Grilled Fish in Takashimaya

Saturday evening, 1^st day of the long weekend in Singapore!

Feeling too lazy to cook, hence popped over to Takashimaya to have a quick and healthy dinner of grilled fish

 

Place: Nakajima Suisan Grilled Fish

391A Orchard Road

B201-01 Takashimaya Food Hall, Ngee Ann City

Telephone: 6738 0943

 

Concept of the restaurant:

First, you order and pay at the counter. After paying, you receive an order number. You can choose to join the queue for tables, which will be allocated to you by the staff. Or you can use the waiting time (typically 30mins, based on my past few visits) to make a dash to the bakery or the supermarket

 

Finally, we got  our seats. The staff gave us 2 counter seats, which we could see the kitchen operations. See the grill! It was non-stop action by the kitchen staff to served the hungry hordes outside.  I loved open concept kitchens in restaurants. Somehow, I feel more assured about the cleanliness of the food. See the “burnt” area above the grill…..perhaps they are using rather strong fire to grill the fish, hence contributing to the charred corners of the fish.

– See picture

 

What I ordered:

• Grilled Cod – S$16.50 – See Picture
• Grilled Salmon – S$13.50 – See Picture

 

Each set came with a bowl of rice, miso soup, a salad with Japanese dressing and a cold beancurd dish, served with bonito flakes. Prices are inclusive of GST and service charge. Not a bad deal at all. Each customer also gets a cup of green tea

Size of the fish was substantial. I think the fish is easily more than 150g, based on my years of marketing experience. This time, I found the fish to be slightly over-grilled, see the black corners. Salad was good, as usual, crunchy vegetables with the non-oily dressing. Serving of rice was also substantial. Overall, I found the set to be satisfying and value for money.

 

Standing Sushi Bar

The Chubs are not just about lunches. Sometimes we are about dinners too. It happened that today was a hectic day at work which stretched into the evening and when we heard the rumbly of the tummy, it was time to look for a dinner place right in the heart of the CBD.

We settled on the Standing Sushi Bar which is situated in a not too prominent location just under the escalator leading up to Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1.

On a Thursday evening, there was already a healthy crowd of diners in the small restaurant and we were lucky to get one of the last 2 available tables when we arrived at about 8 pm.

We were in a hurry so we decided on their dinner sets.

This is the Unagi set which costs $22 before service charge and gst.

This is the Take set which costs $25 before service charge and gst. Bo Chub ordered this with the rationale that this being a sushi shop, sushi has to be their pride and their best item on the menu.

Both sets came with a side of a salad drizzled generously with Japanese dressing. We like the fact that the salad was crunchy but the dressing was a tad salty.

Bo Chub likes her sushi cold, or at least cool (personal preference) and was thus a little disappointed when the sushi arrived at room temperature, indicating that it might have been sitting out on the counter for while. However, most of the fish melted in the mouth easily and were pleasant to eat.

The Take set also comes with 2 pieces of salmon roll.

Unagi for Lion Chub.

Overall the ambience was good as it was situated in a quiet and less frequented part of the busy Marina Bay Financial Centre. In terms of taste, the food is comparable to some standing Sushi bars in Tokyo, which typically offer quick budget meals for the average salaryman in a hurry to get back to the office. It’s a good place to go if you are looking for a quick meal fix but certainly not the place to be if you are looking for a gastronomical experience.