Shima Restaurant

For a more detailed review with photos, please see http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com/2011/01/shima.html

The quality of the food here has dropped substantially but surprisingly, it remains popular. Weekends will find this place packed to the brim.

Food's pricey for the quality. Also, service was a little slack, especially since this is considered a "first-tier" restaurant. We had trouble getting the wait staff's attention to re-fill our waters.

We had the Teppanyaki Beef and Seafood Set ($45.90), beginning with:

1) Norwegian Salmon - simmered in a proprietory mix of shoyu and teriyaki sauce. This was nice, fish was not overcooked, still soft and tender

2) Shisamo Tempura and Ebi Tempura - Too much batter, overcooked and the prawns were miserably puny

3) Salmon Sashimi - could be fresher

4) Garlic Fried Rice - nice and aromatic and garlicky

5) Sauteed Beansprouts - crunchy and simply seasoned

6) Sauteed Prawns - fresh enough but they were a little bland, not sweet enough

7) Sauteed Sesame Chicken - succulent and juicy, but a little tasteless. 

8) Beef Tenderloin - not great

Our parents were celebrating their anniversary and i dun know why we were invited( to think we actually went and spoilt the romance! Hahahahah! :D) But it was very kind of them to ask us along :)

The food is really mediocre. The service is great maybe because the manager knows our father for a long time. He recommended some Japanese beef that we could not repeat again because the name is long and sounds impressive. Hahahaha!

Anyway, when the meat came( at the end) we were so filled we could not eat it at all. It marbling was great. Oozing with fats and all. Nice and expensive dish to look at.

The food is just like any other restaurant. Like Yoshida and the rest.

Maybe Teppanyaki ( at the other side of the restaurant) would have been more interesting.

 

So. Just a few hours ago, i had my dinner Shima. The place was cozy, dimly lit, teppanyaki-styled and tucked away at the corner of the hotel. Our waitress reminded me of some actress in the old japanese movies and all were dressed in full kimono suits.

About time, our sashimi appetiser came. All of us had a plate of varied sashimi each including an oyster and super big headed prawn. I had quite some difficulty trying to finish them for i wasnt the biggest fan of all things raw. Anyway boy, were they the freshest sashimi i ever tasted! It was also the first time where i ate wasabi that didn't came from tubes, which wasn't really hot but good.

Then, the teppanyaki chef came and begin our courses. The first few dishes were all a lobster affair. We had to turn our heads at our own cruelty when he cooked the live lobsters :X. Managed to try some fried lobster heads, steamed lobster meat and some lobster meat bathed in some very alcoholic wine.

I shall skip the next few dishes to The One.. My first and only One in my life (other than the paste i tried at some buffet years before :(). Oh what could it be than my first big slab of Foei Gras (goose liver). Tantalizing, i tell you. Man, it just made me salivate :x gloob. There was a slight standard liver kind-of taste across all animals that makes you know you're eating a liver but boy, i also tasted good beef and chicken in it(alright maybe i was a little too full by then, regrets):X Anyway it has a piquant taste, or some may say, it was orgasm in the tongue.

Next up was the Wagyu Beef! It was such a tease to our tastebuds with its really nice to chew texture and for once, you feel like devouring oily stuff wasnt a sin because it probably is some good oil generated from a lifetime of luxurious hobbies like massages, exercises, sake wine and spas.

By then, i was as full as a bloated tortured goose (yes i know, cruel us) that all things tasted chicken to me.

The 'things' range from scallops to standard teppanyaki stuffs and fried garlic-y rice.

Receipt came at 2000+for10heads. Well i can't say it was my best dinner, nor was it extravagent because every money was well spent into quality food.

I just had a really fulfilling (both stomach and soul) meal.

All I have to say is – There Is No Recession! Shima on a Monday night was fully packed out, with only one teppanyaki table free (and even that one had 2 persons sitting at it). With set menus starting at $80/head, this isn’t exactly a cheap eat!

Shima for the husband and I, has a certain nostalgic quality. The décor hasn’t changed in at least 15 years and it’s the first place I ever had teppanyaki at. I’m pleased to report that the mainstays were still very very good. We had the beef and lobster set with US Fillet, because my unrefined palate actually likes lean beef and we didn’t particularly feel like mortgaging our house that night to pay for the Wagyu. The lobster was tossed about in this buttery, creamy, garlicky sauce and the portions were hearty. The chef also cooked a wine-based sauce in the shell- which we were later given so that we could scavenge for stray meat and dig out all the brown squishy bits in the head. I wasn’t too keen on the sauce, but the mister slurped it up like there was no tomorrow.

The beef (in a salty soy sauce with garlic) and egg-garlic fried rice which followed, were also tremendous. I even ate the mixed vegetables which I usually hate. It was a Soy Sauce-Garlic-Butter Overload for sure, but such a happy, tasty one. Admittedly, there was a same-ness to the taste of the dishes (with the exception of the lobster) but who cares when it all tastes this good?

The starters were far less impressive though. The salmon sashimi, while substantial tasted frozen. Perhaps this was acceptable in the 80s, but with good Japanese places practically everywhere you turn; there’s no excuse for this any longer Shima! The plate of tempura (soft shell crab, sweet potato, capsicum, aubergine) was also excessively oily and the soup (miso) was generic at best. The salad was ok…it had a tangy zesty taste to it. But I tell you, the biggest travesty is that these substandard/average starters fill you up so much that you may not have room for the real gems – the main course. I came to this bitter realization as I was forcing down spoonfuls of that wonderful garlic rice at the end of the meal.

Dessert was just some fruit - watermelon (sweet) and honey melon (not so nice). I sure miss the classy days of having to adjourn to the coffee lounge for a scoop of ice cream and tea. Oh, and look out for the amazingly deft waitresses who wear kimonos with massive sleeves. When they clear your stuff, you half expect all the crockery to come sweeping down into your lap – and when it doesn’t, you feel like giving them a round of applause! (Ok it’s not quite the acrobatics and pyrotechnics that the chefs of old used to perform, but hey, I guess you take what you can get)

I just had a fantastic lunch at shima today! We took the buffet lunch priced at $39.90 per person and I would say it was totally worth the buck AND the calories. (heh)

The buffet lunch came with:

appetisers: miso soup, tempura (shishamo & prawn), california handroll, salmon sashimi

teppanyaki: beef, oysters, prawns, salmon, garlic rice, vegetables, chicken

dessert: watermelon & coffee/tea

The sashimi was very fresh - wonderfully coral pink and offered minimal resistance in the mouth - one of the best I've had. Best thing is: you can order as much as you want! =)

As for the teppanyaki - many thumbs up! i absolutely loved the salmon. Most establishments cook the life out of the salmon but not shima! The sauce was heavenly and it was cooked to perfection - still retaining a bit of sashimi texture in the middle... needless to say, I dutifully ordered more of the salmon.

Not to be outdone was the prawns that had a little bit of bite to them and also delightfully flavoured with garlic and somehow it made it more delicious to see the butterflied prawns turn pink on the grill!

The beef used was definitely of high quality and it was very flavoursome and again, had that great melt-in-your-mouth texture that I always look for in my beef. I am almost salivating just thinking of it.

The chicken was also yummylicious: crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, with a sticky, caramelised teriyaki sauce. simply delicious.

I must commend the service staff too as they were very attentive! of course, this might be due to the fact that we arrived at 1.45pm when most of the lunch crowd had already dispersed and their last order is at 2.15pm (so do visit them earlier to enjoy more teppanyaki goodness!) But maybe it was because it was relatively empty that I enjoyed the whole experience more: the food was served speedily since the chef only had to cook for the 2 of us and also, we got to have a nice chat with the chef. He even happily stayed back and took further orders for the teppanyaki items at 2.15pm on the dot.

All in all, the review can be summed up in one word: fantastic!

We decided on dinner at Shima as a birthday treat for K last night. We decided to splurge a little by ordering the Aussie Wagyu which set us back by $390 for a 600g portion. If this is enough to stagger you...you would probably have fallen off your chair if you see what we have to pay for the Mixed Vegetable. The captain ordered 7 portions for us but these were tiny side portion-sized not a whole plateful as you have thought. Made your guess by now? We paid a whopping $91 for it!! THAT would have to be the most expensive vegetable dish I have ever eaten! Plain, ordinary vegetables i.e. taugeh, spring onions, garlic, shiitake mushrooms etc. which cost $13 a portion! This is ridiculous! The cost for the garlic rice was just as mad! At $8 for a small ricebowl portion...I think I will be more satisfied paying the same for a plate of fried rice at Chen Fu Ji! We queried about the exorbitant cost of both these dishes only to be told nonchalantly by one of the kimono-clad service staff that it's what we ordered so nothing wrong with the billing!! Overall, the food was so-so, a little bland for my liking. But the chef who cooked for us last night was a nice and friendly chap. And he was the only saving grace for the night! I'd give them a premanent miss but if you are daring enough to venture to the restaurant...BEWARE! You might burn a huge hole in your wallet!

I haven't been to Shima since I was a wee boy and boy have standards dropped. I was commenting to my brother about this last night and he informed me that the standard has been dropping over the years and the last time he ate there, he was also very disappointed.

You go to a Teppenyaki place because you want to not just enjoy a good meal but to have a bit of a show. I remember the good old Shima where the chef would actually do several fancy moves such as throw this knife and catch it in his side knife hoster; pour brandy on my beef and flame it with everyone at the table having to pull back from the heat; and do other insanely dangerous and entertaining things.

My experience at other Teppenyaki places has been that such old school methods of entertainment have slowly faded away. However, I still expect some basic showmanship for Teppenyaki. Alas, Shima really disappointment me here. For example, the chef did not even bother to deshell the prawns in front of me. The prawns came ready shelled and he just plopped them on the table to grill. Come on man! I could do that at home with a frying pan!

Showmanship aside, the food standard is really poor. One highlight of a teppenyaki dinner has to be the garlic fried rice. Well, mine came out wet and mushy and the garlic wasn't even cooked through properly. Till now, my mouth lingers with a very garlicky taste.

So so disappointed with the place.

Tell me, where can you find good teppenyaki in Singapore these days?

First time, I went there to eat

(1) Mix Seafood Teppanyaki --- Aei...Nothing special.

Second time, I went there to eat

(2) Lobster + Kobe Teppanyaki --- Wooooo...This set is so much better than the first set!!! Highly recommended!!! Especially the Kobe, just nicely done, chewyyyy, juicyyyy and the taste remains in my mind till now!!!

Of course warm Sake could not be excluded from the meals.

The only thing I don't like is the oil smell I'll get (especially on my hair)after I finish my meals because they cook in front of you, so you can't escape from the stench.

Furthermore, though the meal is delicious, the portions are considered small for males and it's not cheap.

Set (1) cost $80++ per pax.

Set (2) cost $220++ per pax. Yes, it's per pax. At first I thought that's the price for two people but I was wrong. I didn't realise it's so expensive!!!

I wasn't the one paying for the meals, but I don't really think I would eat it again if nobody treats me, though it's sumptuous! Oopss...Hehehehe...