Hibiki (Cuppage Terrace)

1 hour, 60 minutes , 3600 seconds. A full encircling of the minute hand around the clock, an almost lackadaisical process considered by many. But things just weren't the same. Not since we rested our tushies on the comfy sofas lining the modern lit restaurant. No, it ain't your typical laid-back lunch. This was a race for time... and one at the expense of our stomach linings.

I usually would condone the idea of a lunch constrained by time limits. Especially with the settings of an ala carte buffet. Owning the characteristics of any typical 'Kiasu' Singaporean, I suppose anyone would tend to over order in a bid to get back his/her money's worth. But with a clear warning from the kimono-clad maître d' that unfinished food will be charged to the bill according to ala-carte prices, we held back our reservations and seriously.. I mean seriously contemplated the menu.

Hibiki has began offering ala carte buffet lunch and dinner sets at $20.90++ and $26.90++ since a while back. I would guess that it was a move made, in order to grab a piece of action in the realm of executive and business dining. The push factors for me in contrary were, a reasonable price tag, an extensive menu and a hungry boyfriend kicking from his nagging cravings for Japanese cuisine. Now, who would deny that my visit is unjustifiable?

The meal started off with a pot of Genmai Cha ($5.00, unlimited refills). The tea, served as a great compliment to most of the other dishes later, as it had a cleansing yet refined undertone to it. This provided the drinker, a teasing of the taste buds via the roasted rice grains soaked with the tea leaves. A gem in my books definitely.

We had sashimi moriwase (salmon, maguro, tako and sweet prawns). All were excellent of course, most probably since it was a friday and fresh fish leaked into Japanese eateries on Thursday. With the thick, fatty cuts of fish tickling our sensitive taste buds. We were geared up for more! So on with the Ebi Tempura, Soft Shell Crab Temaki, California Maki, Yasai Tempura, Torinabe, Agedashi Tofu, Nankotsu Karaage, oh gosh.. was I blabbering?

How about a thumbs ups for all the better food items? The Soft Shell Crab Temaki was gorgeous.. with deep fried soft shell crab, still warm and crackly wrapped in japanese vinegar-ed rice, cucumber sticks and a devilish dab of mayonaise, this could have easily been one of the best I've ever eaten. No kidding... the assorted tempura was again nicely done with the batter being light and fluffy.

Food aside, one thing that grabbed my attention about the place, was its sophisticated touch of style. The use of heavy colors and modern furniture that spun a tale of modern meets chic. All was appeasing.. from the glass entrance to the leather couches, the glittery cutlery and the whimsical transparent tea pots. It created an atmosphere so endearing, so at ease that it made tucking into the fine cusine so much more pleasurable.

From the outdoor grill to the large section of sumiyaki items on the menu, one could generally make a sensible assumption that this was probably the restaurant's speciality. As such, I conceded and called for the Yakitori, Tsukune, Nasu Miso, Salmon and Tebasaki. The yakitori was acceptable; the tsukune bordered on tasteless; the salmon was excellent in terms of exection and spot on in the taste department, the salmon flesh possesing an amaingly sumptous texture almost like melting whip cream in the mouth; the Nasu miso (japanese eggplant with a generous slathering of miso paste) was definitely up my alley as the salty paste complimented the soft egg plant slices perfectly.

The other sides were served, and the circus act ensued with a mixed performance of arts and flaming fireworks on our palettes.

One argubly cunning dish would be the Nankotsu Karaage, well, if you didn't have a linguistic background in Japanese, You probably would not have a clue that this was essentially chicken cartilage. Darn it... and I though I could get some decent fried chicken here. *rofl* Worth trying if you are not irked by chicken 'spare parts'.

Worth commending, are the Agedashi tofu and Torinabe, the former as pictured above, had deep fried skin that essentially wasn't too gelatinous. As a result, the freshness of the tofu and the right seasonings came into play, boosting the dish from it's humble standings to something out of proportions in my ideals. Nearing the end of our meal, with the clocks ticking on us, our waitress set down the gargantuan pot of hot soup. A homely scent whiffed thru my nostrils, and before I knew it, my exhausted appetite was back up and running again. The soup, had an amazing clarity to it, the sweetness of the broth coupled with the essence of the chicken was indeniably comforting.

A quick time check revealed that it was already 2 40pm. Wait a minute? Isn't the restaurant supposed to close at 2 30? Surprisingly, there wasn't an ounce of anxiety in the air. The maitre d' returned a smile of assurance when I expressed my uneasiness at being the last table still seated within the inner compounds. With that, I kicked back my heels and slurped down my last spoonfuls of chicken broth. Rubbing my tummy in sheer satisfaction.

"You must have our yuzu jelly for dessert," the waitress behind us said.

Of course we had to have that. Yuzu lemons hail from Japan exclusively, tart in flavor, it closely resembles a grapefruit with overtones of Mandarin Orange. Rarely eaten as a fruit itself, Yuzu lemons are priced for its aromatic zest used to flavor desserts and garnish dishes. The Yuzu citrus jelly was the final and most dramatic curtain call I had ever encountered in a dessert of sorts. With jelly cubes filled with the tangy essence of the lemons and further studded with yuzu lemon rind, it made for a certain kind of flavor combustion. Paired with fresly granited ice shavings, it was indescribable. How an ingredient so simple could present such delicious results.

All I wanted was an encore...

for the photos and complete review: click here

Business must have been slow that fine dining restaurants like Hibiki started offering a la carte buffets. The lunch is priced at 20.90++ and all food items to be ordered within an hour although one can carry on and slowly eat up the food after 1 hour. The dinner buffet is priced at 26.90++ and there is no such time limit.
We came here on a Friday night for dinner and the place was relatively empty (the recession must have affected the business to a large extent).
The buffet menu could not match Minori and Hanabi for variety. But the food was decently prepared and beautifully presented. The quality was generally superior to the abovementioned restaurants and there was really quite enough to eat.
We sampled the following:
1. The Hibiki salad made a delightful introduction to the dinner, with crunchy garden greens decorated with shreds of fried crabstix in a sesame sauce. What a great beginning.
2. Goma tofu appeared in a beautiful container. Unfortunately it was rather salty and remained the main flaw of the entire dinner.
3. Sashimi moriwase followed and there were 4 items : salmon (very good), maguro (average), tako (ok), sweet prawns (very tiny and fresh and sweet).
4. Among the sushi, we tried the Tsubugai sushi which was fresh, sweet and crunchy.
5. Soft shell crab maki appeared after that. Tasted ok but there was a lot of rice wrapping rather little crab meat.
6. Ebi tempura was a winner with light batter and big, fresh & crunchy prawns.
7. The sumiyaki items were a large variety. They were skewered and seasoned with mostly salt and pepper in contrast to the more commonly encountered ones done with sweet sauces. The chicken came with and without leek. Tsukune was firm and tasty. Nasu miso used sweet miso to contrast with the relatively plain egg plant. We also tried mochi buta (pork with rice cake) which was something new to us. The grilled salmon was fresh but a shade plain. They also served unagi kebayaki which was juicy and tasty.
8. In addition, we had a chicken hot pot (tori nabe). Fresh chicken meat cooked in a soup base that was tasty and not too salty with cabbages, shitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms and tofu. Quite a generous pot which would have been a meal by itself with some rice for an average eater.
9. There was only 1 dessert item, the yuzu jelly. It was refreshing but was too plain to be an exciting ending to a very satisfactory meal.
As the place was rather empty, the ambience was quiet and peaceful. Service was absolutely first rate. It could rival any 5 star outlet we have been to. Not only were the staff courteous and attentive, the food appeared at correct intervals, soiled plates were efficiently replaced, they even replace the glasses for each glass of water we drank!!
Due to the price of the buffet and budget constraints, the restaurant could not offer premium sushi and sashimi. Beef was also notably absent from the buffet menu. But compared to other restaurants serving buffet at this price, the quality of food was outstanding and the standard of service was exemplary. As mentioned, the dessert was not the most exciting item on the menu, but lots of restaurants do not even include a dessert in the menu for Japanese a la carte buffets.
We enjoyed ourselves very much and will definitely return for more.

Popped by for lunch with my wife, ambience was nice and comfy, decor was well presented.

With 3 tables filled only, we found ourselves a nice table and began to order.

On the menu:

I must say it has quite a decent menu, the lunch sets are a great value for money, so plus points for this.
They also have a 1 hour long ala carte Buffet lunch deal going on at SGD $20+++ per head. Another crowd pleaser.

So I ordered a Unagi set meal and my wife ordered the aka carte Buffet deal as she was craving for Sashimi.

Here comes the rants:

Firstly the table next to us grumbled amongst themselves that their food took over half an hour to arrive, and this was coming from a group consisting of an elderly couple and their middle aged daughter.

Ours was no better, for a place with only 4 tables filled on a lunch hour, our food took equally as long to arrive, despite me checking with the waitress twice.

Perhaps they were understaffed, but once again, no excuse.

When the food finally arrived, we pactically had to wolf down our meals in 20 minutes so i could get back to office. The Unagi portions were good, so another plus point on this value for money front.

The California Roll my wife order was too oversized to be eaten comfortably and it was a real mess to eat. So i called the waitress over and tried to give some constructive feedback, the reply i got was quite profounding "oh, well other customers complained it was too small, so we changed it bigger" Not really my problem, if you ask me. All i wanted was for it to be in a managable size so it could be eaten. Take it back change it, whatever but it really irks me that service staff find the easiest excuse to brush the situation away.

The deal breaker came when my wife was busy helping herself to my salad sauce by dipping her sashimi slices in it, a waitress (i think the chief waitress) came over and said, "ma'am, you really shouldn't do that". At this point of time we were both taken aback and had no clue why she had said so.

Was it because it was ruining her chef's "masterpiece"?

Then it dawned upon us that she thought my wife was passing her buffet item to me! Simple misunderstanding perhaps, but enough to leave us stinging in emabarassment.

I calmly explained what ny wife was doing and the waitress gave an apology that still left me with the feeling she was doubting us.
Perhaps it was a smarting ego but it was certainly enough for my wife to declare "let's never come here ever again."

Paid the bill, finished our tea and left for good.

Maybe i'm overbearing and too demanding, this place has its merits, i'll give it that, but sorry you've just lost 2 customers and i'll probably never recommend this place to anyone ever.