See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/06/01/satisfaction-guaranteed-mikuni-on-1jun2015/
we were celebrating an occasion. went back to our favourite restaurant mikuni on 1.6.2015.^^

looked at the S$220pax grand tour tasting menu (after 50% feed at raffles it would be S$110pax). no particular interest, so did our usual ala carte.

feed at raffles also gave 2 wine or cake vouchers. so we used one for a 2013 chilean white wine. just nice, not so sweet & not tannic, very easy to drink for non connoisseur like me.

we ordered the chirashi don to share. for me this the best chirashi don in town for the price (S$90 so S$45 after 50% feed at raffles discounts).

you get 1 botanebi, a very good helping of uni, 2 chutoro, 3 salmon, 2 hamachi, 3 aburi kajiki (swordfish), 2 hirame (flat fish), 2 hotate, 2 other white fish & ikura. ^^ & this was dinner. to me mikuni’s chirashi don is way superior to aoki’s S$40 mazechirashi don lunch.

and tastu’s S$40 chirashi don is not even in the running. just look at the difference in quality & luxury.

we ordered additional botanebi sashimi. it’s S$45 (before 50% discounts) for 3 large prawns. botanebi deep-fried prawn head & we ate up the deep-fried prawn heads (2heads each), even the legs were incredibly tasty, really well executed here.

they had lobster uniyaki special this evening. it’s a menu item, however we noticed that when they had it as a special, either it was a better lobster or bigger lobster. however like 20mins after we ordered, they came to say they were out, no more serving.

we decided to order the teppanyaki lobster the server claims that it was the same quality lobster. & it was very nice! lobster was quite small i think maybe 400g+ it was down the golden prawns way, with mayonnaise & tobiko (flying fish roe). lobster was very flavourful & the golden sauce too, though we avoided having too much of the fattening stuff.

& our perennial favourite, the kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe. i noticed immediately that there were 4 pieces of beef but they were smaller & thinner than what they used to serve, and did not have the same marbling. it was nice still but really didn’t feel much of wagyu intense flavours.

they have this complimentary drawer dessert. i made suer i asked lest they did not volunteer. we picked the few we like,they were all very nice.

the dinner came to S$115++, i.e. about S$58pax, for such quality food & nice ambience. very enjoyable & perfect for the occasion.

A friend bought me chirashi don lunch@ aoki today on 10.12.2014.

this like the gold standard of chirashi don, according to many reviewers. ^^

well was it for me? must say it was very good.

we were served an otoshi. very nice. not sure what it was. some shellfish maybe. mirugai (geoduck)?? texture yes but didn’t look quite like.

nice salad with ponzu sauce.

& the main event mazechirashi don. there was uni (not much), chutoro (seemed quite a bit), & the usual hamachi, salmon, maguro, tamago, bits of anago (conger eel), and ikura, also some pickled ginger.

the sashimi amount was substantial & very tasty eaten with the rice. basically

it was a barachirashi don. it would beat tatsu’s very expensive & ordinary S$40 chrashi don hands down.

ginza kuroson S$20 chirashi don lunch set didn’t have uni or chutoro, so not really up for comparison but that was just S$20!

if i am just looking for a very tasty barachirashi don set, then the one at sun with moon was pretty good. it came with an excellent salmon fish head miso soup too. again w/o expensive uni & chutoro.

and recently i had very good chirashi don lunch set at sumiya for just S$18.80. it had thick cube cuts so it was more of a chirashi don than a barachirashi.

so i guess indeed aoki would ace them all. all except mikuni for me.

mikuni’s chirashi don had 2 thick slices of chutoro, hotate, uni, botan ebi, aburi salmon etc at S$45 (after 50% feed at raffles discounts). for me even aoki’s very nice barachirashi don was no comparison.

& it is available for dinner also. but of course feed at raffles 50% discounts only for up to 5pax on sundays & mondays & for only 2pax other days. no perfect deal.

nice pickles (not salty) & ginger.

Quite nice dessert, a plum jelly, nice penn a cotta & ice cream.

For S$40, i can definitely do this again!

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/12/11/great-mazechirashi-don-aoki-restaurant-on-10dec2014/

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/11/29/sumptuous-alluring-omakase-hachi-on-22nov2014/

my wife’s good friend couple bought us a wonderful super delicious omakase dinner at hachi on 22.11.2014. : my wife & i had been to hachi several times. we had never take this S$188pax premium omakase here(restaurant said it's a new menu started 2014). every time we just took the S$118pax (now increased to S$128 pax) omakase, which was also pretty good.
#1 first course was a japanese persimmon came shielded with persimmon leaf. dish was beautiful & exquisite, feeling of koyo (autumn colours). persimmon was very sweet but could not recall the other items. there was goma (sesame) sauce. #2 second course was ayu fish, tamago, ginkgo nuts, chestnut, crispy sweet potato, dish of seaweed. such delicate & beautiful plating. ayu is a tasty but flaky (falling apart) fish, not my favourite but ayu shioyaki (鮎塩焼) is a very popular dish (see photo of the open grill here). in small bites for this starter, it was quite nice. #3 third course was a steamed tai (seabream) on braised tofu. sea bream was very sweet & tasty. tofu was excellent, very crispy outside & smooth consistency inside. #4 the next course sashimi moriawase for 1pax was a real treat. i have not taken sawala before & probably not kinmedai too. the kinmedai was really good. :-) and of course the chutoro, botan ebi^^ we had really good sashimi moriawase just last week at sumiya on 16.11.2014which included uni, awabi & akami. and of course mikuni’s chirashi don sashimi quality was top draw. but to have this sashimi moriawase as part of an 11-course omakase was truly luxurious, sumptuous.
the sashimi moriawase for GOTO’s kaiseki was not too bad, but it was expensive & not as good value. #5 fifth course was crispy sweet potatoes on steamed sea bream on japaenese rice cake in a very tasty starchy mountain yam soup. simply yummy. i drank the whole thing. #6 sixth course was a large (3in), firm & tasty oyster. i like this dish very much.
#7 next course was an excellent tempura – anago (conger eel), very good hotate, shiso 紫蘇 leaf (also called oba), and red pepper. the konbu (昆布) which japanese use for dashi (clear soup stock) is not edible. #8 eighth course was ohmi wagyu (近江牛) – among the top 3 japanese wagyu – with caviar, jalapeño chilli, sweet potatoes. taste was simply sublime, out of this world. ^^ #9 next was hokkaido momotaro tomatoes – a palate cleanser. #10 for sushi, each diner could pick 3 types of sushi. my selection of sushi = kinmedai, hotate, uni. the hotate was really good, very huge, plump & sweet. the uni & kinmedai too of course.
wife had uni, negi toro & kinmedai. the 2 friends each had botan ebi, hotate & uni.
#11 i guess dessert was the least tantalising of the omakase – yuzu ice cream, kiwi fruit, grapes, strawberries, blue berries, cheese cake slice. overall this hachi premium omakase was much superior in quality of ingredients & taste c/w the kaiseki we had at GOTO on 23.10.2014, which cost a lot more.

I had 5pax family dinner at our favourite restaurant, mikuni, on 26oct2014. an occasion to remember for me. 

we came mikuni quite a few times. the most recent which i blogged on was on 23.6.2014.
we ordered 4 chirashi don & 1 kagoshima wagyu don as main courses, and had few other dishes to share. 

we had the superb sous vide & deep-fried tako to share. this still the best octopus dish i have tried, better than all the very nice grilled octopus dish at alle darsene lake como & miky at monterosso cinque terre.

& i think this the best chirashi don (2 toro, 2 hotate, 2 shake, 2 kajiki. 2 hirame, 2 kampachi, 2 tamago, uni, botan ebi, ikura) in singapore for quality & price. don’t think there is anything better. 

we tried a new dish, kagoshima wagyu don. wagyu was very good. quite surprisingly to me, the rice was not great. hmmm, any of the kamameshi (釜饭) at sun with moon wheelock or unagi chahan at zen japanese dining was tastier than this.
& another new dish – kagoshima wagyu ishiyaki. i estimated the 6 cuts to be about 80g or 100g. beef was excellent of course, very nicely marbled. JH said reminded him of hida beef 飛騨牛 on a boba leaf 朴叶 or magnolia leaf he had at takayama. 
& kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe, our favourite.
they served complimentary dessert in drawer dessert tray – pick your own. 
daughter collected a nice chocolate banana cake from ritz carlton. they do very nice cakes these days, not too sweet & very nice chic mousse. the cake not really my favourite though.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/10/27/family-dinner-to-remember-mikuni-on-26oct2014/

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/10/02/fabulous-omakase-lunch-goto-on-1oct2014/
GOTO is closing for renovations on 26.10.2014 & reopening on 11.11.2014.
a friend suggested recently & 5 of us decided to go for the S$68pax omakase lunch on 1.10.2014. there was no GST so it was just S$75nett! :-)
GOTO at 14 ang siang hill is currently a kaiseki only restaurant. lunch is 6-course at S$68pax & dinner S$180pax & S$280pax. the chef owner GOTO HISAO, was previously the personal chef to the japanese ambassador to singapore. after the renovation it will be remodelled to a casual restaurants. according to the server lunch sets would be like S$40 onwards. :-)
we had the first course sakizuki – a selection of small appetizers. it had a delicious pickled sanma (秋刀鱼), a equally delicious tofu, pickled ika (squid), some vege, and ikura on enoki in small bowl. really good! we were saying if every dish could be like this. they were, quite! maybe minus the rice.
the sashimi moriawase = maguro, hirame, hamachi, hotate, anago was just incredible! they told us its maguro, but it was so sweet its like akamai (lean toro). hotate was just 1/2 a piece but very sweet. same for hirame (flat fish) & hamachi (yellow tail). the anago (conger eel) was an expensive item too but actually that was my least preferred among the quality sashimi.
the tempura moriawase was served differently w/o the dip & radish & wasabi. there was a lemon & a dish with what looked like green tea powder but actually salt. the server missed out explanation at our table for this dish, so we were guessing the lemon should go on the salt (lemon juice with salt is a very good dip for yakiniku), anyway a few of us including myself was too quick & just squeezed the lemon on the tempura. there was shisamo (pregnant fish), asparagus, 2 like fish cakes etc. very good dish. 
we have a simmered duck dish. i liked it very much. 1 friend felt the duck had too gamey taste. the rest didn’t. a few thought the duck was tough. 1 said the sauce a bit sweet (japanese like to add sugar to their dishes).
for me though it was quite perfect – duck, yam etc. 
a friend said that the mushroom smell was really good. & indeed it was. however i & a few of us did not think this good was great. it did not really had the wok hae of a good chinese fried rice, nor the flavours of a good japanese unagi chahan (fried rice) like say in zen or its sister restaurant en japanese dining. nor is it flavourful c/w the very nice kamameshi at sun with moon.
of course we were just picking bones. haha!
dessert was good too. kochi i liked, good quality fruits & a great black sesame ice cream.
i think this a very good lunch for S$75. i consider this perhaps more refine & better than the S$68 omakse lunch at hachi & about same as (or sometimes better than depending on menu) the S$68 monthly lunch special at kuriya dining. anyway i have booked to go back next week.