Divine Japanese

Now, back to the more pressing issues at hand, like @sakabaigokochi Unagi Pressed Sushi ($19++). Carb-laden dishes like rice & noodles are crucial to every Japanese izakaya thanks to the alcohol munchies. However, Sakaba Igokichi has shied away from the usual donburis (rice bowls) and ramen in favour of pressed sushi, udon & yakisoba.⠀
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A half dozen massive wedges of unagi pressed sushi are arrayed on an equally massive plate, and the sense of scale is certainly not quite captured in this photo. Each piece of pressed sushi is a two biter minimum, and both are pretty big bites. The nicely grilled unagi has been glazed with enough sweet & salty teriyaki to fully flavour it as well as the lightly vinegary rice. An oft overlooked but crucial component of a good sushi is for the rice to be served at room temperature instead of hot or cold, and Sakaba Igokichi has absolutely nailed this. The cherry tomato & sprinkling of spring onion bring a pop of freshness to this savoury, starchy sushi, and it’s just begging to be washed down with more sake.

Beef sashimi is controversial, but if you stumble across a place that does it right like @sakabaigokochi, you’ll come to see the merits of raw beef like I did. Sakaba Igokochi’s Beef Tataki with Dashi Ponzu ($12++) is executed excellently, and I had no qualms with consuming the slices of almost raw beef.⠀
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The slices of beef were just lightly seared, and were tender and decently marbled with fat. Most of the flavour in the dish was provided by the dashi ponzu. It was salty & sour, an odd combo to have with beef, but it definitely grows on you. The salinity from the dashi makes the meaty flavours of the beef more pronounced, while the tanginess of the ponzu adds a refreshing, zesty twist to the beef.⠀
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Coupled with the crispy deep fried garlic chip on every slice of beef, the Beef Tataki hits all the necessary contrasts to make it a delicious dish. Soft beef, crispy garlic, salty & savoury beef & dashi, slightly sour ponzu, and the heat from the horseradish provided makes for an intriguing dish that must be tried at least once. Ponder upon the complexities of Beef Tataki while sipping sake, and you’ll have yourself a good time.

@sakabaigokochi Scallop & Avocado Tartare is insanely good value. This entire portion only cost me thirteen dollars before tax & service charge! Sliced avocado is absolutely smothered by an avalanche of diced scallop sashimi, topped with a spoonful of ikura (salmon roe), and sauced up with some soy sauce and some wasabi mayo if I remember correctly.⠀
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The scallop was astonishingly fresh, proven by its soft & supple texture, and it was sweet & slightly savoury. The ikura literally pops in with bursts of briny, umami juices to flavour the mild tasting scallops. The avocado added creamy richness to the mild tasting shellfish, and despite my initial reservations, the combination of creamy avocado, ikura & fresh scallops actually panned out. The soy sauce & wasabi mayonnaise aided with this, as the salty soy sauce was the essential source of salinity, while the wasabi mayo brought the heat to spice up your night. ⠀
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At just thirteen bucks a pop, this tremendous tartare is a must order with some house sake at @sakabaigokochi. The scallops are gonna be a superstar, I can feel it.

[SPONSORED POST]⠀
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Looking for some greatly gratifying gyozas that are halal? Look no further than @gyozasan_singapore, which is Singapore’s first dedicated gyoza merchant that’s been halal certified. They’ve got seven unique gyoza varieties, and if you’re looking for a full meal, they’ve got ten Gyoza-Bento sets (G-Bentos) for you to select.⠀
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Upon the bossman’s recommendation, I chose the G-Set 10, the Special Unagi/Yakiniku Combo X 3 Original Gyozas ($14.50 nett). Every G-Set bento comes with three Original Gyozas, which have a delicious minced chicken stuffing wrapped in a tastefully thin dumpling skin and hit with that special steam & panfry combo. The minced chicken is very fine, and it feels more like a meaty paste than the traditional pebbly feel of minced meat. Incredibly delicious, and I greedily gobbled the gyozas in short order.⠀
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The real MVP of G-Set 10 is the yakiniku beef, which is cut significantly thicker than any other yakiniku beef bentos I’ve had before. The beef used is a short rib cut, resulting in fabulous fattiness. It’s simmered in a savoury soya sauce based stock for maximum deliciousness, and I absolutely enjoyed every meaty bite of beef. As for the sizeable slab of unagi, the teriyaki glaze was delectably sweet & salty, but I happened to get a particularly bony fillet of eel. That’s just how unagi is though, you just gotta play the odds.

Gyoza are always easy to love, and Gyoza-San makes it even easier with their delicious Gyozas & Bentos. Thank you for the invite, @gyozasan_singapore & @scalemicroinfluencers!

[Invited Tasting]⠀
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First and last impressions are crucial, and @ameising.la.volta have put their best foot forward on both counts. Allow Ameising La Volta to introduce themselves to your tastebuds with their thirteen tapas, all priced at $13++ for one, $36++ for a tapas trio, or five for $56++. There was no resisting the alluring call of the Raw Hyogo Oysters with Ikura & Chives, and this tapas certainly tantalised.⠀
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The Hyogo Oysters were marvellously massive, and had a more muted brininess compared to French & Canadian oysters. The subtly briny & sweet mollusk was still very creamy, and remarkably fresh to boot. The ikura (salmon roe) was there to boost the umami factor of the oyster with their briny juices, while the chives added a touch of freshness. Somehow, I felt that these oysters weren’t quite as wet as other oysters, and would’ve benefited greatly from a squeeze of yuzu over the shellfish, or perhaps even a spicy vinaigrette to complement these sizeable shellfish.⠀
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Grazie mille for hosting us, @ameising.la.volta!

And now for our favourite dish of the night at @ichi.umai: the excellent Buta Kakuni Don ($13.90++). Pork belly is braised in Ichi Umai’s special in-house soy sauce blend till achingly tender before going onto a bed of steamed rice alongside a lone floret of broccoli and a beautiful half boiled egg.⠀
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Japanese cuisine is predominantly about combining simple yet savoury flavours to form a delicious, hearty dish, and this Buta Kakuni Don is no exception. As mentioned previously, the pork belly has been braised till tremendously tender, and it has absorbed all the sapidity provided by the soy blend that it was braised in. The result are succulent, sumptuous slices of pork belly that fall apart with the lightest of bites.⠀
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Ichi Umai clearly knew how good their pork belly was, because they backed it up very simply with rice, a tasty braised egg with a semi-molten yolk, and a singular floret of broccoli to make you feel healthier. And it works thanks to the sheer genius of the pork belly.⠀
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Thanks for having us, @ichi.umai, and thanks for the invite @eatwithkeat!

If something with a little smokiness catches your fancy, you can’t go wrong with the Unagi Chahan (unagi fried rice, $13.50++). The short grain rice is delightfully eggy and bears an alluring smoky aroma from the frying process. It’s incredibly well seasoned, and I couldn’t resist gobbling down spoonfuls of this fab fried rice. The bits of unagi speckled throughout the rice provided a meatier texture to the rice, and the teriyaki glaze on it piled even more flavour onto this already flavourful fiesta.⠀
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Arigato gozaimasu for hosting us @ichi.umai, and thanks @eatwithkeat for the jio!

Even though @ichi.umai Tendon ($12.90++) doesn’t score a ten, it’s still pretty delicious and well worth the price of admission. Two fresh, portly prawns and a medley of eggplant, ladyfinger, shiitake mushroom & sweet potato are coated in tempura batter and lightly fried till all the tempura is cooked within.⠀
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That’s the little trick with tempura, it’s supposed to be deep fried till cooked and a light gold colour, and Ichi Umai does it right. Everything is deep fried expertly, from the snappy, firm prawns to the veggies, but I did find the tempura batter to be slightly thicker than the industry standard. It’s still a pleasure to eat, especially with all the crispy bits. The tendon sauce was also delicious, leaning more towards the savoury end of the spectrum.⠀
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Arigato gozaimasu for hosting us @ichi.umai, and thanks @eatwithkeat for the jio!

@ichi.umai main attractions are their value for money donburis (rice bowls), and there’s nothing quite as comforting as a gyudon (beef rice bowl). Ichi Umai has two options: the classic beef rice bowl, and this Karai Gyudon. At $13.90++, you get stir fried beef slices, enoki mushrooms and thin slices of onions on a bed of rice & topped with Karai (spicy) sauce.⠀
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This is quite different from the usual Japanese beef bowls, as the beef is stir fried as opposed to the usual method of simmering in a beef broth. As such, the slices of beef are thicker and give a more satisfying chew, and there’s a little extra smokiness from the stir frying. The mushrooms & onions are well sautéed, and the onions are partially caramelised for a little sweetness to complement the savouriness of the soya sauce mix that everything’s been stir fried in.⠀
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The Karai sauce is actually rather spicy, kicking you right in the tongue with its fiery disposition. The taste reminds me of gochujang, but a lot spicier. Although I do think that there should be more beef in the bowl for $13.90++, the Karai Gyudon is a fiery, flavourful bowl of beefy bliss.⠀
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Thanks for the invite, @eatwithkeat, and thank you for inviting us to sample your food @ichi.umai!

How lit are your squids? Here at @ichi.umai, the answer is always yes with their Ika Mentai Mayo ($14.90++). Mentaiko mayonnaise belongs on everything, but there’s something special about marrying mentaiko mayo to seafood before setting it all alight.⠀
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The ika (squid) itself is remarkably fresh and exceptionally well cooked, as it retains a pleasant snappy bite without any rubberiness after grilling. Ichi Umai’s mentaiko mayo is definitely one of the more mentaiko (pollock roe) heavy ones I’ve savoured so far. The briny sapidity of the mentaiko is the star attraction here, flavouring the mild tasting squid with its rich, complex unami. The creaminess of the kewpie mayo is merely a supporting element to accentuate & enhance the wonders of the mentaiko, just the way it should be. And of course, who’s gonna say no to extra smokiness & depth of flavour after the mentaiko mayo gets flamed?
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At $14.90 before tax & service charge, Ichi Umai’s Mentaiko Mayo is the perfect appetiser for sharing, or you could hog the whole squid to yourself with a bowl of rice for a delicious dinner.⠀
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Thanks for having us, @ichi.umai, and thanks to @eatwithkeat for inviting me along!

First there was Junction 8, then there was Junction 10, and now there’s a Junction 9 in the Florida of Singapore, Yishun. Soon Singapore will have a Junction 69. Nice. There isn’t all that much at Junction 9, but there is @ichi.umai, which was the sole reason why I risked a trip to Crazytown. Ichi Umai is a highly affordable Japanese neighbourhood restaurant, offering tasty Japanese cuisine at well under twenty dollars. The only exceptions to that under twenty buck rule are two of the sashimi platters.

The next sashimi item is the Himiwari Sashimi Moriwase platter ($23.90++), which features a lineup of four kinds of sashimi: amaebi (sweet shrimp), raw scallop, salmon & salmon roe. I wasn’t expecting to rate the amaebi & scallops higher than the salmon, but both the amaebi & scallops were so fresh that their sweetness was well pronounced. Very impressive, and very delicious with a dash of wasabi and soya sauce. The salmon was also pretty fresh, and the umami salmon roe was so addictive that we forgot to leave some to put on top of our upcoming rice dishes.⠀
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Thank you for hosting us @ichi.umai & thanks for inviting me @eatwithkeat!

First there was Junction 8, then there was Junction 10, and now there’s a Junction 9 in the Florida of Singapore, Yishun. Soon Singapore will have a Junction 69. Nice. There isn’t all that much at Junction 9, but there is @ichi.umai, which was the sole reason why I risked a trip to Crazytown. Ichi Umai is a highly affordable Japanese neighbourhood restaurant, offering tasty Japanese cuisine at well under twenty dollars. The only exceptions to that under twenty buck rule are two of the sashimi platters.⠀
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They have donburis (rice bowls), ramen & udon, sushi rolls & sashimi like this majestic Mekajiki Yuzu Truffle Carpaccio ($14.90++). The swordfish sashimi was sliced thinly enough to eliminate the need for too much chewing, but thick enough to retain the firm & meaty texture that’s typical of swordfish. The truffle & yuzu infused soya sauce was surprisingly sublime with the sashimi, as the powerful aroma of the truffle permeates your sense of smell & taste. Meanwhile, the saltiness of the soya sauce seasons the fish superbly & the yuzu brings a sweet zestiness that clears out your palate & readies you for your next slice of swordfish.

Thank you for hosting us @ichi.umai & thanks for inviting me @eatwithkeat!