Jon had set himself a mission to
redeem his tarnished reputation as BMC prezzie, owing to his abject failure
caused by his sloppy choice of "majestic" the last time round. And
so, just like the garden variety Honda Civic has its souped up Type-R version,
Jon declared that this week's BML will also be "e'special", and so
the BML Type-R (R for redemption) was born.
For this redemption lunch, we
were offered an elevated S$100 max spend per head (he had already excluded Dann
since he knew Dann would be away for holiday in Italy) and he solicited ideas
from the members. There were suggestions
such as trying out the S$80++ set lunch at Tong Le Private Dining, or a
restaurant at the new W hotel in Sentosa, or some other overpriced set lunch at
some other establishment. We collectively declined all the above suggestions as
we felt that having a set lunch on a redemption meal just would not do, plus
based on our experience, a set lunch will never result in us having made full
use of the potential S$100 max cap.
We finally decided on Jap and
made a request for a S$100 nett omakase set lunch at Sakuraya. The main chef
there known as "Khor-san" agreed to concoct a meal at that budget
just for us 5.
Upon arrival, we were seated at
the L shaped edge of the sushi counter, wherein Khor-san immediately instructed
the waitress to take our order for drinks. Shortly after, we were served our
starter dish which was a salad trio or edamame, tomato and cabbage topped with
japanese dressing, and a shot glass full of mild vinegar filled with what i
think is Junsai tips/shoots, which is an aquatic plant. The edamame and
tomatoes were standard fare, but the junsai tips was exquisite. It had a
slippery gel like coating around the shoots, but was crunchy to the bite. We
were instructed to drink it in one mouthful and then to finish off with the
sweet pickled white radish that came with it.
The next dish was our sashimi
dish. This was a dish that had to be prepared on the spot fresh, and we were
delighted to watch as our meal was skillfully prepared. The large wild sea
prawns were first de-shelled and then placed one each into a small dish and
then kept in the chiller.
Following this, the chef then prepared thick slices
of hamachi (yellowtail), kanpachi (greater amberjack) and otoro (tuna belly).
For the otoro, he then seared each slice on one side with a blow torch. Finally
he took out a pre-seasoned bowl of aji (mackerel) and divided it out into 5
portions.
We were then served individually, with each platter accompanied with
a light sauce infused with sesame seeds and fresh wasabi. We were advised not
to throw away the prawn head as this would be deep fried as a side dish for
later.
Needless to say, the fish and
prawn were extremely fresh. The prawn was sweet and crunchy in a way no farmed
prawn ever is.
The hamachi and kanpachi were delicious with a good bite to it
owing to the thickness of the slices. The otoro was also delightfully tasty and
was coated in an oily film released by the torching of the fish.
The aji was
also well seasoned and fresh. There was fairly little of the strong fishy
flavour you encounter with raw mackerel that can be a little off-putting at
times. It was very well paired with the light sauce and sesame seasoning.
The next course was a cooked dish
of scallop that had been diced and seasoned and then coated with what i think
was mayonnaise and cheese and then seared to an outer crisp. This was
accompanied with iceberg lettuce leaves, and we were instructed to use the
leaves to as a wrap for the scallop fillings. The crunchy lettuce wrap was good
with the slightly salty and creamy scallop filling.
The following cooked dish was
cooked beef slices, which sat on a bed of aubergines and topped with sliced
cabbage and sweet peas. The beef was tender and flavourful, and the combination
with the soft aubergine, crunchy cabbage and sweet peas provided excellent
texture. Extra points however has to be given to this dish owing to the
fantastic sauce that came with the dish. It was a rich thick salty sweet sauce
that went wonderfully with the beef.
At this point, we were also
served the prawn head (from our earlier sashimi course) that was fried till
crispy. The heads were fantastic with a light spinkling of lemon. It would have
been perfect if we had some beer to go along with it. We gobbled up the entire
head, including the eyes, front legs and all without a morsel left.
For the final course we were
offered either a handroll or a noodle dish. I requested for Khor-san to let us
have the inaniwa udon for the noodle dish. So between the 5 of us, we had 3
handrolls and 2 inaniwa udons.
The handrolls were simply filled with shrimp
roe, avocado, crabsticks and cucumber. It was well made with the seaweed
crispy, although taste wise it was nothing out of the ordinary.
As for the
noodles, the texture was smooth and al-dente to the bite. Given a choice again,
I would have selected the noodles in place of the handroll.
With the meal ended, we were
offered complimentary ice cream to finish off, to which we ordered yuzu ice
cream and green tea.
The damage was S$500.20, and although that was not quite japanese precision, it was close enough to the paymaster's stipulated S$500 budget cap that he willingly paid up in full without getting a refund of 20 cents from the rest of us. (Thanks for the generosity Jon!) Overall this was a very good meal, and suffice to say, met up to the redemption levels required to erase some of the ugly stains caused by Jon's previous errors. Despite not having much starch (as we usually do with ample bread rolls, fried rice etc), we all felt amply full post lunch, which i think is thanks to the significant amount of quality protein we consumed. So in summary, if S$100 for lunch is what its got to be, then this joint will be is a worthy choice for your $$$.By: Club Scribe
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