Food Review: Omakase dinner at Nagomi

submitted by @alkanphel

| Nagomi Restaurant | 5 Koek Road #02-22 Cuppage Plaza | Tel: 67324300 | Mon to Sat | 6pm to 12am |

Great omakase dinner at Nagomi, which is a small and hidden Japanese eatery at Cuppage Plaza. The chef Nada Satoru used to have a normal menu but he changed it into an omakase menu based on the fresh and seasonal ingredients from Japan.

The place is dimly lit and you have to remove your shoes when you enter. There aren’t many seats, just a counter table of about 8 seats and about 4 tables. The ambience is definitely cozy and it feels very traditional.

Appetizer: Mategai and daikon

The appetizer was bamboo clams and grated radish. If the chef didn’t tell me it was bamboo clams I would have thought it was cuttlefish.

1st course: Tofu salad

Basically sliced tofu with a bunch of veggies and some avocado and tomatoes. Nothing really special actually but the sauce was very nice and really made the whole dish come together. The tofu was also quite firm too.

2nd course: Sashimi moriawase

From left to right: uni, hotate, kanpachi, maguro, shima-aji, kinmedai

Fresh and delectable sashimi, this was the first time I had kinmedai which is also known as alfonsino. The uni was especially nice and it had that salty taste that reminds you of the sea breeze.

3rd course: Takabe shioyaki

This is a fish that is now in season in Japan. It was salt-grilled as a whole fish and the flesh was just so sweet, tender and fresh. Almost like it was just caught moments ago!

4th course: Braised kurobuta belly

This is the black pork belly, braised until the fats were so soft as to melt in your mouth. Very tasty but a bit too rich to eat so much of it. Reminded me of buta no kakuni.

5th course: Wagyu teppenyaki

This was the highlight of the dinner for me. Succulent slices of tender wagyu beef (imported from USA) that were grilled just nice. The chef instructed me to sprinkle the accompanying lime salt over the beef slices and the combination was amazing.

They tasted great with the marbled fats just melting away in my mouth with that grilled taste and because the wagyu slices were not pre-marinated much, so the lime salt added the right amount of saltiness to it.

6th course: Porridge

This is a simple yet exceptionally tasty porridge. It was simmered at low heat and actually more like soup rice than a real porridge. It came with peppered chicken and egg inside and seaweed was sprinkled on top. Great way to fill up the stomach at the end!

Dessert: Yuzu ice-cream

To round off the omakase, we get the usual yuzu ice-cream as dessert. It is fast becoming one of my favourite ice-creams to have now. The taste is so uniquely citrus and refreshing.

Food review: Omakase dinner at the Standing Sushi Bar

submitted by @alkanphel

I went for an omakase dinner at the Standing Sushi Bar this time round!

1st course: Vermicelli with spicy sesame oil dressing

I thought this was chuuka kurage (jellyfish) at first since this dressing is usually used with jellyfish for an appetizer.

2nd course: Sashimi moriawase

Lovely plate of fresh sashimi. There’s mekajiki, sake, maguro, hamachi and hotate. with a dollop of uni. And a bowl of aji (I think) topped with grated radish and bonito flakes. Very nice indeed!

3rd course: Fish meat patty topped with grilled cheese

This is like a burger patty but made with salmon and tuna meat ground together and then steamed. This makes it really juicy and tender. Then it is topped with grilled cheese – the combination is damn nice!

4th course: Yakitori stuffed with fish paste

Damn delicious! Succulent grilled chicken chunks stuffed with tasty fish paste. Great to throw the whole thing in your mouth and chomp on it :D

5th course: Hamachi kama shioyaki

Tender white flesh that almost melts in your mouth. This is the collar of the hamachi and it is grilled with salt.

6th course: Buta no kakuni

This is a dish that took chef Roy a lot of time and preparation to make. It is basically an old traditional recipe for braised pork belly. It comes in a huge chunk of meat and fat but yet the fat is solid enough and tastes amazing.

It is done by first simmering the pork belly cubes until the bad oils come out, then simmering it again in porridge so that the rice grains absorb more oils out and infused their rice taste into the fats, and finally the pork cubes are braised yet again in the special home-made sauce. This whole process took about 14 hours.

7th course: Grilled kurama ebi with mentai mayo

Mmm grilled tiger prawn tastes fresh and firm with the nice mentai mayo to top it off.

8th course: Sushi

Aburi hotate and salmon belly is like the best sushi to put into my mouth. It simply melts and tastes so so good. But of course not forgetting the delectable anago sushi! This is only like the 5th time I’m having anago and it’s really nice. Miso soup was also served with the sushi.

9th course: Sponge cake and yuzu ice-cream

Imported from Japan, the sponge cake and ice-cream were.