marvin lowe photography

Jazzfoodie: I was so excited when Marv revealed he was bringing me to Kaisan for my birthday dinner treat, and we had the omakase. When Marv called to make reservations for counter seats, Chef Thomas was curious, explaining that only his regular customers would request for those seats. We told him we’ve only been there once previously for lunch, and this time, would like to ‘watch him in action’. We had an enjoyable and ‘educational’ meal, put utterly at ease with Chef Thomas’s chatter and elaboration of the dishes and the origin of the produce (fresh Japanese imports).

Steamed Sweet Corn

J: This dish thoroughly surprised me as I’m not a big corn fan. We wondered about the flavour as we were told a single cob costs $12.00! This was the sweetest corn I’ve ever tasted and it was totally unmarinated and unsalted.

V: On the other hand, I am a really BIG corn fan!! I even like the music they make. That’s how much the humble corn has influenced me.=p Well, this corn apparently comes from hokkaido, if I remember correctly. I have to say that this is the one of the best corn that I have eaten. It has a sweetness which rivals the purest honey.

Sliced Momotaro Tomato

J: The freshness was delightful, with a hint of sweetness and no sourish tartness that sometimes ‘bites the tongue’.

V: Momotaro means Peach in Japanese i think. This freshly sliced tomato dish sure had some peachy qualities. It was refreshingly juicy and there was a sweetness to it. It sure did help to whet our appetites for the dishes to come

J: I think “peach” is “momo” in Japanese!

Sashimi Moriwase

J: The delectable slices were huge; the toro meltingly tender and the scallops sweet.

V: The sashimi platter consisted a selection of white fishes like Sea Bream, Snapper, scallops and Toro being the only red fish on the plate. The white fishes had a mild sweetness while the scallops were both juicy and sweet as well. On the other hand, the toro had a wonderful melt-in-your mouth oily texture.

Stir-fried Beef with Shitake Mushrooms

J: While competently executed, the tender cubes of beef were not exceptionally in the typical marinade of (probably) soy sauce, mirin and brown sugar or honey, while the accompanying shitake was plump and ‘juicy’ enough.

V: Although this dish wasn’t exactly a knockout, it was still rather tasty. Although done in a simple manner, it is still able to highlight the juices of the beef and the mushrooms.

Steamed Bamboo Clams with Mentaiko Mayonaise Dressing

J: This was our first time eating this and we savoured every morsel lovingly. The clam steamed to perfection was laced with the rich creamy taste of mentaiko mayo and together with some chopped spring onions adding a subtle zing, produced a simple but amazing dish.

V: After reading about it in so many other blogs, the Bamboo Clams was something that i really wanted to try. We were in luck on the day we went and there was fresh Bamboo Clams available. I loved how the mentaiko mayo complimented the clams. It defintely lived up to the hype and expectations.

Grilled Hamachi

J: I love the occasional grilled fish cheek, simple with minimal marination and some grated daikon on the side. Here, the fish was not over-cooked, yielding flaky mouthfuls of tender meat.

V: This was a simple dish and at first glance, I did not think much about it. I thought it would be like the usual Grilled Saba we usually get at medicore places. However, this was no mackeral but Yellow Tail. It was done in a simple manner which brought out the best in the fish.

Uni Sushi

J: I like how the uni did not have the overpowering metallic taste, and instead had a slight tasty creaminess to it.

V: The uni served had a rich creamy intense flavour and had lightly sweet fragrance. It went well with the seaweed laver, the salt in the seaweed accentuated the sweetness of the uni, making it sweeter and very delightful.

Anago Sushi

J: This was probably my 1st time tasting the sea eel, and it was quite delicious with just a little sweet sauce despite being presented in a ‘drier’ form than the more commonly served unagi.

V: Anago, unlike it fresh water cousin, the unagi, is a salt water eel. It is slightly dry as compared to unagi but is still as tender and sweet. Here at kaisan, they use the anago to wrap around the rice. This gives us a general helping of the eel which was brushed with a sweet sauce as well.

Toro Sushi

J: Toro, toro. Nothing else to say except for lingering memories of delightful mouth-watering fat.

V: Tororgasmic. Simply fantastic. Chef Thomas generously gave us double servings of this. This doubled the fun and it really made our day.

Ikura Sushi

J: I’ve always loved how the marinated salmon eggs pop juicy and slightly salty into my mouth, and this time was no exception.

V: It was such a delight to have it pop like bubbles and the juices squirt in my mouth.

Inaniwa Udon Soup

J: The noodles were very smooth and palatable, rounding off the meal nicely.

V: The broth was light but strong in flavour. The noodles were slightly al dente and springy, making it very delectable. It was a nice and hearty manner to end the meal.

Matcha Ice-Cream

J: In all, I enjoyed the omakase experience at Kaisan tremendously and would look forward eagerly to future visits.

V: The Matcha Ice-Cream was very smooth and had a slight bitter tannin which tampered with the overall sweetness, making it a very enjoyable rendition.

The entire Omakase has been an eye-opener, Chef Thomas’s careful planning allowed us to try a large variety of items. Besides preparing these items with excellent execution, his affable character made us feel at ease and made the whole experience very enjoyable. Kaisan is defintely a place that I will be looking forward to return.