Though I have a pretty healthy relationship with greens and raw food, I can never quite stomach the two together. I mean I won’t collapse from a lettuce-induced seizure but salads are not something I would order. However before I commit that foot-in-mouth misdemeanor I must say that every now and then, I do uncheck the Opt Out box for Japanese salads and the reason for doing so is none other than the salad dressing.
Right now, I'm mad over sweet potato, drizzled with wafuu goma dressing. You aren’t going to receive much culinary tips from this blogger so heed up on this one:
Steam a couple of sweet potatoes (preferably Japanese), tip over some sesame salad dressing (or wafuu goma dressing) and voila, an afternoon snack that your inner Harumi Kurihara would be proud off.
What do mean this isn’t considered cooking? At least I turned on the stove right?
At Tom Ton, we ordered the crispy sashimi salad. The yuzu dressing lifted the otherwise lifeless bowl of shredded vegetables (no pun intended) and it certainly reminded us to head down to Yamakawa Super to stock up on our salad dressing. Deep fried lotus root silvers and Lays-esque chips lent weight to the ‘crispy’ description, adding an interesting twist to the tired crouton- in-salad approach. Lays chips with greens and yuzu dressing? Odd but I could get used to it. Maybe I could try adding Terra Exotic Vegetables chips into my salads for home parties.
We also had the sashimi moriwase, made up of salmon, hamachi, anotherwhitefish, uni and otoro. Compared to the other sashimi, the otoro slices were noticeably half as thick. Despite so, it was incredibly gratifying. Any thicker and I would have been reduced to otoro-induced coma. Oh who am I kdding? I WANT TO SEEP INTO OTORO-INDUCED COMA. Bring. It. On.
I love sashimi, but i’ll admit i’m still on Camp Play-It-Safe. I love salmon, will never say ‘no’ to mekijiki and will work for otoro.
But uni? Uh…I have never been a fan of uni, the sea urchin. The lurid blur of yellowness is undeniably a warning signal and the lack of texture or form makes me shudder. I used to hold my breath, wait for it to make its way down my gullet, hoping that it would slither down inconspicuously without touching the sides of my esophagus. This time round though I decided to learn to like it by first tasting it. Creamy metallic-ky… it’s not love at first taste but I’ll learn to like it. Someday somehow.
Speaking of wasabi root (yeah I know we weren’t but I can’t continue without this introduction), I know its part of the experience to have your wasabi root grated for you but it quite embarrassing to have a waiter grate by our sides as if we were feudal lords. Besides, I would have liked to have a go at the adorable 2 inch by 2 inch grater.
Speaking of feudal lors (ha!), our chawanmushi was served in a sedan like a feudal bride on her way to the point of no return. Naturally you can tell this was no ordinary chawanmushi- the uni curdle added a touch of luxury to this seemingly commonplace side dish and the chawanmushi itself was so soft, you could have slurped it up.
Naturally no trip to Tom Ton would be complete or even consider valid without ordering their black pig katsu. In meritocratic Singapore, we are obsessed with grades. Like you were expecting something else for a country that aims to be the medical hub and financial center of the region, host city for 2010 Youth Olympics, choice destination for travel and a world class society? Keeping in line with our grade-obsessed nature, we had the black pig katsu “Top Grade” naturally.
Pigs can't fly but we were certainly on cloud nine after this.
A couple of very random food notes:
- Novus has a new menu, which looks interesting enough to warrant a return visit.
- Is Picotin a 'go' or 'no go'?
- Ditto for Senso Bistro.
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