Video
Read full review
2013-07-27
31 views
Ikeikemaru is located at the basment of Liang Court. It looks like any other Japanese restaurant, with friendly, zest-filled staff and wooden table tops with chefs working their magic in the middle, dishing sushi fresh out onto the conveyor belts.They have a good variety of raw fish, including their daily specials (check what's fresh with the staff! they will be able to recommend something), and if ala carte is not your thing, they also have udon sets with sushi ranging from $13-$20. Really reas
Ikeikemaru is located at the basment of Liang Court. It looks like any other Japanese restaurant, with friendly, zest-filled staff and wooden table tops with chefs working their magic in the middle, dishing sushi fresh out onto the conveyor belts.
They have a good variety of raw fish, including their daily specials (check what's fresh with the staff! they will be able to recommend something), and if ala carte is not your thing, they also have udon sets with sushi ranging from $13-$20. Really reasonable prices for the quality and the portion.We ordered a range of ala carte sushi (you can also help yourself from the belt, but we decided to order everything at one shot since not everything is available on the belt).
This is Bluefin Tuna ($3.80) -really feel bad for eating this because I only realised that it was bluefin after re-reading the menu ..... But honestly, it was good! The tuna was firm(er than usual!) and was definitely fresh. Yikes though, wouldn't have eaten it if I knew it was the endangered species
This is Toro Salmon ($3.80 for a pair), the fatty part of salmon. The fattiness gives the salmon a lovely creaminess that seems to melt in your mouth upon first bite. What I liked most is the smooth and creamy flavour that screams divine! Definitely highly recommended.
Aburi Salmon ($2.80) is served with grated radish. The radish resembles what we would know as 'cai por', but without the intense saltiness. It surprisingly complements the salmon superbly with a light flavour that seeks to impress despite subtlety. From the pictures here, you can also see that the sliced fish really extends in a elegantly long strip across the fluffy rice.
The Salmon w mayo & onion ($2.80) really impressed me with its interesting flavours. The sharpness of the onion takes away the fishiness (if any at all!) of the fish while the mayo gives it a creamy flavour. Im not a fan of mayo but this really blew me away. I recommend this highly because the flavours all come together seamlessly.
Toro Bincho ($4.80) is a type of whitefish called Albacore. This one didn't impress me too much as it had a sliiiightly fishy taste to it, with a texture more flaky than the others. I'm particularly sensitive to the fishy taste and I prefer cleaner/creamy flavours such as swordfish or toro (salmon). Neverthless, we agreed that the fish served is really fresh (even though the color of the fish is known to resemble old tuna), and if you are a fan of mackerel, you will like this fish!
The cold udon, or Hiyashi Udon ($6.80) is also something to try in my opinion. The noodles are really springy, and great to slurp up on a hot day. Everything about this dish is refreshing, from the slight savouriness of the soup to the cold noodles that are delightfully 'QQ! You can expect to enjoy this immensely, especially when shared with several friends as a complement to the sushi.
The Hotate (Scallop - $4.80) is also one of my favourites. The scallop is sweet, and its translucent quality does not give away its creamy melt-in-the-mouth texture! It's perfect when eaten raw -its sweet on its own and steals the limelight from the more mediocre fish. Why have only the salmon and tuna, when you can get your hands on this scallop? (We ordered 3 plates of this, btw!!)The Aji ($4.80) or Horse Mackerel was recommended because this was particularly fresh today. I am honestly not a huge fan of mackerel so I wouldn't be the best person to comment on mackerel. If you are a fan of mackerel or sardines however, you may be impressed by their variety and the fish is undeniably fresh too.
The Big Sea Eel ($6.80) is seemingly pricey at $6.80 for eel but hey, check out how huge it is!! The eel is cooked to perfection with a lovely teriyaki sauce glazing it -not too much such that it masks the tender eel meat. The eel comes apart when you break it using your chopsticks. Eating this is a delicate affair, but well worth your money. The taste and textures are so impeccably paired you wouldn't even realise that the rice is tiny in comparison to the eel.
The Katsuo sashimi ($13.60) was also recommended to us as it was a fresh catch of the day. (Well they didn't technically catch it today but you get my drift) Katsuo is the Japanese skipjack tuna, which is generally cured or used for bonito flakes. Hence, the meat has a slightly salty flavour to it that took a little getting used to. The sashimi also had a slightly fishier taste as compared to other maguro and also a more flaky texture. This became less apparent when dipped into soy sauce though The service staff is super friendly here, we enquired on why some of the sushi plates were covered on the belt, and others were not. He explained kindly that it is because those that were just prepared would steam up and covering them would only cause moisture to be trapped -hence spoiling the fish faster and ruining the flavour. We thought that sensitivity to such detail is commendable, and the variety + freshness of the food served here is a definite selling point given the extremely reasonable prices.
Because of the repetition of some orders (yes, we went for seconds!!), our bill came up to $111 for 3 persons. Well worth the money given good service and good food! We would recommmend the Hotate, the Eel, the Cold Udon, and Salmon w mayo & onion, and the Salmon Toro!
Post
