Dreadful Japanese Food

Yesterday was mom’s birthday, so we decided to have a nice Japanese meal. We went to Copthorne King’s Hotel, near the Singapore River. I should have suspected something wrong when we found the entrance of the restaurant after a squiggly-piggly long corridor, and facing the toilets.

Dinner was an all-you-can-eat buffet, but ala carte style. We ordered a number of dishes and wondered why only two tables (including ours) were occupied in the entire restaurant. It remained that way for the entire evening we were there.

Sashimi: The first dish that arrived was fairly decent. We ordered a mixed plate of sake (salmon), hamachi (yellowtail), maguro (tuna) and mekajiki (swordfish). The hamachi was on the stale side, so when we ordered a second plate of sashimi, we left that out.

Beef Yakiniku: The horror began with this supposedly grilled dish. It came on a teacup saucer, huddled next to a pile of shredded white cabbage. It had obviously been pan-fried, and badly at that. The sauce was sickeningly sweet.

Tempura: One of the high points of the meal. We had a triple order of Ebi (prawn/shrimp) and one portion of lady’s fingers (okra). The batter was soaked in oil and peeling off the prawns. The prawns themselves looked as if they had been prepared by someone wearing boxing gloves, being badly peeled and pummelled-looking. The okra’s batter was slightly better, and being fresh, tasted ok.

Teppanyaki: The vegetables were fresh, so even though they were insipidly cooked, were still palatable. Mixed vegetables turned out to be shredded white cabbage, with some slivers of carrot and a peek or two of sliced mushroom. Bean sprouts were also cooked with slivers of carrot and the elusive mushroom slice. Lady’s fingers came on their own. We also ordered cuttlefish (squid). Mom and I refused to touch the dish when it arrived, as something in the sauce made it smell and taste like the squid had been reared near raw sewage. Dad didn’t find anything wrong with it, but he had just come back from a cigarette break at that time.

Tori Karaage is one of my fav deep-fried dishes, as it’s small pieces of (usually) chicken drumstick marinaded and deep-fried with a thin batter. As with the tempura, the batter and chicken were saturated in oil, so I felt nauseous after taking two pieces.

Sushi: The icing on the cake. The salmon sushi was ok, on par with the salmon sashimi. The rice, though, was mushy, and fell apart the moment we picked it up with our chopsticks. It was sticky and dry to taste. How rice can be made to be too wet and too dry at the same time is beyond me. The unagi (eel) smelled of stale mud and tasted like cardboard. The tuna sushi was incredible. I’ve never seen before tuna sliced so thinly (shaved would be a better word) that I could clearly see the rice beneath it. It wasn’t defrosted yet, which explained how the chef manage to cut it so fine.

Dessert was slices of honeydew and orange, which were fresh, at least. Dad had red bean soup, which he said was too sweet (Dad and I have the sweet tooths (teeth?) in the family, so if we say something is too sweet, it can probably cause tooth decay by inhalation alone).

The wasabi was yellowish-green and tasted of nothing. The only compliment Mom had was for the hot sake. When we were paying the bill, we found out how the restaurant managed to survive. Behind the bar counter were at least a hundred bottles of liquor, owned by the regular clients. This was strictly a drinking establishment; I certainly can’t imagine anyone coming here regularly for the food.

Previous dinners from alnedra

• Posh Not-Irish Food - November 7th, 2009
• Waffles - July 4th, 2009
• Duck Duck Aubergine - March 31st, 2009
• Creme Brulee and Yakitori - March 31st, 2009
• Salmon Steak Tartare - March 31st, 2009