This is the first of a 2 part lunch series which sees the exit of one of our founding members – the infamous Michael Cheung Tsun Wai, more lovingly known in circles as Maigai or MG for short.
The night before was a mini advanced celebration of the birthday of Erap II, and as usual, I was accused of hatching a sinister plan to encourage his utmost alcohol intoxication at the pool bar so as to ensure his inability to turn up for work, and thus more importantly for BML the next day. Against this baseless accusation, I have decided to set the record straight. Erap II basically intoxicated himself with 8 bottles of Corona (I actually counted 7, but let’s give the man the benefit of doubt here) over 4 hours. So that’s like just over a pint of beer an hour, and he was plastered. Let’s just say a lady colleague of ours half his size had just as much and made it nicely to work the next day.
So we arrived without too much fuss and given the menu selection and budgetary limits set by MG (S$60 per pax), we all decided to select the Chef’s seasonal menu “Hiru Kaiseki” version, with the exception businessman who decided for a combo meal of Chicken Katsu and Teriyaki Gindara (Cod).
The appetizers for our seasonal menu were a combo or blanched green vegetables, minced fish with stewed root vegetables, and a tofu like custard. The green vegetables and minced fish are pretty standard Japanese fare, and the quality is as expected from most well established Japanese restaurants. But the tofu was something a little more special, with a smooth and firm texture, almost like a softer version of Japanese jelly, and had a taste that was a little sweeter than tofu but still mild.
Next up was the clear soup. The soup had a deep rich and somewhat smokey flavour, and someone commented it tasted a bit like Bovril, although I am pretty sure there were no bovine parts used in the making of the soup. I suspect that there may have been the use of dried smoked seafood delicacies in its creation. Overall, I consider this quite a special soup in my opinion. Accompanying the soup was a caked cube of what I think is a mixture of mushroom shreds, fish paste and egg. It had the texture of dense tamago and was quite delicious.
We were then served the sashimi, which were basically several slices of Hamachi (yellowtail) and Maguro (tuna). I’d say that the fish were acceptably fresh, but not quite the standards of what we’ve experienced in other Japanese BML sessions.
Following this was grilled cod fish. The fish was excellent. It was fresh, rich, smooth, and cooked perfectly. The seasoning was just right and not overpowering.
Next up was the simmered dish paired with the rice, pickles and miso soup. The pickles and miso was standard fare.
The rice however was not your typical white Japanese rice, but the brown version, which is slightly firmer in texture and a little more flavourful and a bit less sticky. It’s probably healthier too.
The simmered dish was actually a mix of figs and root vegetables that had been battered and fried and then left to simmer in the sauce, which tasted a bit like a mix of tempura sauce with some added light soy sauce and sweet vinegar. I thought this dish was quite interesting, but most of the boys were not too enchanted by it. I think they were expecting some seafood pieces, but were disappointed that it wasn’t. Also, the method of frying the veggies/fruits in batter and then simmering resulted in a soggy batter crust surrounding the pieces. I think it was meant to be this way so that it soaked up the sauce, but they were not impressed. I suppose the conventional expectation when you see batter is that it should be crispy, and if it isn’t, then it’s a thumb down.
The final course was desert which (if I remember) was a think creamed jelly with raspberry sauce. The pairing was very good with the creamy jelly nicely matched with the slightly sweet and yet tart raspberry sauce. It was delicious.
As for businessman's selections, his teriyaki cod fish was also excellent, and perhaps a tad more excellent than the version that was served in our seasonal set. It was also bigger, but of course made a lot more smaller by the rest of us wanting to "taste" his dish (since his grilled fish was served before ours).
His Chicken katsu was also delicious and had a nice crispy batter and was quite a generous serving. Dijon mustard was served on the side which I felt did not go so well with it. I would have preferred English mustard. The chicken was well coated, and the batter was tasty and crispy, but not quite as good as the battered up pork cutlet you get at Tonkichi in my view. MG actually felt that it tasted a bit like the battered and fried crispy chicken pieces you get at the Taiwanese street snack chain Shihlin!!!!! I disagreed and thought that this was surely better.
The final damage came to S$370 after a 15% discount with a POSB/DBS credit card. The overall review by the party was that the food was quite good but not blow away great and other than the soup and possibly desert, was not extraordinarily special.
I mentioned that we should have gone for teppanyaki instead, which is what they are more famous for. Jon immediately countered to MG on whether his 2nd exit lunch will be here again for teppanyaki, to which MG flatly refused. The party then reminded MG that we were all expecting a magnificent final exit lunch at our next gathering, something of the order of when he once brought us to our encounter with Buddha!
By: Club Scribe
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