Today, Celine* and I decided to head to Ikoi Japanese Restaurant for lunch in the rain, just to satiate our sashimi cravings. It was a rather last minute decision, and I was surprised that she managed to make reservations in the morning for our noon-time lunch. Anyway, the well-known Ikoi Japanese Restaurant is located at 401 Havelock Road #01-01 Miramir Hotel, Singapore 169631 and the number for reservations is 6887 3788.
The restaurant has a rather sleek but simplistic, classically Japanese design - clean white and light brown tones, open concept and colorful tatami seats. Yes, we were fortunate enough to be given a Tatami seat even though there were just two of us, and it was my first time sitting this way - rather comfortable.
While browsing through the menu, we were being served the complimentary items such as the sumptuous Salmon Sashimi slices drenched in a lightly-flavored sauce, and the small teapot of Seafood Soup that I have missed since my last visit here years ago. The Sashimi was very fine and meltingly tender, and the seafood soup was tasty as ever, especially with the squeeze of lime wedge into it.
Very quickly, they brought us the first items of our order. The Shisamo which I have swo rn off during my last Japanese restaurant visit. This was an order by mistake, and the sinful recollection of its deliciousness when I was here years back - well, it is still delicious and filled with roe. The Agadeshi Tofu was lovely too - meltingly-crispy skin and sweetly smooth insides, floating in a plate of light soy sauce.
Next, the dish of Cucumber slices with accompaniment of tasty, savoury Miso beans - a refreshing delight. The lightly-salted and soft Edamane beans which made for a good snack in between waits. And the California Temaki - handroll with cucumber sticks, crabmeat, omelet and Japanese rice rolled in large sheet of seaweed - tasty and crunchy.
They brought us our Sake Maki - salmon sashimi with mayonnaise. The tiny dices of salmon sashimi bits stuffed into sticky Japanese rice, rolled into seaweed and sprayed with mayonnaise - was a combination of crunchiness, tenderness and deliciousness all rolled into one.
Now, our hot Sake (Japanese rice wine, pronounced as "sar-kay") to counter a cold rainy day and also to kill germs in the raw fish we intended to eat a lot of.
We had some fried stuff next - Tempuras - shrimps, lotus roots, lady's fingers, carrots and eggplants. The tempuras were amazing - very crispy and light on the outside, a very fine, thin layer of flour covering the goodies within.
Next, the Chicken Winglets that were grilled to a delicious crispiness as well, without the smokey, charred taste, and the flesh within was succulent. The Cheesey Fish Tofu was another flavorful dish as well - chewy and respledent of the aroma of cheese and fish cake.
After that, we had the piping hot Chawanmushi - beancurd smooth on the outside, concealing, light to the tongue, and filled with goodies within its belly like a pyramid - gingko nut and chicken.
Next, our colorful, vivacious platters of Sashimi - salmon, tuna, octopus, squid and swordfish. Celine* thought the tuna sashimi was not very fresh. But other than that, the rest of the raw fish slices were all succulent, bouncy and juicy to the taste - satiated our cravings infinitely.
Last but not least, another complimentary dish - white fish grilled to a lovely golden-brown, crispy with the exotically-charred flavor that I enjoy. The fish was fresh, and not a hint of bitterness (this kind of fish usually has a bitter overture to it).
Finally, the Somen (Japanese longevity noodles) which we ordered only because we overheard the table next to us describing it, so it piqued our curiosity and interest. The very fine noodles were springy and tasty in the scrumptious broth it was soaked in, in fact the noodles were so smooth we literally slurped them down easily.
It was a joyous lunch in a joyous setting with attentive service, and each of us spent SGD$50.00 for lunch.
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