Welcome Home !!!

Taste Kyushu cuisine in S'pore at Japanese Dining SUN

Natalie Lim | SoShiok | Fri Nov 23 2012

From now till Jan 8, there will be a special menu featuring regional cuisine from the Kyushu prefectures of Fukuoka, Miyazaki, Saga and Oita .

by Natalie Lim

Singapore, November 23, 2012

Like your Japanese food fresh? A Japanese food chain here will be flying in ingredients for a new menu twice weekly so patrons can enjoy the pleasure of having high quality food from the land of the rising sun right here in Singapore.

Japanese Dining SUN at Chijmes and sister restaurant Sun with Moon at Wheelock Place have teamed up with the Fukuoka Chamber of Commerce and Industry to create the Kyushu Gourmet Experience menu.

From now until Jan 8, the special menu featuring regional cuisine from the Kyushu prefectures of Fukuoka, Miyazaki, Saga and Oita will be available at both restaurants. Some dishes will only be exclusive to one outlet.

Singaporeans would be familiar with the dishes. Fukuoka is known for its gyoza, ramen and fresh seafood, while Miyazaki is known for wagyu beef.

I went to the Chijmes outlet for a tasting session about a month ago and I have since been craving for more.

The biggest highlight for me was the Sun Goma Salmon ($15.80). It had all my favourite food items like salmon sashimi, half-boiled egg, soy sauce and sesame seeds. To have them altogether seemed a little strange at first, but the taste turned out to be divine.

To eat it, you have to mix the egg with the soy sauce, which tastes similar to tsuyu sauce used for soba. Scoop some sauce with your spoon, put a slice of salmon on top and slurp it up.

The fresh salmon melts in your mouth, and when paired with the sauce and crunchy sesame seeds, the flavours are enhanced. Every spoonful that delightfully slid down my throat was rich and yummylicious.

Another interesting dish to try is Shiokoji Moriawase ($15.80) from Fukuoka. It is a meat platter of Berkshire pork, chicken and salmon marinated with shiokoji, a paste made from fermanted rice. The pork brings out the umami flavour of Shiokoji best, however, the piece I had was a little tough. The chicken and salmon was cooked well, but the taste of marinade was milder than with the pork.

Beef lovers should try the Wagyu Steak Ajikurabe ($88.80) from Miyazaki. Sirloin and ribeye steaks are cut into four bite size pieces each and cooked teppanyaki style. The portion may look small for the price at first, but the type of wagyu beef served is grade A3 (the highest is A5). Hence the premium in price. The beef is slightly charred on the edges, well marbled and tender.

If you are a little more adventurous, try the Mentai Salmon Takana Roll ($18.80) that is specially created by executive chef Toshio Sawai. The spicy seasoned cod roe, sweet omelette and cucumber sushi roll is wrapped with salmon and Japanese preserved mustard leaf. The mustard leaf tastes like giam chye, our local preserved mustard leaf. It was an odd but creative combination.

The desserts are a surprise and I wouldn't mind heading there for afternoon tea. The Yame tea ($5.80) from Fukuoka is really yummy. It tastes like roasted English tea and comes with two crispy sesame cookies.

Pair it with the Yamecha roll cake ($5.80) from Fukuoka or Momo jam chiffon cake ($6.50) from Oita. The Yamecha roll cake is a green tea roll with vanilla cream centre and is served with Japanese red bean paste. This was my favourite, the soft roll was light and not too sweet.

The chiffon cake is good too and pairs well the with peach jam and homemade vanilla cream.

Locations

Japanese Dining Sun @ CHIJMES
Add: 30 Victoria Street #02-01 Singapore 187996
Tel: 6336 3166

Opening Hours:
Lunch (Sunday to Friday): 12pm to 3pm
Dinner (Monday to Saturday): 6.30pm to 11pm
Sunday & Public Holidays: 6pm to 10.30pm

Sun with Moon @ Wheelock
Add: 501 Orchard Road #03-15 Singapore 238880
Tel: 6733 6636

Opening Hours:
Sunday to Thursday & Public Holidays: 12pm to 10:30pm
Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holidays: 12pm to 11pm

>> Photos of the other dishes