Shiraishi, Ritz Carlton

Shiraishi.

Undeniably one of the top guns in the Japanese scene, the vibe- corporate lunch, the budget- corporate account.

So what was I doing at Shiraishi, Ritz Carlton? Lured out of my intern's budget into the realm of corporate accounts. My defense is that every now and then, we need to be freed from our rodent-cage, intern-food-court routine.

The three of us (plus Mia and friend, Joan Marie) were seated at the sushi counter -best seats in the house- the equivalent of Box Seats in Yankees Stadium or where our cabinet ministers would sit during National Day Parade. I get a kick out of sitting at the sushi counter as entertainment value is the highest and you get to make small talk with the sushi chef.



And that's what Mia did. Upon the chef's recommendations, Mia took on the sushi set, which consisted of 8 nigiris and 6 makis. According to her, plus points for the rice and fish slices, deduct a couple for the variety and tamago.



Joan Marie's colour-popping chiraishi bore an uncanny resemblance towards a pack of skittles. To me, the scrap fest just didn't work. It's the "minced wagyu theory" where textures and blah blah are lost when you mince blah blah. Working through it was like performed an autopsy on the mangled fish.



I actually heaved a sigh of relief when my bento arrived. With a smattering of itsy-bitsy side dishes, I couldn't wait to tuck in.



Regarded as the backbone of the restaurant, the sashimi was undisputedly fresh- I wouldn't have tolerated anything less.



In the adjacent box, I found a medley of little dishes that were good but not worth losing sleep over: conjoined rice cracker mushroom thing (ingenious but short-lived pleasure), cod fish glazed in teriyaki sauce (well-acquainted), tamago (too soft for comfort), konnyaku (yawn), tofu (yawn), green salad (yawn).



A warm plum orb partially submerged in icy waters posed as dessert. Cute but too bad "cute" wasn't going to earn Shiraishi any brownie points.

At the risk of becoming Public Enemy #1, I left Shiraishi unimpressed and underwhelmed. They had the audacity to charge me for mediocre daikon dish. You should have seen my face when I saw that on the bill- a real Kodak moment, if you will.