The title literally translates to “I kowtow to you! Akashi!” haha at least that’s what google translator tells me so!

Woa I tell you if I had died yesterday at 2pm I’d have R.I.P. in peace coz I’ve eaten the best sushi in my whole entire life lol! engawa! I’ve eaten so much sushi in my life but never this! And if you think otoro is heavens this hirame fin is even better!! And you believe I actually chewed on this piece of soshiok! ecstasy for a whole 5 minutes! Coz I had to savor every little part of it! Too good!

Told you I’ll be back and I did! This time I went for semi-omakase coz I told Chef Mervyn I only wanted sushi. Whatever good stuff he can give! And they were all so good! Fresh, thick and oily! Coz I got all the bellies! Salmon toro, kanpachi belly, shima aji, hirame...hmm what did I miss out? Oh yes otoro! How could I miss out on this one? It just melts like butter…tuna butter…eh no! Like ice cream! Tuna ice cream! Haha. Crazily delicious!

Then hor my botan ebi sushi is so giganimously mammothly HUGE! It’s like 3 inches wide and even longer than the length of my palm and I ain’t got no dainty hands! I’m seriously not joking on this one coz the previous reviewer also ate the same prawn…so strange. :) And we had the same reaction = just can’t stop smiling from ear to ear coz it’s just too sweet! Oh man! We were ordered to eat it whole! No joke! One bite to end it all! :O

I also ate clams! Mategai (bamboo clams) in miso ($15). Really nice too! I usually hate rubbery stuff but I must say really like this one! Also tried the house special Ura Maki roll ($12). This California roll everybody sure like one lar! So much tobiko on top!

Friends tried the uni, anago, otoro and aburi otoro sushi. The anago was woa! Super long and so soft! And you should see their faces when they ate the aburi otoro! Orgasmic! Fantastic! 1 pop and it’s gone. Garrhh! Next time I’m gona have these all for myself! So oily! 1…2….many!

They also ordered the ebi shinjo ($6), deep fried prawn ball, grilled sweet potato ($8.80) and house special fish noodles gyu somen ($12). The fish noodles are really so cool! It’s so unlike any noodles you’d have eaten before! It’s like err…toing toing toing fishballs that come in long thin strands lol.

Then of coz we ate ice cream for dessert. I ate goma and they ate the kabocha, pumpkin ice cream. I thought the pumpkin was nicer coz you can actually taste the fibres! My black sesame ice cream to be fair here, I think Rakuichi’s one is better but ice cream alone isn’t going to buy me over! Who goes to sushi restaurants just to eat ice cream? Just like you don’t go to any restaurant or any place just to drink PUB Water!? Duhz. It’s the sushi that makes or breaks! And Akashi makes while that one breaks! :/

Ha! And dun ask me how much my sushi cost! Seriously I swear I don’t know, except that the giganimous botan ebi is $18 per pop! Unless if you’re just stuck with set lunches, nobody should even eat Jap with a budget! Just go…let go with a full bank and a healthy heart! Coz the fun part of going omakase is not knowing how much everything cost until when the bill comes then kena get shocked haha. :O Awesome!

Just 7 words to sum it all up! I NEED TO GO BACK THERE NOW!

Omakase (お任せ) is giving the chef authority to help you decide and prepare your meal at the budget you set. The items that you get vary depending on the location, availability and the designated budget. Today's lunch venue was unexpectedly at Akashi so I was prepared to fork out more as the quality of the food was quite good at the Paragon branch.

Seated at the sushi counter, I was contemplating for the longest time on whether to go ala carte or go omakase. For the omakase, setting different price tags to it can mean that you get different kinds of food. I stood by my choice with ala carte in the end. One of us got the omakase (6pcs sushi). The most exciting part of the omakase was the otoro and salmon belly IMHO. But before you know it, you have reached your last piece of sushi.

All of the food tasted delicious with the exception of Pitan Tofu which did not came as they forgot the order. Special mentions to some of the food that I found especially good.

Gyo Somen (noodles made of fish)
This tasted like fish cake noodles. Every strand had the texture of a fish cake. I liked this more than your usual ramen, udon or soba.

Uni sushi
Taste of the sea that oozes out with creamy goodness laced with its natural sweetness. One is never enough. To have more, a deeper pocket will be required.

Otoro & Aburi Toro Sushi
What more can I say? Eat up your fats! At one point, I was even considering licking the oils on the plate.

Botan Ebi Sushi
It is big (bigger than my 2 fingers), it is fleshy, it is sweet.

Some other miscellaneous orders came by and after having tasted around 10 dishes, I stepped out of this place feeling rich, rich in omega 3 oils.

After some rough calculations, omakase may not be the thing to go for unless you are regulars here because you can't really choose items that you like on the menu. That having said, I may however give the omakase a try when I am really feeling rich. I just wished there were more otoros and unis on my plate...

I really hate to say this, but on my 101th review, I lost to Akashi. In the past, I’ve always relegated the Akashi restaurants to the family-restaurant type. I didn’t think much of them especially so in the raw department, thus never looked beyond my few regular grilled orders.

I frequent the outlet at Paragon but strangely today I found myself here at this newest outfit. I figure since it conjoins Inakaya, my grills will be better executed. Oh my! Was I so super right. And that explains why I lost the battle of prejudice. Akashi has gone upmarket here at Orchard Parade.

First, something about the interior decor. On all my visits to Japanese restaurants here in Singapore, I’ve never seen such grandeur of style. The ceiling is so high I was completely floored (pun intended). The interior was so capacious and commodious; it’s akin to a large communal dining hall, yet somehow exuding a certain charm I can’t quite put a finger to. I most certainly prefer the homey feel of a small sushi-ya like Nogawa, but this place in some way won me over totally. How strange.

Akashi’s grill department has never failed to impress. It does pretty good grills and they’re what I will typically order. I had my usual Sanma (mackerel pike)
Shioyaki ($24) today, broiled really crisp at the exterior yet retaining its tender juiciness from the fat within. Usually it costs $18 for the set, but they used fresh sanma fish today, so it cost more at $24. The $18 set gets you those frozen ones from the supermarket shelves. I <3 sanma to bits!

They also do a really delish Pidan Tofu ($4) appetizer. At $4, it’s small yeah but so darn good with the pidan mush on top of cold tofu, then topped with julienned kamoboko (crabmeat), chopped leeks and negi. A perfect way to start your meal. And mind you, this is not called their “homemade signature” for nothing coz I really dig this!

Please also don’t miss their Beinasu Misoyaki ($15), eggplant slapped on with some tasty miso paste then grilled to perfection. I’m not being biased coz eggplant is my favoritest vegetable in the world, but it’s bcoz this dish is really delicious! A MUST ORDER here.

Though I did manage to curb my raw cravings today, I was at the usual counter seats so I could witness the maestros at work. The itamaes are young no doubt, but from my many years of experience dining in Japanese restaurants *keke*, I could tell they were definitely not wet behind the ears. Their sashimi may be raw but they're not. Expertly skilled with their sushi knives, ala carte orders of sashimi and sushi were delivered with gravitas, aplomb and composure. Omakase execution was conveyed with such pleasingly fresh dishes I almost wanted to weep before my skinnierthantheoriginal (so skinny haha yet super fresh!) sanma fish. Totally regretted not ordering a couple of sushi heavens! :(

For the first time in a long long time, I was wishing my fish didn’t have to come to a sorry end. Now I’m seriously considering an omakase experience here. :D

ps: Akashi ships in fish 5 times a week: On Tuesdays and Fridays it’s the usual bulk shipment from Japan. On Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the group bypasses the suppliers and direct imports fish from Japan, albeit in smaller amounts so as to meet their high turnover rate. So chances are you will be assured of fresh fish always when you dine here. Just be a little more informed and you will be guaranteed a fulfilling dining experience. :)

Two of my girlfriends and I decided to try out Akashi at Orchard Parade Hotel about a month ago for a non-commercialized Japanese meal (i.e. not a Sun With Moon or a Sushi Tei) after reading a good review in a magazine. Suffice to say, we were not disappointed with the experience although we burnt a hole in our pockets. Even though a month has passed, all of us still rave about the good food we had even after a month so much so I felt compelled to review this restaurant.

Here’s what we ordered (sorry I don’t have the names handy):
-Fried flounder set dinner
-Marinated pork with teriyaki sauce (I think), served with mustard on the side
-Chef-selected plate of sushi for 3 people (about 7 different types of fish each)
-Something else I forgot

Negatives:
-The fried flounder was a little over-friend and the taste of the fish didn’t come through. Maybe more salt or seasoning may have made it a little tastier. It was a generous portion though, the three of us struggled to finish it.
-A lot of the food comes in a set and they don’t allow you to order the food separately from the set. In fact the number of sets they have seems larger than their a la carte menu.
-The menu didn’t have pictures and a lot of the dishes weren’t your usual Japanese dishes so we got quite overwhelmed with what dishes to order.

Positives:
-Waitresses were all knowledgeable, friendly and provided quick service.
-The marinated pork was succulent, delicious and melted in your mouth. Don’t know the name but it came from the a la carte menu.
-As previously mentioned the menu was long and we wanted sushi but didn’t know what to order besides the regular selection of sushi one would get elsewhere. So we decided to ask the chef to prepare a plate of his picks suitable for 3 people. After deciding to forego their fatty belly tuna because it jacked up the price by a lot, the chef prepared us a plate of about 7 types of sushi with one sampling for each person. To be honest we didn’t know what fish we were served but it was extremely good. We know for sure there was a salmon, a tuna, a sea urchin, another raw fish, two kinds of half broiled fish and finished off with a baked fish fin/spine/bone that was lightly salted and crunchy. The generous slab of raw fish was fresh and moist; the half broiled fish was not overcooked and brought out the flavour; and the fin/spine/bone sushi was unusual but extremely good I was savouring it. Of course this experience didn’t come cheap, but definitely comparable to an equivalent meal in Japan, if not a tad bit cheaper.

This place is definitely more suited for a treat or celebration as prices are higher than other regular Japanese restaurants. We had gone in expecting to pay about $30 each but came out paying about $40 more, but with no regrets. That being said, the food was fresh, the atmosphere bustling but conducive to talking, service efficient and equivalent to price and quality one would get in Japan. You can certainly get a much cheaper dinner if you stick with the menu though. The restaurant is a little difficult to find as the entrance is to the side of the building but it didn’t seem to stop the foreigners from finding it. By the time we left the restaurant at about 8.45pm it was completely full and we were stuffed.