TEN Sushi by Marusaya, Robertson Quay: For Late-night Sushi Cravings

By Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow on December 9, 2019 • ( 4 Comments )

To find decent sushi past the witching hour, you can make a trip to TEN Sushi at Robertson Quay, which opens daily. Part of the Marusaya group, TEN Sushi is a casual sushi restaurant and bar that offers contemporary Japanese cuisine with ingredients air flown from Japan directly.

Sakoshi Bay Oysters

Taking the freshness challenge by the horns, the restaurant presents freshly shucked Japanese Sakoshi Bay Oysters ($28 for half a dozen; $49 for a dozen), topping them with seasoned ikura (fish roe) or tobiko (flying fish roe) to balance the creaminess of the oyster flesh. The oysters are fresh and succulent, I would have liked them with just a dash of lemon. They still taste delicious, nonetheless.

12-piece Omakase Sushi

Omakase Sushi – 12-piece ($49) or rather, Assorted Sushi consists of the usual suspects: maguro (tuna), otoro (tuna belly), mizu tako (octopus), aji (Japanese horse mackerel), kanpachi (amberjack), uni (sea urchin), unagi (eel), hotate (scallop), sake (salmon) and more.

Sushi Box (24 pieces)

If you want a variety of sushi, this is a visually-pleasing and satisfying order. The downside is that there is only one of each so it makes sharing a teensy awkward. Every sushi is technically a ‘paiseh’ piece. Then again, if everyone has their own order of omakase sushi, it is unlikely to have stomach space for anything else.

Deluxe Ten Assorted Sashimi Deluxe

If you do not want to eat so much rice late at night, there is a Deluxe Ten Assorted Sashimi ($58) for guilt-free eating. The whole platter consists of thick premium cuts of raw seafood and I dived straight for the otoro, which is the fattiest part of the tuna belly. I expected a melt-in-your-mouth sensation but instead, found the piece hard to chew through. The particular cut of the otoro that I picked had most of the veins left intact.

Aburi Salmon Avocado Roll

For cooked sushi rolls, there are Unagi Eel Roll ($18 for four pieces; $32 for eight pieces) and Aburi Salmon Avocado Roll ($20 for 8 pieces). Both sushi rolls are straightforwardly delectable, often hard to go wrong.

The unagi has a slight smoky flavour and still retains its succulence. The only gripe is that the ratio of eel to rice is not well distributed. There is too much rice to the thin slice of unagi. The aburi salmon avocado roll fares better, you can pop one into your mouth easily and enjoy the ultimate combination of salmon, avocado and roe.

A4 Wagyu Aburi Sushi

One of the best sushi of the night was Wagyu Aburi Sushi ($18 for two pieces; $44 for five pieces). The chef lightly seared thin slices of grade A4 wagyu and brushed small amount of teriyaki sauce over the half-cooked beef. Topped it off with a generous amount of spring onions, the dish is ready to be served. The searing burns off some of the beef fats to bring out the sumptuous umami flavour of the meat.

Dashi Omelette

I am usually disinterested with tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette) because I find sweet eggs unnatural. However, their Dashi Omelette ($8 per serving) has a good balance of sweetness and savoury. The rolled egg is soft and has a silky texture, it crumbles and melts in your mouth with every bite. This is the result of many, many layers of grilled egg on the pan, cooked in just the right amount of time with skill. It is an unassuming dish that requires a lot of work.

Unagi Eel Roll

Overall, the sushi and other offerings are of average standards. Although I enjoyed some of the dishes, I have not found an exceptional dish that I would want to keep coming back for.

The greatest selling point is that they serve sushi and raw food past midnight. If you want healthier bar snacks, this is the bar to go to for your late-night drinking sessions with friends in a casual setting.

Menu