Teppei Japanese Restaurant

I am too lazy a person to try to get a reservation with Teppei so when my friend offered me a seat when someone in her party couldn't make it, I immediately jumped on the chance.

Soo a 4 month in advance reservation is necessary to eat here. Big question here is - is it worth the wait?  So $80+++ for 20+ dishes sounds like a darn good deal, and at the end of the meal I thought it was but given the amount of effort needed to eat here, it was not worth the wait.

20+ dishes may sound like a lot but most of it was just bite sized items, like erm a grilled ginkgo nut and erm a smoked pickle

Here were some of my favourite items

Sashimi platter, fresh and quite a large amount for what we paid. Although the presentation was quite sloppy but I guess it added to that homey charm of teppei 

My favorite item - negitoro handroll with tempura bits. Each bite was a mix of crunch and soft delicious tuna.  This got me on a tuna handroll craze where I started ordering this at every Japanese restaurant lol

Uni and scallop over rice. Give me more of that! 

Not a favorite but one of the more interesting items. Fried grasshopper, looks scary but tasted just like deep fried nothing. 

mmmm beef! The chef made all of us take photo of the raw beef haha, looks so good, I wish I had the whole try to myself.  The grilled beef was tender and very tasty - can I have this over a bowl of rice pls?

Another unusual dish - fried rooster crown. Again, tasted like deep fried nothing lol, really a dish of entertainment value than anything else

Lastly, your choice of sashimi rice or soba noodle. I will choose sashimi rice anytime - uni, tuna, swordfish mmm  

The noodle dish was decent but why would you choose this over sashimi

Overall, it was a fun experience dining at Teppei and I got to try a few weird items which I guess its all part of the omakase experience. That say, except for a few nice items, the rest of the dishes were pretty boring/average. Verdict - try once enough already.



#01-18, Orchid Hotel
1 Tras Link
6222 7363

Sushi Kuu

Ok so this meal happened in January but I am calling it - this will probably be one of my top 10 meals of 2014.

Anniversary dinner - Omakase at Sushi Kuu. Admittedly when I walked in, I was disappointed. The decor was too casual, not really what you expect of a nice Japanese restaurant. Thankfully I was proven wrong.

Started off with Onsen Tamago mmm I love runny eggs. This was very nicely seasoned and every scoop of egg with the salty roe bursting with flavour and creamy uni - awesome.

More roe! Over a bed of cold radish.

Next up - the sashimi course. Which was glorious and so beautifully plated that I almost couldn't bear to eat it. Big sweet prawn, platter of shellfish, sea bream filled with uni and oh 2 thick slices of fatty, melt-in-your-mouth otoro that made me not feel like eating anything else because I wanted that taste to last forever. Best sashimi course at an Omakase. ever. 

And you can get your prawn head fried! 

Wagyu beef and grilled cod.  The beef was definitely the better of the 2 options, tender and delicious.

Starting to get full but lets press on. Next course was tempura vs steamed egg (with more roe!)

Featuring snow crab and a light as air batter, the tempura was the stronger of both dishes.

And the sushi course featuring more otoro! The salmon belly wrapped with lettuce was delightful 

Ended the meal with panna cotta (which I didnt touch cos I was too stuffed).

Seriously a great meal. Well worth the $150++ price tag.

390 Orchard Road
Palais Renaissance #01-07
Tel 67360100

Kuriya Penthouse

I had my first Omakase experience on my birthday this year - at Kuriya Penthouse

Located at the top of Orchard Central, this was a promised "meal with a view".

Well some what of a view... The walkway outside of the restaurant really dampened much of it. Imagine enjoying your meal and grazing out, only to find random passer-bys staring at your food. Perhaps the owners could rent out the walkway too? Convert it into an open air lounge area where diners can chill after their meals ala Sky on 57.

The decor was somewhat disconcerting too. For a high-end restaurant that Kuriya brands itself on, it sure didnt seem that way. Tables were far too close to one another and there was just a general lack of intimacy and exclusiveness that I have come to associate nice Japanese restaurants with. Thankfully these were one of the few 'negatives' that night. And if I am paying $150++ for my meal, I can afford to be a tad more picky right

On to the food, we each got the chef recommendation menu and at $150, it was one of the more affordable Omakase in town.

First up, Crab meat with salmon roe. Fresh sweet crab meat paired with a sticky concoction of seaweed and mustard and salty roe. One of those dishes that must be eaten as a whole, the components do work well together.

Sashimi course next and how PRETTY is the plating! I almost couldnt bear to eat it. Never tried sea cucumber sashimi before (in the bowl) and after having had it, Im not much of a fan. Taste wise not too bad but I couldnt deal with the too chewy texture. The rest of the sashimi though were exquisite. Fresh and sweet and melt-in-your mouth deliciousness. The tuna belly in particular, stood out. If this werent just the second course, I would have gone "thats it, done for the day, nothing would beat this"

3rd course was another pretty plate, ok make that 3 pretty plates.

Refreshing soba with seaweed and chicken

Nicely grilled salmon. Those black beans (not sure what they are) but they are sooooo sweet! 

I would eat a bagful of them.

Runny egg and a sweet prawn. I was confused initially because one of the waiters described this as tofu (wth waiter?!) and I was amazed by how the chef made the tofu looked so much like an egg till I took a bite. That say, you cant go wrong with a runny egg.

The highly anticipated Stone Grilled Wagyu beef steak

And disappoint it did not. Fat streaked and tender, we oohed and ahhed through this course. 

Meat heaven, this must be what it feels like.

Yes, this is when you get your dollar's worth.

Scallop tempura encased in rice grains. The tempura was pretty decent though I did think the scallop one was too oily. 

Simmered red rock fish. MMM i love steamed fish, esp one as sweet and fresh as this with an awesome broth. Could do with less bones though

The last course- Oyster Claypot rice.

This was the course where you get to fill your stomach if your aint full yet. The dish was average to me, mainly cos I prefer my oysters raw.

Because it was my birthday, the waiters presented me with a cake (which the boy had shamelessly requested for when making a reservation)

The cheesecake was deLIGHTful. 

As an additional treat, my desert came encased in an ice bowl! 

How do they do it?! Theories : spray water into a bow + apply liquid nitrogen, layer of water between 2 bowls. Btw, the chef refuses to tell us his secret.

It was a lot of fun playing with the ice bowl though

Moving on, fruits wise, they were sweet but ironically a tad too frozen.

In all, I had a wonderful Omakase experience. The waiters were friendly (each of them wished me Happy Birthday on my way out :) ) and I had a lot of fun eating, which is what dining should be all about right

Kuriya Penthouse

#12-02 Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road

6509 4222