The Sushi Bar

It has been a while, or even ages if I dare say, since I was asked whether I had tried The Sushi Bar at Far East Plaza. No, I have not, I replied. After checking its online reviews, I included this small hole-in-the-wall Japanese sushi bar into my list of places to check out. But unknowingly, weeks had crept by. And then months, before I finally made my way to the shopping mall near Scotts Square and opposite Pacific Plaza. Almost walked a whole storey before I found it tucked away in a far corner on the 3rd floor. Deterred by the long queue, I decided to go back another day and it was during my 2nd visit that I managed to try its food. This time, it was for late lunch on a weekend afternoon. Asking for a table of two, we were led to our seats immediately. Beer posters stood out against blue walls and ceiling lit up by round paper lamps in the sparsely furnished place of wooden tables, white stools and black chairs with back rest.

From the list of appetisers, we ordered its signatures – chawanmushi, amaebi karaage or fried sweet shrimps, shishamo karaage and scallop mentaiyaki. Also had 100g of sirloin steak (200g portion is also available) and salmon aburi, a sushi roll. Other items on the simple menu include sashimi, don and dessert as well as a hot pot and a noodle. After our orders were taken, we helped ourselves to the complimentary water while waiting for the dishes to be served to our table. I thought the chawanmushi was value-for-money with ingredients no less than most others I have tried but my dining companion begged to differ despite it being smooth and flavourful. It was topped with roes, which accompanied every other dish we ordered, except for the salmon aburi that came with preserved ginger slices and wasabi.

Both of us were not impressed with the deep-fried ones, served with mayonnaise which failed to relieve the cloying oil taste, and agreed they were the worst of the lot we had. Amaebi karaage was a total waste of calories intake and not worth our stomach space while shishamo karaage was nothing to rave about. Skip these and go for the sirloin steak and salmon aburi instead, I say. The former was done medium-done (we were not asked how we wanted it) and too raw for my dining companion's liking, with a char-grilled smoky outside and tender insides that stopped short of being too bloody or chewy. Perfect with the garlic slices, it tasted surprisingly good when paired with the fresh and sweet scallop mentaiyaki which reminded me of Tanuki's though this was definitely better. Salmon aburi had just the right amount of fats with taste and texture well-balanced. Oh, and don't forget to pay on the way out.