Shiraishi at the Ritz Carlton serves Edomae sushi under the mastery of chef Shiraishi Shinji. “Edo,” the old name for Tokyo, is an early period of Japan when they had no refrigeration. Therefore the seafood had to be treated with preservation methods such as applying soy sauce, vinegar, ginger and wasabi to prevent the seafood from rotting quickly. It also adds interesting flavours to the seafood. Here, they import their supply from Tsukiji Market in Tokyo.
Shokadah ($50): sashimi, fried fry on rice, grilled food, appetizer, rice, pickles, with miso-soup, dessert.
There are 10 different lunch sets, a good variety for everyone, which start from $45++ to $130++. Kaiseki dinner ranges from $150++ to $270++, although, like any good Japanese restaurant, you can specify your price. They also serve seasonal dishes at market prices so if you know what you want, you can inform the chef.
Hisago Bentoh ($60): mixed sashimi, grilled fish, appetizer, special rice, pickles, with miso-soup or clear-soup, dessert.
Three out of four us agreed that the set lunch was super shiok; only Ms Atas said, “Hokkaido has better seafood.” Huccalyly ordered Shokadah ($50), which she liked except that “when they state it’s fried fish, I didn’t expect it to be ‘ikan bilis’ on rice.” The Hisago ($60) set is adorable, coming in a gourd that stacks in layers.
But I think my set, miyabi bentoh ($100), is the best simply because it has everything!: mixed sashimi, sushi & roll, grilled food, fried food, appetizer, with miso-soup or clear-soup, dessert.
The appetizers are really, really fantastic. Usually restaurants give kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) or other insincere stuff for appetizers but here, the appetizers are carefully selected and cooked amazingly.
I didn’t really fancy the grilled fish (gindara?) because it was rather bland. Was it glazed or not? However, the tempura was SPECTACULAR. Out of the world. When I bit into it, I was in total bliss that annihilated my existence. They tempura-ed shiso leaf–and I hate the acrid taste of shiso leaf–but here, it was heavenly. I didn’t know vegetable could taste so orgasmic.
The sashimi is good. It’s generous of them to include two pieces of otoru fatty tuna; that alone is worth the price of the bento.
The sushi is good too. I’d prefer the rice to be more vinegary, but that is fine. However, I thought it is strange that customers have to dip sushi in soy sauce ourselves. Usually for sushi at this kind of restaurants, chefs already apply soy sauce on the sushi so customers can just eat it. This is because soy sauce is part of the balancing act that chefs have to achieve for great tasting sushi.
Another oddity about this restaurant is that customers have to pay for green tea ($3). Again, usually for sushi-ya of this price range, green tea is gratuitous. I paid $121 for my set. Will be back for it.
Shiraishi
The Ritz Carlton, 7 Raffles Avenue, #03-01/02, Singapore 039799
tel: +65 6338 3788
12pm-2.30pm, 6pm-10.30pm
Food: 7.5/10
Price/value: 6/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience/decor: 6/10
You may be interested in…
–Yuzu Japanese Restaurant, Holland Village: Great Food and Four Cases of Carelessness
–Kappou Japanese Sushi Tapas Bar, Fortune Centre: 23 Year-Old Female Chef Serves Excellent Modern Japanese Food
–Shima, Goodwood Park: New Value-for-Money Kaiseki Set Meals
–Sushi Kimura, Palais Renaissance: Better Than Michelin-Starred Sushi Restaurants
Written by A. Nathanael Ho.
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