Sakuraya - 4th October 2012

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