On 30th November 2013, I had an impromptu meet up with a friend of mine and we met at Orchard and walked around. As both of us had heavy lunch and were not really hungry in the afternoon, we only decided to go for dinner together when it's approaching 7pm.
And so... We decided to head over to ION Orchard for some Japanese food.
How exciting is it?! ITS MY FIRST TIME VISITING THE FAMOUS ITACHO SUSHIIIIIIII~~~~!!!!! ^^
When we reached there, at approximately 7pm, we joined in the queue to get our queue number before being served to be seated to have our meal. The queue numbers were classified into 4 categories, 1-2 pax (labelled A) / 3-4 pax (labelled B) / 5-6 pax (labelled C) / 7 pax & above (labelled D).
Finally we reached the counter to get our queue number! Our queue number was A228, lifting up our heads, we saw the last served number for 1-2 pax was A209, with 19 in queue. We were shocked seeing how far behind our number was. And thus, we decided to walk around the mall before heading back to the restaurant. After roaming for 30 minutes around the whole of basement levels, we decided to head back, only to see that the queue for has moved to A211!!! 2 couples entered after 30 minutes! Tired and hungry, we decided to just join the other customers, waiting outside the restaurant for our queue number to be called. At around 8pm, yes an hour of waiting, our number has finally been called! SO HAPPY!!!!
This is the kind of table setting that we have been dying to see after queuing for soooooooo long!
A cup of hot green tea never go wrong when you are eating sushi! ;D
The plates and utensils are cleverly kept in the drawers of each table for the easy access by the customers!
A little thoughtful thing for customers? :)
Initially I didn't know about this until my friend told me about it. The sushi sold here all comes in 1 pieces, instead of the normal 2 pieces you get on the plates from conveyor belts! Looking at the menu, I was really spoilt for choice and didn't know what to order, so I asked my friend to recommend me some of the items that she tasted great!
First up! Salmon with Soy Sauce Sushi (S$0.40) and Roasted Duck Breast Sushi(S$1.50)!
YES! You did not read wrongly nor did I type wrongly! The soft, fragrant and melts in your mouth Salmon with Soy Sauce Sushi is only S$0.40 per piece! Its a POPULAR and DAILY LIMITED to two pieces per person sushi! When you are there, MUST TRY IT!!!
Another MUST TRY is the Roasted Duck Breast Sushi! To be honest, I was quite reluctant to try it as Im not a fan of duck due to its relatively tough and fatty meat. But when I put the sushi into my mouth, I WAS SHOCKED! To my surprise, the duck meat has a slight BBQ fragrant, and its very tender and juicy, unlike any other duck meat you get from food stalls.
Next up, we had the Corn Salad Warship Sushi (S$0.90)
and the store's recommendation,
Spicy Salmon Sakura Shrimp Inori with Ebiko (S$1.90)!
My friend had the Corn Salad Warship Sushi, while I had my Spicy Salmon Sakura Shrimp Inori with Ebiko. Spicy Salmon, well to me its not spicy at all, and the fragrant of the Sakura Shrimp levels up the seemingly ordinary sweet Inori sushi with Spicy Salmon served on top of it. Like what the restaurant said, it definitely deserve the recommendation! Try it if you like the sweet Inori! ;D
We orders a Scallop Sushi (S$2.60) for each of us as we were quite curious on the way they serve it! Upon ordering, you have a choice on the kind of salt you want your sushi to be served! They have Green Tea Salt, Curry Salt and Sea Salt! As I was rather curious on the taste of Green Tea Salt, and my friend wanted to try their Sea Salt, we ordered both of it and shared to try on the different salt!
The fresh scallop is naturally sweet by itself, soft and doesn't require any chewing action for it! The taste from the salts cleverly brings out and made the sweetness of the scallop to be stronger! I tried on the salts by itself after tasting them with the sushi, I thought that the sea salt tasted like normal salt, or maybe it was because the amount I tried was too little to taste the difference, and the Green Tea Salt actually gives a very very light fragrant of Green Tea. Really surprised to behave tried such special salt!
How can you leave a sushi restaurant with out having a serving of their
Salmon Sashimi (S$3.60)?
The restaurant actually offers Fatty Salmon Sashimi (S$5.10) on their menu. I should be trying it the next time I visit them! ^^ Well, S$3.60 for 3 slices of Salmon Sashimi? Definitely worth the price you are paying for. Its so fresh that you can go on and on forever! Sashimi Lovers should know how a good plate of sashimi taste like right? Then I shall not go too much into describing the sashimi! :)
The HEAVENLY plate of sushi has arrived! Yellow Tail with Black Truffle Sauce Sushi and Roasted Kagoshima Wagyu Beef Sushi (S$4.80)!
Apart from the freshness that I haven been going 'Gaga' over, Im am pretty impressed by the quality that they present the Wagyu Beef! First on the Yellow Tail with Black Truffle Sauce Sushi, it was my first time trying the all expensive and rare Black Truffle!
Well, as I was rather curious on why people are willing to spend tonnes of money on having Turffles, I ordered the it just to try the taste of Black Truffle. Without knowing the benefits of what Truffles can bring, I just went on to try just the sauce when it came onto my table. To my surprise, its tasteless =.= What I tasted was a black pinch of tasteless mushroom sauce. Other than its rarity, I have no idea why this mushroom is so expensive as it is only high in protein, moderate source of carbohydrate, low in fat and it is cholesterol free. Nonetheless, the Yellow Tail sushi was still a great piece to have it! There are other choices of the sauce to go along with it!
The Roasted Kagoshima Wagyu Beef Sushi was another one that surprised me pleasantly! Soft, fragrant, fatty and the whole mouth is filled with melted beef the moment you place it in your mouth! Even without the soy sauce, your windpipe will be gushed with the fragrance of the roasted beef! Try it to believe it ;D
Following up, Grilled Pork Sushi and and Shrimp Tempura Sushi (S$1.80).
The Shrimp Tempura Sushi was ordered by my friend, thus I did not get to try it :) However, according to my friend, it seems quite a good dish ^^
GRILLED PORK SUSHI!!! The appearance of the grilled pork seems kind of normal, but when you delivery it into your mouth, the feel of heaven spreads like wild fire in your mouth! The fragrance from grilling the pork is just incredible! Its just so nice that you cannot ask for another ingredients to improve on it! However, the texture for the pork is just a tad tough, but still acceptable and chewable for all ages! For eaters who are afraid of the smell of pork? Fret not! There is not a tiny bit of it in this sushi! MUST TRY! ;D
Top Salmon Belly with Black Pepper (S$4.50)
THIS!!! Is definitely a MUST ORDER during your visit! This bowl of Salmon Belly is just an incredible bowl of well seasoned, soft and non-oily stewed Salmon Belly! As we ordered quite a number of dishes at one go, I did not keep track of what we ordered, and upon trying this, I though it was a bowl of Salmon Cheeks! Its just so soft, tender and fatty that it slips down your throat when you put it into your mouth, even without chewing! The taste of the Black Pepper is not strong in this dish, and the sauce itself is more of a saltish-sweet taste, rather than a spicy one. Squeeze the slice of lemon for a surprise! ^^ Highly Recommended if you like Salmon =D
Clam with Butter and Pepper (S$4.00)
We ordered this dish just because of the words 'clam' and 'butter'! Its really a great way of cooking these clams! The buttery taste, but not oily, was real yummy, and the pepper sure brought out the sweetness of the clam itself! It was quite nice and we sure finished the whole bowl of it within a few minutes! If you like seafood, order this!
Whole Sea Eel/Supreme Eel Sushi (S$6.50)
Yes! This is the one that I have been waiting for, for the longest time ever! Seen this so many times when they had the poster at the underground entrance to Bugis Junction, and had always wanted to try out an Unagi Sushi like this! And when the waitress served me this plate, I WAS SHOCKED! I WAS LOST! I WAS CONFUSED! How am I supposed to go about eating this sushi?! YES! IT IS A SUSHI!!! Look at that length of the eel, with that pair of chopsticks placed beside it!
As a start, I tried using my chopsticks to cut a part of the eel to taste it. I had some problems cutting it as at parts of the eel, the sauce has been caramelized during the process of cooking, causing it to be a little harder to cut. Nonetheless, I succeeded with the first splitting! Well, it is definitely worth the price, and worth the time tasting it. Usual teriyaki sauce for the eel, but it was a little too sweet for myself when I ate the eel by itself. After finishing it, I gave up trying to cut it. I decided to pick up the whole piece and start chewing on it! The taste of it with the sushi rice is just right, compared to eating it by itself. I would recommend you to try it if you love Unagi! It will not be a disappointment for you and you will definitely enjoy it! But the fish itself is a little dry :) Enjoy eating a whole eel than just 2 slices you get from any other sushi restaurant ;D
After finishing the food that we order, we felt that the food wasn't enough to fill up our tummy from that an hour long wait! So, we decided to order slightly more food! We then ordered a second round, which includes a piece of Wagyu sushi each, a plate of fried shrimp gyoza, a roasted duck breast sushi each, a roasted pork sushi each and a plate of sweet potato as dessert!
Deep Fried Shrimp Gyoza with Green Tea Salt (S$2.40)
If you are looking for something to eat and crunch in your mouth, you can give this a try! Well, it's not something very special to try, but the filling, which is minced shrimp, is actually filled with the natural sweetness of fresh shrimps! Try it if you love prawns! *The sweetness is better brought out if you have it with the Green Tea Salt*
Sweet Potato (S$3.00)
Sweet potato for dessert? Don't people go for ice cream, puddings, waffles or cakes for dessert after a meal? Well, they do have ice cream, which are Vanilla/Matcha flavored, but we decided to try something different, which is the Sweet Potato!
When we saw it on the menu (refer to the picture above), it looked like it is just pan-fried sweet potato. But it turned out that it is fried sweet potato cubes in honey. What's the sauce again? Honey? YES! IT IS SWEET POTATO WITH HONEY!
Wouldn't it be too sweet when you put honey with sweet potato? Yes, it is sweet, but it is a very surprising combination! Its not too sweet and the honey actually makes the sweet potato to be a little more moist as sweet potatoes are dry itself. If my tummy could allow more food, I would have ordered another plate of this to satisfy my craving for sweets after a meal! Have this if you do not want some conventional desserts to end your wonderful meal!
In a nutshell, my friend and I totally enjoyed our dinner there, with a dimly lit comfy environment, beautifully designed dining place served with incredibly great food. The food are mostly quality food and if you are going for a budget place to enjoy Japanese food, Itacho Sushi is definitely not a place you want to visit.
Once in a while for good food, Yea! Come here if you don't mind queuing! Im not too sure about the crowd for weekdays, but I am definitely coming back to check out their GREAT FOOD again on a weekday! ^^ Service wise, I felt that it was quite good. Friendly waiter and waitresses, polite always, clears our plate when they serve our food even if they are carrying food for other tables, and our tea is always refilled fast without fail!
If you want to visit them for some great quality Japanese food, here are some of their information:
- Outlet 1 : ION Orchard #B3-20, Tel: (65) 6509 8911
- Outlet 2: Plaza Singapura, #02-35, Tel: (65) 63378922
- Outlet 3 : Bugis Junction, B1-05, Tel: (65) 63378911
- Outlet 4 : Changi Airport T3, 03-30/31, Tel: (65) 62418911
- Outlet 5 : JCube 02-35, Tel: (65) 66844083
- Outlet 6 : The Star Vista B1-12, Tel: (65) 66940880
Outlet 7: Bedok mall B2-42/43 (Opening on 8th December 2013)
Opening Hours
Mon - Thu: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
Fri - Sat: 11:00 am - 11:00 pm
Sun: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
*Pictures were taken with my Samsung S3, and some basic enhancement has been done to them. My camera was not with me as it was an impromptu visit*
