Tatsuya & Santaro. Part 2

I just realised the words 'motive' and 'motivation' are spelt so similar yet contain such polarised connotations.

Just in case you were going 'huh' over the previous post, Part 2 is meant to supplement Part 1 with some background information cum afterthoughts.

Tuesday’s visit to Tatsuya was in celebration of my sister's birthday (alas we forgot the camera) and I met up with Mia for lunch on Thursday at Santaro.

Tatsuya @ Park Hotel

For my sister who dislikes western food and explicitly stated "no Italian or Cantonese Chinese," the obvious choice was Japanese. Alas my sister's no-expense-spared intention was no match for the ASEAN summit, which was marked by road blocks and armed members of the Gurkha contingent. It's minimal-to-zilch access policy made us rule out Tomo or any of the other Japanese restaurants located around City Hall.

As I was on my best behaviour, I refrained from all explicit OTT modes of fervor over Tatsuya's sashimi but it dawned on me the sashimi effectively replicated the taste and texture I had found but left in Japan.

All together now...

WE ARE THE WORLD.. We are the children

Despite the astronomical prices, Tatsuya is devoid of snootiness. Service from Reenie and Joseph was surprisingly warm to the point of being candid. When Chef Ronnie Chia came over to thank us for our patronage, I cowered in reverence and my mind went blank. I might have said a bunch of 'very goods' and 'thank yous,' hopefully nothing along the lines of 'Will you please sign on my napkin?'

Santaro @ Amara Hotel



Faced with the impeding doom of a presentation and 2 final papers, I jumped at the chance to meet up with Mia for lunch at Santaro. Mia wanted to check out Santaro because it is "MM Lee's favourite Japanese restaurant" ... -pause for effect-



Naturally the quality (at lunch time) wasn't as fine as Tatsuya's but the lunch sets were bang for your buck. I loved the chawanmushi as it reminded me of what I had in Osaka's Kanidoraku Honten . However, I can't quite figure out why my chawanmushi was served chimney-smoking-hot but Mia's was merely lukewarm.

Nonetheless, both restaurants reinstated my faith in Japanese dining here. Meals like this always make me wonder if I should reconsider going down the banking/ finance career path...