Ishi Japanese Omakase Review

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If there’s one cuisine I could eat all the time and not get sick of it’s Japanese. For the longest time I resisted the urge to go for Omakase meals in Singapore. ‘It’s a slippery slope’ I reasoned to myself, ‘I shall save such decadence for a truly authentic experience when I travel to Japan’. And indeed I had the most amazing Omakase meal at Kanesaka in Japan ( served by Kanesaka himself). See review here : Sushi Kanesaka @ Tokyo Ginza.
However , my friend G insisted on bringing me to Ishi, claiming it’s one of the best Omakase places in Singapore for the price, and so I did and now I am hooked.

I would say the lunch Omakase is really great value – the Botan lunch set I had (SGD120) consisted of two starter dishes, 8 pieces of sushi, the crowd favourite uni/ikura bowl, and finally dessert. I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch experience there. If I had two small gripes, that would be that the Shari (the rice) wasn’t sharp enough for my liking, but that’s personal preference. The other would be that the fish is so well marinated that everything melts in your mouth. That’s great but I think it was just a tad overdone, andI would have preferred a bit more texture and bite in my sushi. That said, it was still a great lunch, and I would come back again.

I was served by Chef Suzuki and would highly recommend requesting for him if you do dine at Ishi. Part of the Omakase experience is interacting with the Chef, and he’s got the right balance of not being overly obtrusive but still interjecting at the right moments with the history of the food and explanations when you need them.

It must have been my lucky day because the first two courses started with Uni.

  1. Hirame/uni and 2. Uni Chawanmushi

Both were light starters to whet the appetite but I preferred the hirame/uni since the bite of the hirame went really well with the melt in your mouth uni. The chawanmushi was a bit on the firm side for me but the uni was so sweet it hardly mattered.

Then the sushi course began. We got a bit more than usual, courtesy of G who’s a proper regular!

  • 3. Hirame – I never used to like hirame but have found myself increasingly drawn to it. Great start to the sushi course. Clean flavours, good bite.
  • 4. Shima Aji – pretty standard in Omakase.
  • 5. Maguro – was surprised to see tuna make an appearance so early but regardless this was excellent. Maguro can be a bit tough but this was so well marinated it melted in my mouth
  • 6. Botan Ebi – Amazing sweetness to this prawn
  • 7. Spanish Mackerel – Another one of the surprise favourites in this Omakase.
  • 8. Iwashi – Usually sardines have a slightly fishy taste which I dislike but this was so well marinated it had none of that at all.
  • 9. Nodoguro – Never had this before. It’s sea perch and it was deliciously fatty. The chef also grilled it just slightly before serving which really just made this even better.
  • 10. Chutoro – ’nuff said. Always delicious. I actually prefer chutoro to otoro. chutoro has the perfect marbling for me.

11. The uni/ikura bowl
This is incredibly hard to get wrong if you have fresh ingredients. And boy was this good. I loved watching the Chef spoon out the uni and ikura

12. Dessert : Mochi!

I left feeling really pleased about the quality of the food. Will be back sometime but for now…. on to my next Omakase restauraunt!
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Ishi Japanese Restauraunt
Intercontinental Singapore
1 Nanson Rd, #02-06, Singapore 238909
http://www.ishi.com.sg

xx Kerri


How To Make Ichiban Dashi !

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When it comes to Japanese cooking, Dashi (fish stock) is a must have. It’s frequently used in Japanese cooking as a stock base and provides that umami flavour. Sure you could buy the ready made packets of dashi from your Asian supermarket but home made dashi has a ton more flavour, plus it’s so easy to make, so there’s really no excuse! I use dashi the most for chawanmushi , which is why I typically make a ‘ichiban dashi’ which is the first dashi, using a combination of Kombu and Katsuobushi. You can also make a ‘niban’ (second) dashi, using the leftover ingredients from the first dashi as a base for other Japanese dishes that require a lighter stock base, say miso soup for example. I typically make in huge batches and then freeze them in ice cubes for easy access.

Ichiban Dashi Recipe
Prep time : Minimum 2 hours
Cooking time : 10 min

You’ll need :

  • Kombu ( Kelp)
  • Katsuobushi ( Bonito flakes)

Prep :

  1. Prepare a pot of room temperature water ( filtered if possible).
  2. Cut your Kombu into strips (don’t wash your Kombu, if needed wipe gently. The whitish spots on the Kombu are glutamates which provide flavour.
  3. Soak the strips of Kombu in water for at least an hour and a half ( I sometimes leave it overnight in the fridge but generally 2 hours is good enough).

Cook:

  1. Simmer the pot of water with Kombu inside
  2. JUST before the water comes to a boil, remove the Kombu . This is very important as boiling your Kombu will cause your dashi to become bitter
  3. Add a handful of Katsuobushi, bring to a rolling boil and take off fire.
  4. Sieve out the Katsuobushi, let cool and there you have your dashi! It should be a nice golden colour.

*Pro tip – the ratio of Kombu to water is pretty subjective. The more strips of Kombu the more intense the flavour. I generally add 5 cut pieces to around a litre of water but play around with proportions and taste to find out what works for you!

xx Kerri