A sushi corner in Orchard - Goshin by Akashi (Robinsons Heeren)

On a chilly Friday evening when it was raining cats and dogs outside, I was craving for sushi. However, I wasn't expecting any eating places located in the new Robinsons Heeren so you can imagine my joy when I accidentally came across this place which was housed at one corner of B1. The best thing was, I didn't have to join any crazily-long queues typically seen outside most restaurants during the weekend. To be honest, unless you've heard of this place or happen to be inside Robinsons, chances are you might not know about this sushi joint so I do wonder if they are doing anything special to promote this place because it doesn't look like many people know about this place yet. I think that there is another outlet at Suntec City which I suppose has been around longer than this branch.

Looking at the menu, it's similar to the pricing system at Itacho where they charge by per piece rather than per dish in most other places. There are some items which are considered quite cheap e.g. $1 per piece and of course, some on the steeper side. Depending on your order, I think you can get a pretty good deal without burning a hole in your pocket. However, I did have my reservations at first while looking at the prices (too cheap to be true for some items?) but since this restaurant is produced by Akashi, I thought that this lent a certain degree of credibility to this new sushi joint. The surroundings looked quite comfortable too so I gave in to my desire of sushi in the end instead of going to my tried-and-tested options elsewhere.

First up was the crab claw which also contained minced prawn to make it a more substantial dish. Among all the items I ordered, this was the most expensive. Much as I was pleased with how the interior portion ie. the crab claw and the minced prawn matched each other in terms of flavour and texture and was quite fresh, I thought that the exterior wasn't so nice because it was too heavily seasoned and felt quite dry at the same time. Perhaps it would have been better if this dish was done in a braised form with a sauce or lightly grilled to bring out the freshness of the ingredients rather than overcook it and wasting the fine qualities of the ingredients.

Next was the kanimaki which I was quite surprised to see in this state. This was the first time I've seen the kanimaki in this shape. None of the pieces were round and the distribution of the rice and the kanikama were evidently uneven. That's certainly not what I've seen at other Japanese restaurants even for those which don't specialise in sushi. Appearance issues aside, the taste was pretty much like what you would get anywhere else, even from places like supermarkets' sushi counters where you can get decent sushi at affordable prices. No doubt this item wasn't expensive, I was expecting something of a higher quality than this.

Last but not least, here's the main sushi platter which consisted of ebi, ika, aburi ika, aburi hotate and kanikama. The ebi sushi was nothing extraordinary and I could hardly taste the wasabi within which was a pity. Unlike most versions of the ika sushi, the version here was a thick slice of ika instead being thinly-sliced so it was a bit difficult to chew because of its size. I also didn't like it for the fact that it didn't taste as fresh as I wanted it to be. As for the two aburi sushi, I thought that the aburi ika tasted almost the same as the ika sushi (so why was there a need to order the aburi when I could have just eaten the normal version) while aburi hotate was kinda forgettable. As it turned out, the kanikama turned out to be the best tasting in this plate which I find quite amazing, given that this is a sushi restaurant which should have a certain level of standard and certainly higher than this.

I am not sure if the problems I faced here are due to teething issues with this particular branch so I'll probably come back again to try other items or head to the Suntec City branch to do a comparison. I know freshness, taste and texture are very subjective measures and differ from person to person so perhaps how I felt about this visit is not representative of the general public's view. Besides, I think my craving for sushi that day could have made me a bit more demanding about the quality of sushi I was expecting to eat. In fact, I've read good reviews about the food's quality at the Suntec branch so I don't think all of its items are bad. However, disregarding the fact that whether its food's quality and taste are good, I think there's got to be something done about the appearance of the stuff that gets dished out. That kanimaki was really not something you would expect from a sushi specialty restaurant, especially not when it has its links to Akashi so I hope that was an once-off incident and Goshin will win me back as a satisfied customer in time to come.

Seafood from the Bostonian Harbour - Boston Seafood Shack (Tampines Mall)

A new seafood place is now open at the basement of Tampines Mall which is hardly noticeable because it is situated at one corner behind the escalators. As such, it can be difficult to attract walk-in customers if they do not walk past that corner. In my case, I happened to catch a glimpse of the shop from afar so decided to grab a quick bite before my appointment an hour later. There have been reviews online complaining about the slow service but given that it was a late weekend afternoon where the lunch crowd had dispersed and dinner crowd had yet to arrive, I decided to give this place a chance to convince me into being a regular here.

First up was the citrus refresher which according to the menu was made from apple juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice, lime and ginger ale. Given that it was a hot afternoon on that day, this proved to be a good choice because it wasn't too sweet and was refreshing on the palate. Then again, after multiple sips, I felt like the taste resembled Orangina quite a bit and wonder if I could replicate the same drink at home by mixing the ingredients as stated on the menu.

Next up was the lobster bisque which had a nice design made from the cream. In most situations, the cream could merely be seen as a drop on the surface of the bisque but for the chef to make an effort to draw something on the surface (though not very elaborate) was much appreciated. At least they bothered to make their version of the bisque look somewhat different. As for the taste, I liked the full-bodied richness of the bisque and and the fact that it wasn't too salty won me over. I've had other versions of this at places where the saltiness was too overpowering and overcame the supposed freshness of the lobster which made me reach for lots of water in the aftermath.

The single portion of mussels in white wine broth turned out to be a mix of hits and misses. I thought that the broth was OK and the taste was sufficiently infused into the mussels unlike the version at Fremantle. However, the freshness of the mussels was not as consistent as I would have expected as some pieces tasted good while the texture of others was too mushy. If I have to compare whether freshness or the immersion of flavours in the mussels matters most, I would choose freshness at any time because even if the mussels haven't absorbed the flavours fully during the cooking process, I can always immerse them into the broth for a while before eating so as to achieve the desired effect. As for the garlic bread, I would have wanted it to be crispier and the taste of the garlic to be less saltier.

Last but not least, the dessert which was the half & half cheesecake. Actually, I didn't really get what is meant by half & half but I noticed a layer which tasted like gelatin in this cheesecake. Nonetheless, I thought that the cake was rich as it claimed but not to the extent of being too overboard which was a saving grace. However, I think this cake must have been in the freezer for too long because it was quite difficult to use the fork to cut through the cake. On a side note, it was slightly disappointing to see that out of the four dessert choices, two were not available. I'm not sure if it was because the stock ran out or they did not prepare the desserts on that day but it would have been best if everything on the menu was available.

As a new restaurant, I thought that the quality of the food was pretty decent. I haven't tried the main dishes yet so my opinion might be reshaped after trying the signature items. As for the service, there were only four tables when I was there so I didn't really experience a long wait. A more accurate measure of service standards would probably be peak meal times. The only worrying thing for this restaurant is the location which doesn't seem to catch the eye of customers passing by so it will probably need to build more awareness so that people can actively look for this place to eat at.