Restaurant Review: Omakase Maeda
Had a look through my photo albums and realized that i have albums after albums on food! It's amazing how much food i have eaten (or food that i made my friends eat). It has always been a bad habit of mine to over-order. I am the typical eye-greedy girl, a term coined by my friends for me, I always think that my appetite is bigger than it actually is but i guess i'm just delusional. :P And because of that, i think i have caused my close friends and the boy to put on a few inches on their waistline. As for me, i am blessed with an abnormally astronomical metabolism and overactive stomach that churns and burns food like no normal human being. Sorry folks.
Anyway, it is probably gonna take me a long while to transform the albums into delectable bites on my blog. Maybe i should just make it into a photo blog for food and let the pictures speak for themselves.
So, sometime a couple of months back we headed to Maeda for our monthsary dinner. First saw it on CNNGo which introduced a couple of authentic restaurants in Singapore. Its location in the gastronomical east provided an additional incentive to visit. The east has the best food in Sg. Prove me wrong otherwise.
Maeda is a simple and minimalist Japanese restaurant and quite popular with Japanese businessmen. The exterior is very nondescript and i wouldn't have noticed it if i didn't know of its existence. The food is Osaka fare (though i seriously can't differentiate the subtle differences between the different regions. As long as it's jap and tasty, that's good enough for me. :))
On to the food. We ordered the omakase aka kaiseki- a degustation menu put together by Chef Hiraoki. There are 3 sets of different prices. We went with the 2 more expensive sets.
1st up, tasty appetiser of fresh plump Canadian oyster in ponzu dressing and chopped clam/ squid meat in a creamy wasabi-ish dressing.
Our sashimi platter included maguro, salmon, saba, toro and otoro, botan ebi as well as uni! Love that creamy texture. Yums. Fish was fresh, definitely not as good as what we had in Tsukiji but oh wells.
A plump and chewy whole clove of Japanese garlic with a mild green chilli smothered in creamy mentaiko sauce looks too blah for me so i made the boy eat it. Guess he doesn't quite like chili after all.Anyway, it is probably gonna take me a long while to transform the albums into delectable bites on my blog. Maybe i should just make it into a photo blog for food and let the pictures speak for themselves.
So, sometime a couple of months back we headed to Maeda for our monthsary dinner. First saw it on CNNGo which introduced a couple of authentic restaurants in Singapore. Its location in the gastronomical east provided an additional incentive to visit. The east has the best food in Sg. Prove me wrong otherwise.
Maeda is a simple and minimalist Japanese restaurant and quite popular with Japanese businessmen. The exterior is very nondescript and i wouldn't have noticed it if i didn't know of its existence. The food is Osaka fare (though i seriously can't differentiate the subtle differences between the different regions. As long as it's jap and tasty, that's good enough for me. :))
On to the food. We ordered the omakase aka kaiseki- a degustation menu put together by Chef Hiraoki. There are 3 sets of different prices. We went with the 2 more expensive sets.
1st up, tasty appetiser of fresh plump Canadian oyster in ponzu dressing and chopped clam/ squid meat in a creamy wasabi-ish dressing.
Touted as a sake bar more than a food place, the selection of sake is pretty extensive. We settled for the calpis soju though because i only take sweet alcoholic drinks.
Our sashimi platter included maguro, salmon, saba, toro and otoro, botan ebi as well as uni! Love that creamy texture. Yums. Fish was fresh, definitely not as good as what we had in Tsukiji but oh wells.
Tempura Anago- salt-water eel. Fun fact: Unagi is fresh water eel and usually barbecued. Anago has a very soft texture and sweet taste usually. Had that at Tsukiji and it was AWESOME. It was cottony and powdery and literally melted in my mouth. This was a far cry from that and it was really bland.
Tempura crab leg was a huge disappointment. Perhaps i was still reminiscing the huge fresh snow crabs in Hokkaido (see below).
I think this is saba but i'm not sure. Not a fish fan as you can tell. Typical fish. I never understood why would people order this.
And this must be the WORST DISH EVER. Some sea conk- which is a shellfish. Tasted really fishy and rubbery. Hated it.
A simple thin udon dish to conclude the set. It looks really simple but the broth is oh-so-sweet and flavorful. The texture of the udon is more like slightly crunchy soba.
And this is the highlight of dinner (served at the very end). Grilled sliced wagyu beef with pan seared foie gras and little mushrooms. Such a delight. This is the only way foie gras should be cooked really.
Total bill came up to about 300ish. I wouldn't pay this much for a meal like that. There were more misses than hits. Don't think the ingredients are worth that much because they weren't that fresh. Not many cooking techniques to boast about as well. Go only if you have never experienced an authentic Japanese omakase before and have the cash to spare.
467 Joo Chiat Road
Tel: 6345 0745
Tue-Sun: 6pm- 11pm
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