Japanese 🍙

Omakase — a Japanese phrase which means “I’ll leave it up to you”. At Ryo Sushi, trust that Chef Roy sources the freshest ingredients to create every sushi in front of you. The difference between the $98 and $68 is the uni and otoro sushi and rice bowl. For an uni so fresh and sweet, it’s definitely worth paying for! I incredibly enjoyed the creamy uni as the sweetness exploded in my mouth.

Omakase — a Japanese phrase which means “I’ll leave it up to you”. At Ryo Sushi, trust that Chef Roy sources the freshest ingredients to create every sushi in front of you. My favorite piece of sushi from our 12-piece sushi set. The otoro was beautifully marbled with fats that melted in my mouth, with a magical shoyu foam that dissolved like airy bubbles.

These slices of A5 Japanese Hokkaido Snow Beef were extremely well marinated, had great marbling and cooked to a tender finish. The stir fried onions and raw cabbages also added a nice bite and crunch to it. Remember to mix in that golden molten egg yolk for an added creamy element to the oiishi don!

One of fuss free dining option in town, be sure to pop by Nakajima during off peak hours to avoid the queue! The cod fish was meaty and buttery, though I would prefer it to be more char grilled with a smoky taste and caramelization of the teriyaki saue. But at $14.50 with rice, salad, miso soup and hot green tea, I'm not complaining!

A whole huge and thick slab of foie gras over sushi rice is pure satisfaction — the foie gras is glazed with a sweet sauce on the outside, creamy and smooth on the inside which melts perfectly in your mouth.

With ingredients imported from Japan and udon made freshly in house, expect to find silky smooth bouncy udon noodles here at Tamoya Udon.

Tamoya introduces 3 new hotpot and 1 dry udon menu items and my favorite is the Pork Spicy Miso Udon. I liked how it's served over a hotpot which kept the robust and flavorful soup base hot throughout our meal. The spicy miso soup was also a refreshing change from the usual udon soup we are familiar with. All noodles are served pre-cooked and I thoroughly enjoyed the bouncy texture so I only had to dip it in the soup for a short while before slurping it. Don't forget to sprinkle some tempura crumbs over for an added crunch!

This soup curry from Hokkaido is unlike the usual Japanese style curry with a tinge of sweetness. Instead, it leans towards the Asian style with heaps of spices added to create a savoury curry. Select your choice of ingredients, spicy level and soup base to create your very own soup curry! I had the Cheesy Bear ($16.9 — fried chicken cutlet, roasted cabbage, cheese, assorted vegetables), Crazy Bear Spicy Level 18 (up to level 30) with a Coconut Base.

The level 18 was no sweat at all for a spice lover, but probably muted down by the cheese. I enjoyed the flavorful curry with the spicy kick that comes after. It will be well liked by Singaporeans who love having lots of gravy with their plain rice!

Beautiful pan seared scallops and prawns (part of omakase priced at $90) that is cooked till meat is sweet and juicy. The entire omakase was decent but a tad oily seeing how much butter they used!

This wobbly sesame tofu (part of Omakase $60/$90) has a soft mochi like texture that melts in your mouth and tasted somewhat milky to me but the slight charred crust on the sides introduced some savoury taste to it!

There are 2 Omakase sets ($60/$90) at Osaka Kitchen and the difference is that the latter comes with Ohmi Wagyu Steak (as featured) instead of Garlic Chicken. For the seafood, there's 1 scallop and 1 prawn instead of 2 prawns. There's no need to order the same set for the entire party.

The Ohmi Wagyu Steak is cooked to a medium rare with a nice sear on the outer layer. It's mostly tender, but some parts of the fats required more chewing. As it's on the fatty side, pairing it with the wasabi, salt and garlic chips served on the side helps to balance it out to a nice nutty and refreshing finish.

MOF Group has launched a new concept in Singapore — Kaisen Tei, specializing in Japanese kaisendon (sashimi rice bowl).

The Signature Kaisendon ($16) comes with a variety of marinated sashimi such as salmon, tuna, swordfish, clams and mini scallop. For the ladies, salad base is available too! Otherwise, opt for the DIY kaisendon menu ($11/small $16/regular) where you can pick the sashimi that you like and also have additional toppings such as the avocado ($3.8). There are 4 sauces available and the wafu sauce was my preferred choice!

Freshness is important when it comes to sashimi and I'm glad these from Yoda Japanese Dining didn't disappoint! Featuring a selection of maguro, chutoro, otoro (tuna are from a 50kg bluefin tuna from Nagasaki) and not forgetting a piece of kanpachi.