Sushi Tei Raffles City

On our weekly endeavors at Sushi Tei, the usual suspects would include nabeyaki udon, a don or ramen of some kind, plates of sashimi and selected sushi off the conveyor belt. But seeing how Dad was planning to treat his friend from UK anyway, yang and I put on our 'opportunistic' hats and ceremoniously picked out items off the menu with a free hand.

As I couldn't jolly well thrust my camera in front of my guests’ ala cartes, I didn’t get a chance to snap the una don and sukiyaki beef. Rounding down to the canon-captured items,



One of the first to be served was the tempura, which was ordinary crisp-crunch wise. I used to love the garlic rice but lately, I think it has lost its allure. I actually thought it was quite bland and boring, either the cooking has deteriorated or the novelty has faded.


Sashimi salad


For an extra dollar, I had only salmon slices and boy was it a tremendous amount of fish. This TOTALLy resonated with Anthony bourdain's golden rule on fish deliveries and ordering fish on Tuesdays. The plump, gorgeous raw fish tossed in a bed of leaves and unidentifiable special sauce was extremely satisfying.

One interesting but unphotographed dish was the Hiyashi Ramen. Topped with shredded omelette, cucumber, crabstick and beansprouts, it was fun to toss around the noodles in light vinegar-soya-based sauce. Normally I would be adverse to ordering cold noodles but this cold ramen was refreshing despite the use of pedastrian ingredients. I can so imagine myself outdoors, waving away a stuffy Tokyo summer's night with this bowl of cold ramen.

The highlight of the night belongs to the specialty rolls.


Golden roll

Tempura prawn barrelled in sweet vinegar rice, laced with ripe mango, tobiko and a trail of mayonnaise. We were delighted by the warmth of the just-fried ebi tempura although it was a pity the tobiko proved forgettable against the mango. A modern take on sushi, the sweet mango slices created an uplifting tang that would cause traditionalists to concede in satisfaction. If you are a real fan of crunch like I am, go ahead and chow down the prawn head and tail, which were deep-fried and stuffed with rice.


Dai dai roll

Vinegar rice wrapped mango and crabmeat maki, draped with salmon sashimi and a squeeze of mayonnaise worked well for me too. I am partially biased towards this over the golden roll for a very simple reason- salmon sashimi. The tobiko was notably saltish, offering crunchy brininess to the essentially-tasteless sashimi slices. I likey..


Copenhagen

Both rolls remind me of the utterly oishikatta desu!(exclaimation mark must be added for emphasis) creations I had in Copenhagen. Saw what you like about sushi conveyor belt chains, I feel you can always count on Sushi Tei to whip up something unexpectedly palatable.

For more of Anthony Bourdain’s guiding principles, check out THIS WEBSITE , which provides an edited extract from Kitchen Confidential or get the damn book, you ch-beep. Haha