Japanese horse mackeral that is deep fried. Anything that’s deep fried tastes the same to me. We really shouldn’t have ordered this. Two of my friends liked it though.

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Tatsu Sushi certainly serves quality sushi but given that kinda price, I think I would try out some other Japanese restaurants in future.

Total bill was $160 after GST.

Tatsu Sushi
30 Victoria Street
#01-16/18 Chijmes
Tel: +65 6332 5868

Opening hours:
Mon to Sun
12pm – 2.30pm (Lunch)
6.30pm – 10.30pm (Dinner)