First stop was at Standing Sushi Bar at 1 Raffles Place, their first outlet. Though its still good, but I felt that the salmon sashimi was not as great as compared to those I had at 8Q. Perhaps its the quality of shipment that day? Still it was a good lunch, standing. :P

Sushi & Salmon Set Lunch, $16.80++

Not just your usual plain miso soup. I cleared the bowl.

See the difference between this and those I had at 8Q?

The Sushi Platter

Standing Sushi Bar at 1 Raffles Place

Standing Sushi Bar

1 Raffles Place #B1-02B
Find them on Facebook.

Dinner that day was at this new Japanese Restaurant at Plaza Singapura. Boy it sure changed a lot since I last went! That place used to be my daily hangout but now I seldom step foot in there. Things will change though, thanks to a monthly meeting I’ll be having from now on, I’ll get to go more often! ^_^

Sushi Bar at Itacho Sushi

Confusing order sheets

Took me sometime to figure out how these order sheets work! Kinda wasting paper imo. Would be less confusing and more environmental friendly if they could just take our orders instead. If you’re wondering how the ordering sheets work, note the numbers on the top left corner? If you’re ordering dish #110, take the “1-2″ sheet in white. If you’re ordering dish #1120, take the “11-14″ sheet in blue and so on. Confusing right? Haiz…

The table setup

Salmon ($3.60) and Octopus Sashimi ($3.60)

Scallop Sashimi ($6.00)

Whole Sea Eel Sushi ($6.00)

Crab Stick Sushi ($1.20)

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just sashimi overloaded that day! It was tamago overloaded too! Three types of roasted eggs during dinner! I’ll go back to Itacho Sushi just for these! Love them chilled!

Roasted Egg w/ Tobiko and Corn ($3.20)

Roasted Egg w/ Seaweed and Crab ($3.60)

Roasted Egg w/ Shrimp ($3.80)

Overall it was quite a good dinner at Itacho Sushi. There’s a private room in there that fits 16pax. Can consider for future gatherings/ events. Yes, I’m always on the look out for ideal space for events! Work’s inbuilt into my mind 24seven.

Itacho Sushi

Plaza Singapura #02-35
Find them on Facebook

I’m quite “loyal” when come to selection of food. And so every time I dine at Sakae, my orders are standard. But since this time was for Christmas and with $50 to spend, we went ahead to order more than our usual food. We had more than just sushi that day.

To speed up the process, he flipped through the menu while I clicked for our order on the computer (or whatever they call it).

The Ordering Process

Starting with the usual $2.29 orders…

Chawanmushi, Miso Soup, Tako Nigiri Sushi, Fried Tofu and Salmon Karaage

All the above are our standard orders, how can any of them go wrong in any way right? Standard Sakae Sushi flavors for us. Thumbs up!

Also ordered the Sashimi Salad which I love…

Sashimi Salad ($9.99)

The dishes we tried for the first time (after so many visits to Sakae Sushi)…

Enoki Niku Maki ($7.99)

I’m huge fan of Enoki mushrooms! In this Maki, the Enoki mushrooms are nicely wrapped inside a tender slice of beef. With the sukiyaki like sauce, its a delightful dish and I could eat the entire plate on my own! But too much of it might make the dish undesirable too lah. So eat moderately!

Kinoko Tempura ($7.99)

Elloooo! Huge fan of mushroom talking! Kinoko Tempura aka Fried Mixed Mushrooms, this I would have like it more if the Tempura mixed wasn’t that thick. There was this very long one (I don’t know what’s the name of that mushroom lah!), I couldn’t chew it in smaller bites, end up I pulled the naked mushroom out of the “tempura shell” and just ate that. Hope they’ll improve on this dish in their new menu.

Chicken Katsu Cheese ($6.99)

I tried Chicken Katsu Cheese at other restaurants before, and this isn’t even close to satisfactory. Sorry Sakae! I’m truly very disappointed lah for this one. Instead of tasting the cheese, all I had was bland chicken with lots of mayo. Only managed to eat one and a half slice of the entire chicken and we couldn’t carry on. Quite a waste leh. Suggestion: less mayo and more cheese, more flavoring for the chicken.

To wrap things up, we had the Lychee Mochi Ice Cream! Great way to end a delightful Christmas meal.

Lychee Mochi Ice Cream ($1.99)

I think I recall seeing some posting on their facebook page about a new menu! I’m sure looking forward to it!

Thanks Sakae Sushi for the dining opportunities. If you think I’m good enough for your vouchers again, I would love to try more new items especially when your new menu is out! ^_-

Photos above taken with iPhone 3GS

Thanks to the partnership 24seven is having with Standard Chartered Bank, finally I get to pull myself there with my blogger friends and foodies. With great company, great food and the great promotion Standard Chartered is having, the night was great fun!

As we all didn’t know what to order, we left it for the boss, Howard to decide for us. So we all had what we call “Howard’s Special”!

That’s Howard, Fin and Barry!

If you find Howard familiar, well, he’s the sweet guy from the show “Eye for a Guy 2″. And Barry and Fin, well, if you’ve been watching TV or taking buses lately, these fishes shouldn’t be a stranger to you. Yap! The two from Standard Chartered 15% Cashback TVC.

The entire session of “Howard’s Special” came up to 10 servings, combination of individual servings and sharing portion (*). For the benefits of those present that night, here’s what we had…

1. Miso Soup, $2.50
2. Chef’s Special (Sashimi platter), $25.00*
3. Nigiri platter that has…
   • Maguro, $2
   • Sake Toro, $2
   • Hamachi (a type of yellowtail), $4
   • Aburi Hotate, $4
   • Shime Saba (Mackerel), $3
4. Anago (Sea water eel), $6
5. Mix Kinoko Foil Yaki, $10*
6. Tori Karaage, $6*
7. Salmon Yuzu Yama-mayo yaki, $15*
8. Agedashi Tofu, $5*
9. Tamago Nigiri, $6*
10. Shishamo age, $8*

Crazily a lot of food right? My favorite for the night was…

Anago (Sea water eel), $6

Personally I am NOT a fan of eel at all! I used to eat it if its on my table, but I rarely order it. But this I loveeee! Eating it is tricky though, like a Nigiri, it should be eaten in a single bite. I managed to stuff the whole long eel into my mouth. But Eevon has got some problem though. Watch this video where Eevon demonstrate how to eat the Anago. Video will be uploaded soon!

Mix Kinoko Foil Yaki, $10

Mushrooms!!! This is one of the better tasting mushroom yaki I’ve tried! Usually such mushrooms, the taste will be overpowered by the oyster sauce or whatever sauce mixed with it, but this, the chef used its homemade special sauce and it was perfect! Fragrance of mushroom remains and oh-so-fresh! Love it!!

Look at the Sake Sashimi!, $8

This is not from the Howard’s special. I was too hungry and had to order this when we arrived 30mins earlier. And just look at it is making me drool! Fresh and love the thick cut! Surely worth the $8!

Tako Sashimi, $6. My all time favorite!

Again, the freshness is key!

Yoshinogawa Gensen Karakuchi, $8

And that night I gave my first to Standing Sushi Bar! I had my very first Sake! According to Howard, this is one of their premium sake. It’s soft acidity and light in taste. It has a nice spreading flavor in the middle and a very vibrant, rich finish with some traces of dryness in the end. (No I didn’t craft that out! Its the description on the menu lah! LOL!) But it was good! I didn’t expect Sake to taste like that, but it was hell lot better than I imagined. Looks like my sashimi meals will never be the same again now that I’ve discovered the art of drinking sake!

This dinner was made possible by Standard Chartered. Thanks Barry and Fin for the meal!

Thanks for dinner Barry and Fin!

Looks like you’ve got quite a good bargain using the Standard Chartered Card! With the 15% discount off the total food bill on the spot, and the 15% cashback promotion from now till end December 2009, no wonder the fishes in the tank are all frantically trying to hide! :P

If you are a Standard Chartered card holder, to enjoy the 15% cashback everywhere you dine in Singapore, register via SMS “GET1516-Digit Card Number” to 78722 before 31 December 2009. For example GET15 4508128456789000. You’ve to spend at least $500 per month on anything, not just dining, to be entitled the 15% cashback on your dining expenses. (*Terms and conditions apply)

Tamago Nigiri, $2 each

So are you standing already?

All photos taken with my iPhone 3GS! Not bad huh? LOL!

Yes! I is a huge fan of Sushi! And so is molemole and many other fellow blogger and tweeters out there! Having to see the word sushi in my face almost everyday from blogs and twitter update, I just cannot help but crave for it every week!

Sushi moving too fast too furious!

And yesterday, the moment I sat down at my desk at 12pm (YES! I was damn late for work yesterday) I was told to head over for lunch at Sakae Sushi. I forgot we had a lunch appointment lah! So before I get to warm my seat, we were off to Heartland Mall for yummy 60-min lunch buffet at $14.90++. Available only at selected outlets I think!

Camwhoring the sushi

Since we were there, and me recalling that there’s a blogging thinggy happening, we all decided to try our luck and we did what the other bloggers have done, we took photos with our mobile phones and ate till our tummy went burst! Buffet mah! So our goal is to clear at least 7 color plates each to make our money worth. Wahahaha!

Some of my favorite sushi

I <3 <3 <3 this! Lobster!

At Sakae Sushi, you’ve also got to order their Sakae Chawanmushi!

Its part of the buffet too! Must Order!

Our partner in crime that day – Eevon

Honestly, there are definitely much better sushi elsewhere, but considering sushi that’s value for money and has wide choice of variety, Sakae Sushi is my favourite. And its everywhere! Whenever I’ve got cravings for Sushi, there’ll sure be one outlet within reach in less than 10minutes. Be it when I’m at home or at work.

Guess how many plates 3 of us ate!

You count lah! =P

When we were almost done for lunch, then our “main lead” for this lunch appointment arrived! All thanks to the miscommunication over MSN between molemole and him! *facepalm*

Look like siblings or not ah? *coughs*

And no, he didn’t contribute to the above stack of accomplishment! Its a 60-min buffet remember? By time he arrived, left too little time for him to eat. So he ordered ala carte instead…

Teriyaki Chicken Ramen

It was a good session! Now if only I can win that $50 Sakae Sushi Voucher to go for another round of Sushi goodness! *slurps*