Sakae Shabu Shabu

Hi again everyone,

This Saturday, my husband, our housekeeper and myself decided to try out what claims to be the only Shabu Shabu buffet in Singapore. This was once again also run by the Sakae Sushi Group of companies.

However, at the moment the Shabu Shabu buffet is only avalable at the Sakae Sushi outlet in West Coast Plaza or the former Ginza Plaza. Thus, when I called for directions on Friday evening, neither of the two staff members I spoke to could give me any directions and the manager was no where to be found.

Finally, on Saturday morning, we consulted our trusty GPSs on our cell phones which took us directly there. When we get there though, my husband was no longer hungry and said he would sit with us but would have something from the a la carte menu while the two of us had the shabu shabu buffet. This created something of a problem with the staff who kept repeating that all three of us had to have the buffet. After about a patient 5 mins or so of this, we asked to speak to the manager who then conceded to allow my husband to sit with us.

Well, after those few initial hiccups, most of the lunch went rather smoothly. We were given a choice of stock - sake-infused chicken, chicken, kimchii or seafood.
We started with the chicken broth and were given an extensive list of ingriedients to choose from. We chose a selection of seafood such as scallops on the half shell, clams,salmon fillets,threadfin fillets, squid and mussels on the half shell.

We also chose about 5 types of mushrooms, soft tofu, leeks and long cabbage. For meats, we ordered some chicken and beef shabu shabu slices, some tori kariage (deep fried chicken), ebi(prawn) tempura and chawanmushi (steamed egg) which all came complimentary with the buffet.

The three accompanying sauces were all delicious with a ponzu sauce for the meats, a chilli type sauce and a sesame sauce for the seafood. My husband and I were a little disappointed that the sauces were not explained to us but we figured it out being the Shabu Shabu veterans that we are and in turn educated our housekeeper.

The stock tasted homemade, nutritious and very delicious and every morsel of meat or seafood we put in it to cook came out tasting lovely. Of course since Shabu Shabu is essentially a hotpot meal cooked yourselves, the temperature of the stock and how long you leave the raw ingredients to stew all play a big part in the overall outcome of the meal. That being said, the term shabu shabu refers to the swishing sound a thinly sliced pieces of meat makes when held between two chopsticks and swirled around in the boiling stock till cooked which should normally be about no longer than three and a half seconds. As such we were rather shocked by the large chunks of chicken meat which had to be placed in the stock for at least a good 5 mins before they were close to edible.

The seafood was mostly a real delight with the prawns being large and luscious, the salmon very sweet and the scallops succulent. We enjoyed them so much that we ordered some more of each which promptly arrived. However, the extra Tori Kariage and Ebi tempura we ordered never materialised despite several reminders.

My husband ended up having just a cup of green tea which I get for free anyway since I am a Sakae Sushi VIP Card member. I, who am an avid still iced water drinker, was told that with the buffet plain water was not on the house and I had to order the bottled water of which they only had the oxygenated variety. Oh well, despite all, we did have some very good food for the price paid which I believe was close to
S$21.00 a person and will go back soon, hoping that by then they would have sorted out their (again hopefully) what were initial difficulties.

Cheers and hope everyone had a roaring F1 weekend.

Hello Foodies

My previous blog was about Sakae Sushi. Today I am going to regale you of the wonders of Sakae Teppanyaki. The outlet I have always been to is at the basement of the former Bugis Junction.

We normally get the beef and chicken lunch sets which come with absolutely delicious miso soup, a refreshing cold salad, tofu steaks,assorted vegetables which are just the right texture as in still crisp to the bite without being raw, scallops on the half shell, and plain rice which I normally upgrade to garlic fried rice for just $2.50 which is well worth it. The beef is done especially by the chef to your liking (I normally like it medium done), the chicken is wonderfully drenched in a garlicky teriyaki sauce without being too overcooked, the scallops are served on the half shell, beautifully done with delicious orange intestines and all included. A very innovative chawamushi ( steamed egg with ingriedients) is also served in a carved out onion so that all the flavours of the eggs, seafood and onion mesh together like no chwanmushi I have tried before. Fragrant and delicate with every teaspoonful.

To top it off, a gorgeous scoop of rasberry ripple ice cream is served for dessert. (although I am sure they rotate the flavours regularly).

They also have a promotional menu which features Scallops on the half shell and gindara (cod fish) and a number of the above mentioned items for aprroximately $29.00 for 2 persons but I would still go for the non- promo lunch menus.

Altogether a very yummy experience. Can't wait to go back again.

Sakae Sushi - Oishi Desu ka

Hi guys and gals,

This blog is about the Sakae Sushi restaurant chain in Singapore( and many othe parts of the world from what I understand}.Having lived in Japan for a year and a half, I was seriously concerned at eating at a sushi restaurant chain here in Singapore. However, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and freshness of the seafood and I have gone back ever since.

The Sushi lunch buffet is a steal for approximately $15 a head for 60 mins. Only weekdays though so when I can pull myself away from my work, I head there to stuff my face with the most delectable nigiri sushis, various types of maki, gunkan sushi (the ones wrapped with a piece of seaweed) and also the Inari sushis (the ones stuffed into sweet beancurd skins) Every plate that is originally $2.29 is up for grabs and you are also entitled to a free red plate of premium sushi or sashimi. Personally, I adore the lobster salad.... lovely pink chunks of lobster tossed well in a wasabi mayo dressing with flying fish roe. I am such a big fan of this that I constantly send my housekeeper to buy it home for me.

I am amazed mostly by how innovative the sakae sushi group is. Other than all that is revolving on the conveyor belt (which is a dizzying array by itself), you can also ask the servers for delectable hot servings of Tako yaki (flour balls filled with octopus) fried hotate (Scallops...nice even if they are the fake kind), gyoza, cold soba and many,many more. You can also ask for three types of chawanmushi, my favourite being the kani (crab)one which is choc a bloc full of crab chunks. Wash it all down with unlimited servings of hot green tea and/or icy cold water.

So fellow foodies, if you have not tried any outlet of Sakae Sushi before, you do not know what you are missing !! They have the Cara stamp of approval ;-)