Posted by Veron ·
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goes by the name veron (english) or wanting (chinese). a definitive leo born august 1, 1984. a solo traveler. loves cats, coffee, sensual music, yummy food and technology. when she's not at her job as an IS developer for the government, she's likely to be out dining, or visiting an interesting art gallery or event.
one good thing about working at the HDB hub is that there are a gazillion dining options available. besides the numerous kopitiam (coffee shops) and food courts scattered around the area, there are also bakeries (breadtalk and prima deli, where i get my peanut waffles), cafés (delifrance, coffee bean and even ya kun), fast food restaurants (KFC, burger king, pizza hut, THREE mcdonald’s outlets, with subway opening soon), and franchise restaurants (crystal jade, sizzler, swensen’s and pastamania). the only places that i am really missing are starbucks and tcc.
there are also two sushi restaurants — sakae sushi and ichiban sushi. usually i tend to go for sakae. i get fresh sushi and decent service over there at a good price. on the other hand, ichiban sushi is still very new to me.
the ichiban menu appears to be rather different from sakae’s. they have whipped up a whole range of colorful sushi that look really enticing! based on creativity alone, i feel that ichiban definitely beats sakae hands-down.
i’ll just touch on the sushi that i like, as well as the ones that are rather unusual and worth a mention.
Lobster Salad Inari
Price: $1.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
Price: $1.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
of the various types of sushi — nigiri, maki, inari, temaki — my favorite is the inari. it’s the kind with the rice encased within a layer of sweet beancurd skin. yummy! my pick for the topping was the lobster salad. although i couldn’t exactly tell that it was lobster, just the inari alone was good enough for me.
Salmon Cheese
Price: $1.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
Price: $1.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
cheese isn’t readily found in sushi, is it? being a lover of both salmon and cheese, having this combination in sushi naturally appeals to me. for $1.90, you get a pair of salmon nigiri with the colorful topping of cheese, some spring onion and a little dollop of tomato sauce. never mind that the combination seems quirky. i really liked it! the tomato sauce complemented the salmon and cheese surprisingly well. i’m a fan!
Kani Mayo (Crab Stick)
Price: $1.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
Price: $1.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
the kani mayo was pretty average. it’s basically maki with cooked crab stick chopped into smaller pieces. i like the fact that it’s served with mayonnaise. you simply can’t go wrong with mayonnaise!
Kisu (Japanese Whiting) Spring Roll
Price: $5.30 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
Price: $5.30 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
a relatively pricier dish i had was the kisu spring roll. kisu is a small silver fish known as the japanese whiting. served on a bed of greens, each spring roll is wrapped around a tiny fish.
is that the fish tail?
i used to think that anything deep-fried would taste yummy. i don’t anymore. the spring rolls had been fried to a golden crisp and certainly looked very inviting. they looked to be delicious. i expected them to be delicious. but they weren’t at all. in fact, there was barely any taste to it. the chef must have neglected to use flavoring!
Agedashi Tofu
Price: $4.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
Price: $4.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
one very popular and very common japanese dish is the agedashi tofu. the tofu is typically cut into cubes, covered in a layer of cornstarch before being deep-fried and served in a sauce. i don’t know exactly what goes into the sauce, but it either makes or breaks the dish. in this case, the sauce was done pretty well.
Tempura Ice Cream
Price: $4.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
Price: $4.90 + 10% Service Charge + 5% GST
Dish rating:
lastly, for desserts, i went for the tempura ice cream, or fried ice cream. the vanilla ice cream is covered with a batter before being deep-fried. i had my first fried ice cream in bangkok. since then, it has remained one of those things that baffle me: how can ice cream not melt when it’s being fried?
but well, i don’t exactly like fried ice cream anyway. i prefer my ice cream to be all smooth, creamy and well, “naked”. that’s the way it’s meant to be enjoyed! having the rough tempura batter kinda ruins the feel of it. but that’s just me.
so in conclusion, i really like the colorful sushi concoctions at ichiban. sakae is a safe place for decent sushi. but after dining there so long, the sushi is getting too boring for me. in fact, i probably already know the entire sakae menu by heart! ichiban seems very refreshing in comparison.
i do have one grouse though — the sushi rice had a very rough texture! i hope that was just a bad day, because it’s gonna be the first out of many times that i would be visiting ichiban sushi.
Ichiban Sushi
490 Toa Payoh Lorong 6
#01-12 Singapore 039802 [map]
(65) 6352 9102
Service rating:
www.res.com.sg
490 Toa Payoh Lorong 6
#01-12 Singapore 039802 [map]
(65) 6352 9102
Service rating:
www.res.com.sg
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i haven’t tried any of the ichiban sushi outlets yet, but i frequent the sister outlet ichiban boshi, i think that the quality of food is far superior to sakae. i stopped visiting sakae after trying ichiban just once. the sushi from ichiban is really far more creative, tastier, and uses fresher raw fish. i haven’t tried the dishes (only the sushi, and i really like the kani mayo, i think the kani from ichiban is nicer than the normal crabstick in other sushi chains) you have there, but i’ve eaten most of the dishes from the main menu and i really liked them. esp the cereal chicken. hehe~ View all comments by xxoos
Hi Veron, Ichiban Boshi really beats Sakae hands down. For one, the latter is not exactly the freshest and somehow, the food quality just got worse as time goes by. Like XXOOS, I never looked back after trying Ichiban Boshi. Their prices are almost similar to Sakae but you can taste the difference. Go for their Ichiban Boshi set which is like $21+ but it has EVERYTHING! There’s ebi tempura, fresh salmon sashimi, chawamushi, rice, miso soup and a main dish (can’t exactly remember what). Its the best! View all comments by Joyz
I’ve converted to ichiban from sakae (I patronise the ichiban boshi too). I think sakae’s standard has dropped significantly, and sashimi is not as fresh as those of ichiban’s. And yeah, I agree that ichiban has more appealing food.
Peanut waffles…I like those in Prima Deli! Somehow the branch at hdb hub does them so much better - crispy on the outside with fragrance at each bite. *drooling* View all comments by absolutjoiz
I didn’t realise there were so many Ichiban fans! I went to Ichiban Boshi a number of times before to have the don. But it’s my first time having their sushi.
And absolutjoiz, I am now drooling too from reading your vivid description of the peanut waffles! View all comments by Veron
yup i agree. i’m a convert to the ichiban family. you should really try the abalone salad sushi ($1.90). chewy bite-sized abalone. it’s SO good!
of course, there are some “better” outlets in the ichiban family. for me, i prefer the esplanade and wisma outlet. View all comments by :]
Cool, something new for me to try. This actually sounds like a dangerous place to work at… health-wise :P View all comments by Kevin
I can’t wait to go back to S’pore and try this branch. What about Sushi Tei then ? (I’m not sure I got the name right :-P) View all comments by Mai
hi veron. it has been a while since my last comment.
mm.. for the affordable choice of sushi restaurant, i would prefer sushi tei than the two mentioned.
however, ur pics n post sure makes me feel like to give Ichiban a visit. =) View all comments by zee
Come to think of it, I have been to Sushi Tei just once in my entire life, and that’s at least six years ago!
One of these days I should go check it out again :) View all comments by Veron
Hmm, that’s strange…Sushi Tei is considered better in quality than Ichiban Boshi and it definitely charges more compared to the latter. But I must admit you are paying for the quality as the sashimi is definitely fresher there. But I have no complaints against Ichiban since its value for money. View all comments by Joyz
hmm… this is interesting. I have been an avid fan of sakae sushi but i must admit the standard has drop compared to the first time i went there. And yup the sashimi is not really that fresh.
I heard sushi tei is good. But i haven’t been there like years too. So Veron do us the honour of reviewing the restaurant and do a comparison on the 3 japanese restaurants. U’re the foodie expert and we love ur reviews. Don’t we? ;> View all comments by passer-by
Haha maybe! But I’m simply not that interested in Sushi Tei personally. The impression it gives me is that of a really boring place. View all comments by Veron
A bit off-topic but still on the subject of Japanese Food. I went to Shin Tokyo, sister branch of Ramen Ten, at Parkway Parade. Ordered Grilled Salmon Tempura Premium Bento. OH MY GOODNES!!! The salmon was pathetic! so small and skimpy and slim. Urgh! Argh! after 1 and half week I’m still pissed! View all comments by Mins
Hi veron, since we are discussing about Japanese food, just wonder have you tried Kuishin-bo before (located at suntec beside the sky garden)? Personally i think the food there is rather nice though the queue is always long. View all comments by Wel
You guys should try waraku at east coast park. it’s a bit pricey but you get what you give. The best japanese food are served at cuppage plaze. but some of the japanese restaurant are very cocky they on;y serve japanese people but you can bypass if you can speak japanese. but their japanese is really what they have in japan. ohishi !!!!!!!!!!!!!! View all comments by james wu
Erm, hubby and I went to Plaza Sing branch and hubby got baddddd tummyache after… I like Ichiban still.. but watch out for the raw stuff which may not be fresh… View all comments by Angeline
That sounds awful! I’m a little turned off now. The Ichiban Sushi outlet at PS is quite popular though. I always see long lines there during dinner hours. View all comments by Veron
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