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

Novus Restaurant & Bar - 7th September 2012

It was CC’s turn to take us out, and he chose Novus! I had my doubts about the place, and Dann confirmed it saying that he has tried the place with a client before and was definitely not impressed. Nonetheless, we still proceeded as per club rules, as we agreed that if the venue failed sufficiently to satisfy the party, we will then have little choice but to evoke the club’s dreaded (but never been tested) nuclear option known as “samolah”.

To be fair, CC deserves praise for upholding one of the core tenets of our club, which is to try to always choose the “steady” option. (Yes yes, whilst that characteristic has not shone through particularly well in most of our posts, it is one of the values we seek to achieve as a club. Think of it like a fat man’s quest of yearning for the discipline to go to the gym regularly. It is a laudable but challenging quest).

CC had originally wanted to host the meal on a Wednesday in order to cater to Erap II as he had to go for reservist from Thursday on. However, businessman could not make the date and so CC tried to push to a Tuesday, which businessman also could not make. We then suggested for CC to further postpone the lunch date by another week to Friday the 14^th without penalty, but Businessman and Jon would not have it and demanded the additional EUR30 penalty (now we know who are the unsteady). Eventually, CC decided to host it on our usual Friday despite being on leave and to try to cater to businessman as he felt that businessman had already missed an earlier BML at Punjab Grill.

We arrived (with the exception of businessman) at the National Museum on time and were greeted by Collin and his special guest & eldest daughter Kai Ling (7 this year!) who were already seated.

We were given the order to order between 40 – 45 dollars per pax. I immediately objected on this instruction to the president Jon, complaining that there is something seriously wrong with this habit? It seemed like our BML’s now not only have a floor, but everyone seemed to also be setting a ceiling, which was clearly unsteady and not in line with our club’s philosophies.

In any case, we proceeded to order our dishes, whilst attempting to keep within our “budgetary limits”. For starters we ordered the burrata cheese and mushroom soup. For the mains, we had originally ordered 3 sets of Novus burgers, one duck leg confit and the crispy pork belly.

Upon taking our orders, we were served the bread basket, which came in a variety of mini baguette, soft rolls, white bread and what I believe is rye bread. The bread was deliciously fresh and my favourite in particular was the mini baguette.

We were then served our starters, and boy it was disappointing. The mushroom soup was so-so. It was thickened with cream, and you could feel the texture of the mushroom bits in your mouth, but somehow, the soup did not taste particularly flavourful. It could have been a lack of salt, seasoning, or possibly the quality of the mushrooms used.

The burrata cheese was worse (mind you, I actually wanted to order something else but the waiter recommended this instead). Let’s start with the tomatoes. They were of inferior quality and not at all sweet. I’m fine with such tomatoes if the price reflected the quality. Then coming to the cheese itself, the texture was more like a softer form of play doe. Somehow, it just did not feel like a proper burrata cheese with the mozzarella outer shell somehow totally fused into a giant dollop of thickened paste. I hate to say this, but I had trouble finishing it.

At this point, we were wondering where the hell was businessman as he had yet to arrive. CC texted him, and apparently the reply was that he did not know that the BML was reset from Wednesday to Friday. In fact he was apparently quite furious. We concluded somehow that the fella just forgot to check his mail or his mailbox had reached its storage limit and could not download anymore. What a fiasco. We should have just settled for Wednesday!

Next up were the mains. The duck leg confit was the best of the mains. The skin was crispy, the meat was still tender and moist, and most importantly, the leg was not overly salty which happens to be a key failing for many of the other credible duck confit’s we’ve tried.

The pork belly was not bad although a little small. The skin side was crispy and the fat was soft and tasty although the meat below was a little bit dry and stringy. Overall it was well cooked without any strong porcine flavour.

Then came the Novus burger. It was well presented, and looked good, but the moment I sank my teeth into the burger in a huge bite, all respect for this establishment sank as well. The meat was uncooked inside! The outer area of the patty was nice and brown, but the meat inside was a deep red and the beef was still in its raw marinated pasty form. Having made burgers myself I instantaneously recognised the patty in its raw form. The smell and texture clearly gave it away. Jon however continued to eat his way through the burger, and commented in front of everyone snidely that my claims towards eating almost anything were hogwash. Now now… I must say Jon, my concept of eating almost anything is predicated on those things being done well. I have no hang-ups or ideologies on soups having to be hot (rather than cold), or for dishes to be cooked in a certain way or for certain ingredients to be used. I however cannot eat a burger which I ordered medium done to be uncooked. If I wanted it uncooked, I’d ask for beef tartare. Obviously this dish was not done as it should have been done, and I am not sure the meat was fresh enough to be eaten raw. If Jon ended up with stomach issues over the weekend, let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised.

So I (and Erap II as well), sent the burgers back to the kitchen and in place ordered a barramundi and a mushroom risotto.

The barramundi was clearly better than the burger (thankfully!), but nothing out of the ordinary. The fish was not exceptionally fresh but was acceptable. It was lightly salted and the skin was fairly crispy.

The risotto was quite average. The texture was ok, although the flavour was a tad bland. The rice was fully cooked through.

And on to the dessert course, which we were collectively expecting to share Erap’s single order of yuzu sorbet, but thanks (or maybe no thanks) to the no show by businessman, CC decided to throw in (or more like had to!) some additional desserts for the party, which were the banana split, the bread and butter pudding and a chocolate platter.

The yuzu sorbet was light and refreshing, and you could clearly taste the yuzu flavour. However, there was also a slight bitter after taste which Dann and myself suspect could be some of the rind from the yuzu which may have also gotten blended in.

Then came the bread and butter pudding. This was done pretty well, with the pudding served nice and warm. It was well presented with walnuts and raspberries on top. And with bread and butter pudding being quite stodgy, I felt the portion was just right. The taste of the pudding with the cream that accompanied the dessert was quite delicious. It was rich, soft, creamy and tasty. This was probably the best dessert of the day.

We were then served the banana split in a jar. I have no comments other than it was not good. It was neither sweet nor creamy enough. The banana was bland and semi ripe and whatever came along with it was bland too. It was the blandest banana split I have eaten in my life.

The chocolate platter (which you were supposed to eat from left to right) was another heavy disappointment. Other than the second item which was the “lava-cake in a cup”, the rest were clearly worse than forgettable.

Overall, Novus was a real let down, especially given the fact that it came to S$320 for 5 pax! Definitely a close candidate for samolah, if not for the few respectable / acceptable dishes that salvaged the day by the closest of margins. I blame CC for his poor and sloppy selection. So as a side note to businessman, who was clearly cheesed off by the whole miscommunication over when BML was to be held, and unfortunately missed it, you were probably the lucky one!

By Club Scribe.