The stupid WordPress autosave failed on me. So now I have to re-write the whole thing. ARGH. WordPress!!

The lesser heard Ishi at Robertson Quay has been around for quite some time but I finally got down to visit when I came across posts of their bento boxes on IG. So here I am on a rather quiet weekend. I went for their Botan, priced $120, which consists of starter, seasonal appetiser, 8 pieces of sushi, uni ikura rice bowl, miso soup and dessert. There was an option to top up $30 for their special rice bowl but since they didn’t ask me about it, I didn’t bother to ask for it either

I spy my slices for my meal!

Saba

I actually quite enjoyed the saba. Sweet, fresh with the crunchiness of the pickles and the fragrance of the seaweed. It was rather enjoyable to start

Chawanmushi with Edamame

So I was told this was chawanmushi when they served this dish. Then I was trying to figure out what the green thing was, smelling and tasting and trying to make a guess. The chef abruptly came back and told me that was edamame. Ahh, interesting. The chawanmushi here is a little different, denser, thicker and less sweet. Maybe this is the way they make it. The edamame also didn’t fail to provide any sweetness in my opinion. In short, I didn’t quite like it

Medai

The first piece to a sushi meal is very important cos it dictates how your entire meal will go. A good sushi, you can have 15 pieces or more. A bad sushi, 8 pieces is more than enough

And so, I had my first bite. Wah, salty! Then 100 thoughts went through my mind. Is it the rice, the vinegar, the fish or the soya sauce? lol

Kohada

The second piece I could focus on the texture of the rice. The rice here is a little firmer. I wouldn’t say it’s hard but it’s towards the harder end. And, I found a scale on my kohada! HO HO HO

Marinated Tuna

The third piece, I was focusing on the vinegar. Honestly, the vinegar didn’t give me a lasting impression. It was okay at best. And oh, the Gari here is a little dry

Sawara

The Spanish mackerel was a little saltier than usual. And I felt that the rice lacked warmth

Botan Ebi

The chef charcoaled the skin of the kinmedai before serving it to me

Kinmedai

WAH, this was really salty. I’m someone who enjoyed dipping my food in soya sauce but this saltiness was a whole new level. I’m not quite sure if I’m eating sushi glazed with soya sauce or soya sauce with shari and fish

Managed to catch the chef in action this time round!

Nodoguro

Sad to say, even the nodoguro failed to shine. Nodoguro is easily one of my favourite sushi pieces but well, I guess it can go south too

Chutoro

The chutoro was the best out of the lot, but I remain my take on the shari

Uni & Ikura Rice Bowl

Uni from Murasaki that was firm and creamy and provided some consolation to the meal

Warabi Mochi

Ending off with some warabi mochi which was nothing to shout about

I’m always very confused when I read about places with good reviews but when I tried it myself it’s a different story. Maybe it’s just me. Well, I’m not sure if there was a change in chefs (Chef Masaaki wasn’t there) but in any case I was served by a different Japanese chef. Ishi did surprise me in many ways cos after each piece of sushi I had, there was this anticipation that the next sushi might be even worse. Sad to say, I doubt I’m gonna return anytime soon

Ishi

Intercontinental Singapore Robertson Quay

1 Nanson Road, #02-06, Singapore 238909