Tatsuya Japanese Restaurant - 9th February 2012

“So, there will be winners and there will be losers…… but the important thing is that the overall gains of the winners outweigh that of the losers….”

A paraphrased excerpt from comment made by senior minister emeritus GCT (circa 2011).

And so that was how the day and our story began. To provide some context and as a refresher, everyone who was not on board a place to HK was seriously looking forward to this week’s BML bonanza brought forth by the additional promised S$100 spending by Dann as well as the unfortunate disappearance of MG from this week’s dining scene. (Mathematically, the minimum EUR30/pax was now worth a whopping S$80/pax, which makes attending this meal almost 60% more valuable in SGD terms then attending our standard garden variety BMLs)

Dann had decided that the anointed venue should be either Sabai at Takashimaya (the last time we appeared there was like 2 years ago) or Crystal Jade Golden Palace at Paragon. He had (as per club directives) sent out his email to the right recipients at the right time suggesting a vote on either venue for us for THURSDAY 9^th Feb, which is a slight change from our usual choice of Friday. After a flurry of emails, it was decided that Crystal Jade Golden Palace would be the lucky establishment that will be hosting our party.

Jon being the designated driver decided that it would be more cost effective to ferry the smaller party in a single cab than driving and so off we went towards orchard road. Whilst hopping into the cab, Jon mentioned to Collin to contact businessman to inform him that the final agreed destination was Crystal Jade and not Sabai, so as to avoid the possibility of him turning up at the wrong venue. It was at this moment that our dear Jason Lau went berserk on the phone claiming that he was not informed on the change of the date. He was apparently furious on this turn of events and personally called Jon the president to appeal for a postponement of this week’s BML, saying that we had previously confirmed that it was set for a Friday and that he was not informed of the change to Thursday.

Against this claim, Jon, CC and myself immediately discussed the merits of this appeal, and felt that Jason’s claims were unfounded as :

1.       Dann had clearly sent out the email more than 48 hours before the lunch date

2.       All the email addresses of intended recipients were correct

3.      There is nothing in the original constitution or amendments which disallowed a BML to be conducted on a day other than Friday.

Given the above, it was obvious that businessman was simply crying over spilt milk (notwithstanding that it was definitely going to be sweet and creamy for this BML), and so we decided to put it to a vote to see if there were enough votes in his favour to change the course of history.

As we all well know from the result of MG’s futile attempt at a free lunch last week, the outcome for Jason’s appeal obviously came out no differently.  With a total of 7 votes available amongst 6 members (Prezzie has 2), a total of 4 votes were necessary to swing the appeal in Jason’s favour. Counting the votes of MG and Jason, only an additional 2 votes were actually needed. Unfortunately, despite the claimed magnanimity of some of our members, the needed 2 votes did not come to pass, and Jason was left to wallow in fury, hunger and self pity.

Being the shrewd members that we were, we realized that the bonanza had just morphed into a bigger bonanza, with just 4 members splitting the loot of S$400! We quickly called Dann to change the venue to Tatsuya, since such high per capita spending could only be justified with over-priced Japanese cuisine.

Owing to our last minute arrangement, we were offered only the outside seating area, and Dann being uncharacteristically sharp, was quick to demand from us for a waiver of the air-conditioning criteria for BML. Without hesitation, the waiver was granted unanimously and at lightning speed.

Upon seating, we were presented with the ala carte as well as set menu. For people on a budget, the lunch set menu at Tatsuya actually provides reasonably good value with most sets hovering around the S$30 level.  Value of course was not what we were after for this session, and we quickly decided to settle in on the S$55 Chirashizushi from the ala carte menu as our main.

In addition, we added 3 other orders which were the fried oysters (kaki furai), fried chicken (wakatori age) and the icouldnotcatchthename sushi platter which was not on the menu and was highly recommended for S$125 by the kimono clad waitress.

The chirashizushi was wonderfully presented with ingredients like salmon, yellow tail, tuna, tuna belly, scallop, salmon roe, swordfish, sweet prawn, eel, crab sticks, pickles and tamago (egg) set on a bed of pearly sweet rice topped with seaweed. 

It was an 8/10 for presentation, taste and freshness. My personal preference is for Aoki’s version of chirashizushi, although Dann begged to differ. His parting remark to our debate on which was better ended with… “I suppose I did not like Aoki as much as I did not have the premium set there!”

As for the fried chicken, no complains here, it was crispy on the outside and still moist on the inside. But this was one of the dishes that was ordered (together with the oysters) to make up the numbers.

Notwithstanding that however, the fried oysters were quite a treat. As usual, CC again gave his “actually this oyster is quite nice. It doesn’t really have the oyster taste”. I was like what the #$%^*@ kinda comment is that?!? It was a rerun of his pork that does not taste like pork comment at La Strada. I suppose next time I’ll blindfold him and offer him fish and say that it’s actually chicken and he’ll probably say… “whoa this chicken is really good cos it doesn’t have the chicken taste….”

Finally, the icouldnotcatchthename arrived, and we were presented with 10 different seared (with a blow torch) sushi‘s that were apparently a house specialty. As they were all different, I did not get to taste all of them, but suffice to say that it was good but not fantastic. Each sushi also seemed on the small side although that could have been the result of the searing. But at a price of S$12.50 each excluding service and taxes, this was one helluva inflated dish that is not worth a re-order unless you just won the Toto.

All in all, it was a good meal, no complaints except that the quantity was a tad on the light side, and so, on we were to the trusty Ya Kun Kaya Toast for coffee, eggs and toast.

Whilst having coffee there was a debate on who was the biggest bastardo (being born out of wedlock in Italian) in this affair? We collectively agreed that minus the losers (MG and Businessman), as well as leaving out the paymaster since he had nothing to gain as the agreed spend was already fixed, the king bastardo title had to be won by either of the 3 winners, Jon, CC or me. We were unanimous in our agreement that Jon had to be the biggest since he is the holder of 2 votes and could have single handedly altered the course of history had he chose to. So yes Mr President, you are now also the club title holder for King Bastardo.

And so, of the 3 winners (Jon, CC and myself), the spoils.... the total damage for the day as S$401.45 for the lunch and an additional S$12.80 for coffee and toast.

As at press time, Dann still owes me S$2.70 and S$0.10 to Jon, for the shortfall on the coffee and toast (Dann please see picture as evidence). Being the nice person that i was, i offered to waive the 70 cents and just collect S$2 from Dann, but upon hearing this, Jon would have none of it and demanded that his 10 cents be paid back in full as "it was the principle of the matter and not the amount!" So much for magnanimity from our club president...I think mercenary is more befitting.

By: Club Scribe