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

Gordon’s Grill - 18 November 2011

Well, it’s my turn to give a shot on the blog write-up for BMC lunch this week. It was such an effortless affair for the BMC soon-to-be official writer, Billy Choi to pass this responsibility to me, on the grounds that he has yet to be named the “Official One”.

Without further ado, let me introduce this week’s presidential-race candidate, Collin Cheong a.k.a. CC or Cameraman, whom we all knew from the very start would be powerless to mount a meaningful challenge. Why would someone as courteous as me (aka MG) make such a direct and uninspiring comment on an esteemed fellow club member? For this we will have to go back with a little history which needs to be shared with our dedicated BMC Blog followers as well as a refresher to the man himself. CC was initially hoping to be a president elect during our very first round of the bidding exercise for our 2011 presidential race. Back then, he was naive enough to believe that he could pull-off and out-bid all of us for the title with a mere S$480 check, held at Hide Yamamoto MBS. Nonetheless we give kudos to him for the effort given the fact that there were only 4 attendees which, broken down works to S$120 per pax. Soon after in a matter of 7 days, he was single-handedly out-witted (and more importantly outspent) by our current president-in-the-running, Jon Choo, A.K.A Juice with a S$500 check at Don Quixote @ Dempsey. Given the fact that CC even bothered to try, we thus gave him the accolade of “Tan Kin Lian” (aka “presidential also ran”) and this title has since lingered in his mind, and we believe it is likely to stay there for several years to come.

Enough of history lessons, let’s return to our main topic. This week’s BMC lunch was scheduled at Goodwood Park’s, Gordon’s Grill. I must admit that the name and location of the restaurant had already gotten our stomach growling. The restaurant is well and classily-decorated and was not too crowded when we arrived. We were greeted warmly by the staff, and the restaurant manager that served us was rather humorous, as we joked about where the escargots they served came from (pls read below).  

On opening the food menu, you will spot the photo and write up of the executive chef of Gordon Grill, which is interesting though I doubt anyone paid attention to it as we all headed straight to the food menu. Regrettably, the pay-master had his orders - limiting us only to the 3-course lunch set at S$48++, instead of the 4-course set at S$58++. Comfort was provided by CC as he conveyed his next message, which allowed only:

1. the current lead president-in-running (Jon),
2. the current lead VP-in-running (whom is designated as the 2nd highest bidder)
3. and himself (paymaster),

to be entitled to the special 4-course set. This gave me the aspiration to wrestle and retain my position as the lead VP-in-running! Owing to this invaluable recognition, I decided to give CC’s wallet a break and content myself with the 3-course set instead.

What I find unique about Gordon Grill is that their Appetiser and Soup courses come in sampler portions, which allow customers to get a taste of up to 3 different selections. (I’ll skip the bread description since it was ordinary and common butter was used.) 

The restaurant manager recommended us the 3 appetisers, roasted duck foie gras – which was pretty huge in size as compared to a goose’s but the taste was comparable, though we all agreed that Iggy’s still has the finest foie gras so far. Next is King Scallop, which was also pretty big. Though fresh, it was rather flavorless. Finally the Escargot, which was presumably air-flown from France (which I joking giggled mentioning softly that it was maybe picked from the Singapore River. The restaurant manager actually eavesdropped and responded that they were actually picked up from the garden outside.  I was like -_- ). Taste wise it was so-so, similar to chewing rubbery mushrooms and the garlic flavoring was too mild. I would recommend our followers to try Le Carillon’s (at Ann Siang Road) if they prefer stronger garlic-flavored Escagots. 

Out of the 7 Appetiser selections, I had the privilege to try out 6 of them (The other 3 are samplings from other BMC member’s dish). The Pasta was average as I couldn’t really taste any crab meat nor truffle oil.  The langoustine was more impressive, taken raw, it was fresh and juicy. After all they belong to the lobster/prawn family, how wrong can it get? The Wagyu beef was delightfully presented like a raw-beef bun, but I was not really able to differentiate it with ordinary beef, as it was served raw and the portion I had was rather small.

Next up was the Soup Samplers. Likewise, the recommendation given was Lobster Bisque, French Onion and Soupe du Jour (A.K.A Soup of the Day) combo. Personally I like the lobster bisque as I’m not usually a fan of this soup in most restaurants as I find it served rather too salty. The one served here I felt was just nice and drinkable. The French onion was simple yet good, with a few slices of onion within the clear soup.  The Soupe du Jour is a mash potato soup akin to KFC’s whipped potato but of course a much nicer version. The other soup I managed to try was the mushroom cappuccino, which I thought was too watery as I always prefer mushroom soups that are thick with chunky pieces of mushrooms in it. Nonetheless, it was satisfactory. Lastly the poultry consommé, for which the presentation I felt was a little poor, with some childish ball-like carrots and I think the remaining colored ones were corn and onion as I didn’t had a go at it.  Taste wise it was like any consommé, nothing fantastic.

The main I chose was US beef fillet with braised beef cheeks, since we are all-beef lovers (not because we are cheapos who tend to choose the most value-for-money dish) and it was also highly recommended. The beef fillet served was nicely medium-grilled and semi-juicy. For beef-lovers that don’t like fatty parts, this would be a perfect dish as the meat was quite lean. The cheeks were more of a highlight for this dish as it was very tender, resembling a melt-in-your-mouth sensation. Portion and presentation wise it was good, with a slap of mash potato, topped with a pair of carrot and asparagus sticks and brown sauce all-over.

I didn’t manage to try the lamb chops as I wasn’t offered any by our dear “never-look” or rather “unable-to-look-at-girls” member, Dann. For whatever immoral reasons he doesn’t consume beef. This may be the reason why he did not share the lamb with us since everyone else chose beef, and so if he offered, there would be no exchange…. what a realistic world we all live in!

The lunch set concluded with a complimentary coffer or tea selection. As usual, our one-of-a-kind member, Jason, a.k.a. Businessman or BMW 640 man, asked for a soft drink but was rejected (we will always remember the Sin Huat incident). Nothing extraordinary on the tea and coffee that was served, but the raw-sugar stick that comes with the beverage was quite a novelty.

Damage for the week’s BMC lunch was only S$339. This comes to about S$56.5 per pax which given all the various dishes we were entitled to sample coupled with the overall dining experience, was rather worth it. We agreed that this would be a place we would consider returning to, especially so since we have yet to try the Ala Carte menu.

Thanks for reading and I hope I will not be tasked to write again. Signing off…

MG.