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2013-11-15
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I've reviewed Aoki before and I was blown away with the super awesome chirashi set lunch my first time there. Now I'm back to try again (yes same dish) and see if the standard lives up. This place is quite high end so I wouldn't suggest dressing too sloppy when you are dining here. It's located below Shaw Centre and has a very nondescript entrance where the only hint of the name is a wooden plague by the door...in Japanese. Our lunch set is $35++ before gst and I chose the Chirashi set. I really
We got a large private room as it wasn't too crowded during lunch and we had 5 pax in the group. They have booth seats that we walk past but those were meant to seat 4. If you have a big group, do make reservation in advance to avoid disappointment.
As usual, the starter is a simple salad with fresh vegetables tossed in a salty dressing with a hint of sesame. Tasty, simple (a tad too salty) but nothing great to shout about. I wish they would serve a different and more innovative starter like some seafood or perhaps some cold noodles.
The star of the set lunch...a large bowl of Chirashi! Delightful cubes of different fishes (salmon, tuna, yellowtail and more) with cubed eggs, slices of tiny cucumbers and dollops of divine uni (urchin) throughout the bowl. You mix it up with the rice underneath and dig in! They also gave some nice vegetables and radishes as sides. Now the first time I had this, it was sweet, salty, and simply awesome. Plus there was enough 'sauce' or liquid to coat the rice properly. This time round, I felt it was a little bit dry and ... slightly disappointing. The fish was fresh but it wasn't as melt-in-your-mouth like I had before. And because there wasn't enough moisture, I had leftover rice that were too dry. For me, it wasn't a consistent standard. If you haven't tried this before, I still think it's good to order. If you have, perhaps try another item on the menu.
Dessert consists of 3 items - a very delicious strawberry mousse/jelly item, a plum jelly and a milk tea ice cream. I love love love the milk tea ice cream. The flavour is creamy, dense and so refreshingly cold. The strawberry item is also very good and feels very playful on your palate. The plum jelly adds that tiny bit of tang to the whole dish. Overall, very nice. The service was good as expected plus there wasn't a long waiting time for the food, but as the main factor (which was the food) didn't excite me and this is not a cheap place to dine in, I'm not in a hurry to come back.
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