Ichiban Boshi (Suntec)

Following a chocolatey stint at 3-Inch-Sin, we had to find a place for dinner quickly since it’s already past 9.30pm, when most kitchens would’ve been closed by then.

Walking past Ichiban Boshi, K enquired about last orders and we were relieved to know it’s 10pm. Granted, it’s a Friday.

We used to head directly for the outlet at Esplanade, until its demise recently. As such, it’s our first visit here.

A light dinner promptly ensued, consisting of a variety of sashimi and sushi. No complaints regarding freshness. The quality was the same as any other outlets we’ve tried.

By the time we started eating, most diners had left and we were able to enjoy our dinner in peace. Service was polite and decent, except that no one refilled our genmaicha ($1.10).

walked in with my dinner date, well before the dinner crowd could flood in, tables already occupied & had to settle for the sushi bar seats. took awhile to be served, while our hot tea came shortly after our 1st 2 plates of sushi were served. appears to me that they were short-handed to some extent.

i've no quelms about the quality of the food, & freshness of their fish, except the efficacy of service could've been improved a bit.

Ichiban Boshi is probably one of the coziest Japanese chain restaurants. Think dark wood with high booths in dim ambient lighting. A perfect place for a casual yet romantic dinner with your date or a cozy catch up with your group of friends. Perhaps it is the lighting that makes conversations quieter and more intimate. There is also a wide variety of Japanese food selection to choose from. Pick sushi off the sushi train or select from the set or ala carte menu. I had the salmon sashimi with salad. This dish was not like what I tried before as I thought the salad was cut finer and the dressing spicier. However I must admit that it was worth the price I paid for compared to individual sashimi pieces on a plate. I also tried their soba with beef ball soup. The soba is made in-house hence the freshness of the noodle. In fact I thought the dish was overall very light, healthy yet tasty, great for days when you want to eat a little a little lesser. My friend tried the executive set meal which I thought was simply a steal. I pinched items from her set meal and was very impressed.

Ichiban Boshi is a restaurant that I will come back again and again because they serve great Japanese cuisine at affordable prices.

came here by chance yesterday with 8 other friends at around lunch time when the place was rather packed. was assigned to a table far from the conveyor belt we had intended to eat our sushi from..nonetheless it was alright because the place was comfy and spacious enough. ambience wise it was definitely not as amazing as that of esplanade's branch but it was pleasant enough!

happiest thing? food quality was met by (high) expectations.

ive always LOVED the Soft Shell Crab Handroll here and they've definitely not disappointed me once. they are very generous in their servings and the delicious crab shell + sauce fills right to the bottom of the roll. *licks

second dish that deserved to be mention is the Chawanmushi! not some basic (or rather, plain) ones they sell elsewhere. their's are packed with adequate mushrooms, crabmeat, some other meat and even gingko nut! tell me just how healthy can it get! *chugs

and what is sushi without Sashimi? the big sashimi platter of $28 was packed with different kinds of thick (but the right size!) sashimi with a full yummy and fresh factor. one word= heavenly. one effect= orgasmic tongue.

other things tasted and tested are

soba noodles- mildly sweet, satisfactory minimalist food.

tempura- crisp and warm *thumbs up

eel- not a big fan but was sweet and smooth

lobster salad sushi- this one's utterly tangy, scrumptious & worth every penny

Conclusion:

DOWNSIDE of ichiban boshi?

it left me 'hungrier' than i was before i started eating because one can never be fulfilled and satisfied with the good stuffs! so hungry that i actually considered returning there for dinner the same day!

will definitely be returning again because of their good quality sushi and the 20$ voucher received when we spent $200.

We came to Ichiban Boshi around 7pm on Friday, and could come in without any waiting. We prolly got the worst table in the whole restaurant - in a far corner right next to the actual kitchen entrance. But there was no other table to chose from, so we didn't complain.

The service was prompt, although they were really scrambling to handle an almost fully packed restaurant. So far, so good.

The biggest disappointment was the food. We ordered a plate of sushi, some separate sushi pieces and salmon sashimi. All 3 of us are huge salmon fans, so we were excited by the amount of salmon in our fest. But the salmon was HORRIBLE. It was tasteless, chewy and didn't even smell right. At first we thought it was just the matter of the sashimi, but then it turned out that the salmon on sushi was the same tasteless thing.

The rest of the sushi was ok, with some tasting quite good (mixed veggetable), and other being just ok (ika sushi). One of my friends had pork in black pepper sauce, and as far as I tried it, it tasted sweet and oily. He liked it, I didn't.

All in all, the experience was ok, but I think I would expect far more from such restaurant, especially that I've heard good recommendations. And I can't get over the bad salmon! The best thing I can think of was the value, as we paid S$75 for 3 people and left the restaurant feeling full.

I just had dinner here. Not your typical Ichiban restaurant. I can't recognised it twice. It was specially crowded. I guess its because of the value display by the organisation with good quality ingredients and wide menu range. However, the speed of the service and flow of food could be improve. I had salad in the middle of my course. The beef that I order came slow. But despite all this what caught my attention was the caring manager response to the situation. She was a good host. I will catch her name the next time I visit Ichiban at Suntec.

was here for dinner one day for my clique's gathering. =D actually i did not know the location of this outlet till my friend brought us there. i have heard of it. but never been there. perhaps coz it located in quite a secluded corner on the second level. near chocz. but a bit further in. =D

but man. do i love the ambience and view of the place! nice comfy booth seats with cushions and a nice loooong table for the 4 of us to indulge in the good food. =D and our seats happen to be by the bay. so the view was really dazzling especially since it was at night. and there was a live band playing by the bay and the music juz came through the glass. =D

service was a bit slow. perhaps they were swamped with the dinner crowd. and that we were seated in a corner. other than that was fine.

had 3 hot green tea and a coke. and ordered 7 plates of sushi to share. like california handroll. soft shell crab maki. salmon sushi. chasoba. potato croquette. mini california rolls. ichiban fiesta. the standard was ok. not as good as sushi tei's. but much much better than sakae. =D

also ordered other sides like sashimi salad. salmon sashimi. enoki hoiru mushiyaki (mushrooms in butter sauce) and chawanmushis. i like the salmon slices coz they came in thick cuts and was very fresh. =D but my personal favourite was the mushrooms in butter sauce. i love mushrooms and butter. what can go wrong with this combi? =D

our mains were chicken katsu. tempura curry. kinoko curry and my beef kaminabe. had a bite of all my friends. was quite ok. but coz i was in the mood for beef. my beef kaminabe tasted the best.

overall a pleasant dining experience with good company. although the price was a bit steep due to us over-ordering. but i will come back for more! =D

okie...its a great place to eat jap food!

affordable and yummy!

=) gogo!

Discovered this restaurant for the first time last week. All along, I thought of it as another high class-expensive place!

Decor was simple and nice. Looks more comfy that the usual Sakae sushi.

Surprised that the prices are quite reasonable and similar to that of Sakae! Order the bento sets which came with many dishes. Totally enjoyed it.

My favourite Jap restaurant for 'budget' Jap meals from now on!

It’s a hectic Thursday for me as my eating buddies and I decided to make our way to Suntec directly after a hard day of work for the I.T show that had just started today. We arrived @ Suntec around 8pm and started to scout for a decent place for dinner and we ended up in this Japanese rest. Ichiban Boshi. Remember eating at Ichiban Sushi @ AMK hub before and apparently this rest. is supposed to be of a higher class Ichiban rest. as all rest. under ‘’Boshi’’ are all located at central areas. We were usher to our table and it didn’t take long for us to order as we were really hungry.

Menu Tonight,

1.) Business Gozen – My buddies main course dinner. No comment.

2.) Unagi Yana Sashimi Zen – Unagi pieces in fried eggs, 2 mini bowl of salmon sashimi, a bowl of rice, miso soup and 2 pieces of watermelon. The Unagi in fried eggs tasted not bad so does the salmon but the rice just couldn’t met the mark. Esp. when they mix 2 different type of rice together.

3.) Nishoku Gozen – My buddies main course dinner. No comment.

4.) Deep Fried Mash Potato – A dish highly recommended by one of my eating buddies, and it just taste great! Comes with 2 different kinds of dressings for dips. If you like hush browns or stuff like that you’ll gonna love it. Yummy! Yummy!

5.) Deep Fried Salmon Skin – All time favorite side dish, deep fried salmon skin with mayonnaise on top. Miss this and regret.

Overall not a disappointing meal I should say, very filling. The service and the ambiance of the rest. are quite alright too. Not gonna give a high score for this meal thou. Cuz its just a plain normal Japanese style dinner.

Kazef@HGW

06/03/08