First I’ll like to carp at the restaurant’s annoyingly moronic practice of not taking reservations for lunch. Nothing irks me more than being deprived a place when I have all intentions to have a nice meal at that restaurant. I was going to be with good company, so not wanting to go into a fracas with the !@#%$ waitstaff (I foresee such hazards :p), I slithered there at the opening tick (kiasu hahahaha) notwithstanding lunch appointment was an hour later. But to no avail, The Friend and I had to be relegated to the OUTSIDE *forlornly* till the rest of our company arrive. No such thing as *choping*. :p

Second, when we were finally shown civility, I noticed, of the 36-seater restaurant, 12 of which were “reserved” *sorry we don’t take reservations for lunch*. Miffed, and upon enquiring, we were kindly informed those were coveted seats stashed away kept aside for “The Boss’ Friends”. Orh. >.< Now if you would do your Math, 12 out of 36 is 1/3 of the restaurant’s seating capacity, with 2/3 left piteously for the hungry-GO-WHERE?? lunch crowd.

Anyhows, after much angsty brouhaha, we at long last got the counter seats. Not so desirable here as we were a foursome, and imagine having to eat sideways throughout wasn’t so conducive for the necks.

I love fish in their au naturel state, naked and raw, as I believe the most cogent litmus test to attest its freshness (or not) is to catch eat them unadulterated. A worthy sushi restaurant is also epitomized by its ability to deliver meritable quality, set lunches or not.

I was there, for most part, on a Friday’s lunch purposefully for the chirashi, amongst other goodies that the restaurant has to offer. Matsuo promises a good? value-for-money chirashi on Mondays and Fridays, and myself being a total sucker for food aesthetics, love the visual beauty that a chirashi bento can so often beguile. *you can win me over if you make me laugh eat*. *peace* Yes a mesmerizing chirashi alone is enough. Freshness included please.

Matsuo’s Chirashi ($15) boosts the usual suspects of salmon, tuna maguro, mekajiki (I don’t take this), cooked ebi eew!, ika, hamachi, amaebi, tobikko, unagi, hotategai, tamagoyaki on a no-frills (very bare indeed) rice mattress. Sashimi slices were aplenty although not the finest, but they were reasonably fresh, decent alright, given that this bento set is cost-effectively only $15. I like the salmon best *hur* only coz the cut I was given came from near the belly. Oily…I like keke. The cooked ebi though, made this whole chirashi a misnomer. Hotategai too didn’t taste ermm…really *japonese*, kinda reminded me of the ones that I dunk in my steamboat. Certainly not of sashimi grade. And finally! truly finally there was concerted agreement among those who had it: The tamagoyaki was God-Awful. It wasn’t sweet like it must be, nor cottony that it should be.

And oh! Wasabi came out of a tube! Woebegone!

The very wearisome chawanmushi was given a pleasant twist. Under the steamy and wobbly egg custard masked a cool piece of unagi, juicy prawns and kamaboko *yawn*. A rich dashi broth was spied. Custard was wiggly and nua enough. :)

The Friend who is a bit under the weather of late, braved the weather to lunch with us lol. She settled for the Gindara Teriyaki Lunch Set ($15) which comprised an appetizer of horenso ohitashi (boiled spinach in dashi), gohan and the regular watermelon slices to end. Her cod was so damn fresh I was secretly envious of her throughout lunch whilst lamenting over my plight keke.

Another bone I have to pick about this place is its brusque service. The waitresses were curt, quite terse in fact, functioning as technical servers carrying out customary rituals. No nuances of geniality that will make me feel like home.

Actually hor why am I picking bones here since it was a picky treat mua haha…yet if it means paying a little more to get pampered with that piece of chutoro or eew! octopus tentacles…and to bask within a much more affable atmosphere for a stupefying *phoar phoar! everytime* meal experience, why not? Give me Nogawa anytime!! keke

The fare offered here certainly is not of mind-blowing material but this restaurant is not a place that I would snub. Matsuo would be a more prudent bet when old habit kicks in.

Disclaimer: I rate Matsuo’s food relative to the likes of Akashi, Kuriya’s. I most certainly wasn’t thinking of Nogawa, Aoki, Sushi Yoshida or Inagiku…those are totally in a league of their own. :)