Today for dinner, my family sans sister went to Fish Mart Sakuraya at The Village Centre.


I was at first rather non-plussed and wanted to stay at home and have my usual "salad niçoise" cos I heard Dad say we were going to Sakura (an unauthentic jap-themed restaurant). It was a nice surprise upon reaching to see it was one of the "authentic" japanese-owned restaurants, with fresh seafood too!

However, upon opening the menu, it was slightly disappointing to find that menu variety was limited mainly to sashimi and the rare ricebowl (don) / noodle (soba).

Luckily, quality made up for quantity. The freshness of the seafood was impressive.


We ordered kajiki (swordfish) and salmon sashimi, which one can choose from the sliced portions on display at the fish mart section. There is no extra charge if you choose to dine in the restaurant instead of buying it home. The sashimi was fantastic, with no fishy taste / smell and the kaijiki was so delicious it seemed to melt in my mouth. The salmon sashimi was also very good (remember to choose those with thicker lines near the belly). Altogether it was 12 slices for around $10 for both each.

After the sashimi came inari (beancurd-wrapped), $2, and uni (sea-urchin) sushi, $9.


The display was rather quaint, with both served together on a wooden platform. Dad can't live without inari, but he did think the food was pretty good today, quite a compliment considering he's not a huge fan of japanese food. The uni was not as fresh as that at Ichiban Boshi's fish mart @ Great World City basement, but was very full-flavoured and generous in serving. When I popped it into my mouth, I was definitely sent into uni heaven!

Have a closer look at the uni.... yummy!


Next up was soba, $8!


Looking at the menu, it seemed a rip-off to have plain soba at that cost, but when it arrived, the bowl was huge and so was the amount of noodles inside. The soup was just nice, not salty, and the noodles were cooked to soba "al-dente" if there's such a japanese term. Enough to share definitely. My bowl in the photo was a small one requested (just so you don't go - that's so small!) so we could share.

Then, my unagi temaki (eel handroll), $3.50, arrived.


Yet another nice presentation (although the photo doesn't look nice). The unagi inside was a thick generous slice, but it was cold and slightly tough, not what I'd envisioned after all that was eaten. Perhaps it was due to me finishing my soba first, but I doubt I will order this again.

Last but not least was saba (grilled mackerel), $6.


My only gripe with this generous serving of fish was its saltiness. Everyone at the table agreed it was too salty. Oh, and the rice at $2 is a rip-off in my standards, but its a restaurant after all.

All in all, the food was pretty good at a total of $63 including GST and drinks for 3 people. Explaining the crowd (:

*I do prefer Sushi Kikuzawa over Sakuraya though, but that restaurant is too focused on sushi vs Sakuraya's sashimi.

Fish Mart SAKURAYA
The Village Centre
3 South Buona Vista Road
#02-01/02
Everyday 11am-9pm

Labels: japanese, restaurant, sakuraya

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I went to Canelé again at the Raffles City basement after shooting macros at the Botanic Gardens. The heat was so unbearable after a few hours that we had to pop down to an air-conditioned place for some desserts!

Canelé looked as usual really great with all its cakes on display.

So we ordered the Strawberry Shortcake (which I had yet to try), macarons, and the Chocolat Classique.


The Strawberry Shortcake, while a sight for hungry eyes, did not taste as impressive as it looked. There was too much cream, and the shortcake was very dry. I ended up scraping off the cream to eat the shortcake layers and strawberries.


Canelé's macarons sat pretty well with me before and were preferred over Bakerzin's, but today's batch was soggy, instead of being light as air with a slightly crunchy shell. Even though perfect macaron shells are difficult to bake, restaurants should maintain standards.


The Chocolat Classique tastes as chocolaty as it looks. Served with a dollop of cream, this cake should be savoured with bites of cream to balance out the intense cocoa high. Strictly for chocolate lovers only.

Raffles City Shopping Centre

252 North Bridge Road,
#B1-81/82 Raffles City Shopping Centre,
Singapore 179103

Labels: Canelé, dessert

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The Chicken Dijonnaise ($20.50) came with a tiny slice of avocado. As per normal Hog's Breath, portions were huge for every main course. The fries seemed soggy today and were not crispy on the outside, but on previous outings were good. The chicken was over-tenderised and lacked the usual tough texture of grilled chicken. However the sauce was tip-top (:

The Tex-Mex Combo ($26) consists of a grilled sirloin steak on Cajun rice and Chicken Chimichanga. It was an amazingly huge portion. Enough for two to eat.

Labels: Hog's Breath Cafe

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