Megumi Japanese Restaurant @ Sunset Way

After church one evening the sisters and a friend and I went to Sunset Way for dinner, and we chose Megumi! We have already tried Megumi a few times before when it was still at its previous location a few doors down. Recently it relocated to a vacated shop round the corner, refurbished and rented a larger space.

Sashimi Mixed Platter ($28) -We requested for the tuna to be changed to something else since none of us liked it. The waiter recommended sea bream so we took his suggestion. When it came it was still the same old tuna, so we told another waitress about the request. When she came back, the tako (octopus) was gone but the tuna was still there. So we told her again, that the order was wrong... Finally the right plate of sashimi came. Fortunately the service staff were not impatient or anything, I think some places would just give you an impatient or miffed look. Anyway the sashimi was so-so only. Chikuwa Tei sashimi anytime! (Though I can't remember how much was that already!) The sea bream here came half frozen! It was hard and I could still taste ice in it.

Unagi Tofu $7.80 for 2 pieces - Best stuff! Can't find this anywhere else. Pardon the (relatively) lousy photos in this entry - everyone couldn't wait to tuck in and I was too paiseh to hold up the rest! This is basically agetofu (fried tofu) with huge slab of unagi on top.

I had always wanted to try blowfish sashimi ever since I saw it on a Korean movie (ironic) and on Japan Hour where they had blowfish feasts where all the parts of the blowfish are used for something - sashimi, tempura, steamboat etc. That kind of meal would cost you more than SGD100. This fish is a rare delicacy, with the tiger blowfish species being the most "prestigious edible species and most poisonous", and sushi chefs need license to handle this fish because if not handled well, the poisonous parts would not be taken out and would be fatal to consumers.

So when I saw this dish Fugu Mirin Boshi ($10.80) served as appetizer in Megumi I was excited to try it out! The english description stated "puffer fish" and not blowfish. I thought being an appetizer it would be in sashimi-style, but I was told by the waiter that it would be grilled. I thought, oh wells, not many places serve this dish, so might as well just try it out here! So we ordered this. When it came and I tried it, I was sorely disappointed. As you can tell from the photo it did not look appetizing. When I tasted it it tasted like salted fish - no joke. Chewy, salted fish. It came with mayonnaise, which I was rather baffled about - what kind of grilled items came with mayonnaise? Strange. Anyway, please do not order this if you happen to dine there. In the end I had to reluctantly finish it 'cos my dinner partners didn't like it. We somehow have this policy where if you order something and it's not nice, you bear the responsibility of finishing it :( After this when I thought about it I realized that when I ordered this I forgot that it was blowfish and not puffer fish, if there was a difference at all. Maybe that could explain why the puffer fish was not nice.

Yaki Soba ($8.80) - My church friend M saw this being served at the other table and thought it looked good, so we ordered this! It was fragrant, worth the price I should say.

We ordered this the last time we were here too - Chilled Charcoal Udon (Hiyashi Sumi Udon, $10.80)
Though when it arrived it looked and tasted more like soba instead, coupled with the fact that it comes with the quail egg which you usually see served with soba and not udon. But I'm not complaining - this definitely tastes good. 

We wanted to have a maki but couldn't decide, so we asked for recommendations, and this was what we got - UFO Maki ($12.00) Basically it's cooked salmon and crabmeat inside wrapped in sushi rice and coated with fish roe. Not bad - can't really go wrong with cooked salmon and roe unless you don't like salmon.

By this time we were really full - we came to the conclusion that 3 main dishes, or staples, (2 noodles and 1 rice) were too much for four ladies. Next time we will cut down on one staple, (and the puffer fish of course), and maybe order something else smaller. We also had this - Unagi Chawanmushi $7.80 (yes, we like unagi very much) which came in a very nice bowl. They changed their way of presentation, we noticed. Tasted good as well, smooth and silky, just rolls off your tongue, with generous servings of unagi.

No meal is complete without dessert no matter how full you are. Since we had four people with us we decided we could very well handle one single dessert, so we ordered Deep Fried Kuro Goma (Black Sesame) Ice Cream ($6.80). I like fried ice cream! And their goma ice cream is good so this dessert was really yummy. We polished it up despite on the verge of bursting.

 

We'll always go back to Megumi, somehow. Good place to go for dinner if you're around the area. This restaurant IMO is between middle to middle-high range. We could probably have saved a bit if we hadn't ordered the puffer fish.

How much was spent: Around $35 per pax
Would I go back? : Yup!

Address: Blk 106 Clementi St 12 Sunset Way #01-38 Singapore

Tel: +65 6779 1411

Opening Hours: 11.30-2.30pm, 6pm-10.30pm

Tenza Izakaya @ Sunset Way

Once in a while I would go to Sunset Way for dinner after church, and we'll pass by this Japanese restaurant along the way to another Japanese restaurant called Megumi. Megumi is recommended more often by other food blogs but not this, I've rarely seen this featured somewhere else. Pineapple saw this on 8 Days and asked if I wanted to try this out, and I said yes! I never say no to Japanese restaurants yeah. This is a fairly new restaurant which started its operations in May/June this year.

According to Wikipedia, an Izakaya (居酒屋) is a Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. In Japan, these are popular places for casual and after-work drinking or chilling out. This Izakaya has an extensive range of sake but it is my loss as I do not really drink.


The complimentary appetizer came soon after we placed our orders. This is cabbage with miso sauce given, which we are to squeeze the lemon into the sauce. Interesting taste, but not addictive.

Mekajiki - Swordfish Sashimi $15. I read on a blog that really recommended their swordfish so we decided to give it a try. It was fresh, yes, within expectations given the slightly higher price than other restaurants like Watami or Sakuraya, but nothing out of the world. Other said restaurants can offer the same quality at a lower price, I reckon.

Grilled Beef Tongue 牛タン $8 - This was special enough. Pineapple ordered this as she said she has always wanted to try this. It was tender, tasty and chewy. Texture is good. Pop it into your mouth piece after piece, nompnompnomp...

They also have a wide variety of yakitori 焼き鳥 (litereally means grilled chicken on skewers but has come to collectively include other foodstuffs) items. Middle: Foie gras $10; Right: Beef with asparagus $3.60

Unagi $7.80 (I think). Nice, though I think there was a sauce overload.

Mentaiko Chazuke - Rice in Tea-Broth with Spicy Cod Roe. I wanted to order cold soba or udon, but thought I should try something new, so we ordered this. I would just say it's worth a try, but it's unremarkable.

After all those I thought I wasn't really satisfied, so I decided to order chicken wings. Bad choice.

Grilled chicken wings $2.50 Pineapple says only the skin is coated with miso, which explains why only the skin is salty but not the meat inside. And I thought they didn't marinate it nicely.

As you can see it was badly charred. Hawker centre chicken wings over this anytime.

For desserts I decided on our behalf to have their home-made goma (black sesame) ice cream. But it was out of stock! So we asked for yuzu instead. Out of stock! So in the end we had matcha (green tea) flavour. It came half-melted. I liked this version though, it was slightly milkier than the usual ones you eat at places like Azabu Sabo or MOF, which are slightly more bitter and tea-like.

This is a nice place to chill out though. I like restaurants at Sunset Way, this one had al fresco dining and we chose to sit outside. Service staff also had pleasant attitudes.



How much was spent: $27 for myself 
Would I go back? Not sure, probably not.

Address: Blk 106 Clementi St. 12 Sunset Way #01-38D

Tel: +65 6773 0093