Sushi Tei (Tampines 1)

After a few months of nagging by our dear friend, I finally decided to go with his wishes to eat at Sushi Tei where he claimed the Udon were not bad. This was my first time visiting Sushi Tei and it is within one of my higher priced Japanese dining venues.

Sushi Tei adopts an Contemporary Asian decor, with Zen like Japanese influenced hanging lights. Dark wooden textured furniture and comfortable cushioned seats. The place seems to give a relaxed, Japanese atmosphere to go with your Japanese food. The place can be somewhat noisy when it becomes more packed and defnitely more cramped as well.

I had a Marinated Baby Octopus Dish with Seasame Seeds ($4.50) which was quite okay, I like how it was nicely marinated with the sauce. In other places, they were too heavy on the sauce and it makes the dish abit too sweet and salty to savour. The taste was just nice, not too heavy.

Agedashi Tofu was my 2nd appetizer. The tofu is abit light, slightly on the salty side with the accompanying sauce and the tofu is quite soft unlike the gelatinous ones you have at Sakae Sushi which comes with a sweeter and thicker sauce.

Nabeyaki Udon ($11) was my main course. Quite okay. The tempura is sadly soaked in the soup when I ate it hence it is no longer crispy. It should have been served separately. However, I must point out that the prawn is rather fresh. The soup is quite rich in flavour and the noodles are okay to me, I find the dish alright if not above average as this is my first time having Udon.

My friends had other dishes too, the Spicy Miso Ramen, Udon with Tempura and a Sho Ramen (which was a wrong order, supposed to be Beef Ramen.)

Generally, I found the food here quite alright. It has a wide variety of Japanese food here together with a nice menu full of pictures and a brief introduction to the various courses of Japanese cuisine such as Sashimi, Sushi, Noodle, Sumiyaki etc.

Despite being left with many more dishes to try, from the dishes that I have tried here today, my impression is quite positive. The dishes seemed to be quite decent and there is simply too many to choose, you would be spoilt for choice.

The prices here are relatively steep $14 for 3pcs of 3 different kinds of Sashimi and $7 dollars for a 5pc Salmon Sashimi, $11 for Teriyaki Salmon. There seemed to be only ala carte meals here with a lunch promotion going on. If you want to try a variety of Japanese dishes at one good of a decent standard, you might want to try Hibiki at Cuppage Terrace instead. Sushi Tei is for people who wants a specific part of the Japanese Cuisine or with bigger budgets to spare for a meal. The quality seem to be worth the money though portions might be abit little for the big eaters.

Their plus point here would be their service, something that is worth paying for. The staff were patient and efficient. They are always on standby, each being designated an area to take care. Despite the increasing crowd. The waitress was quick to clear the used plates and re-fill our glasses of water.

Overall, this is a decent place to get Japanese food, but prepare to pay abit more for that quality.

This is the number 1 rule of my Eating Do's and Don'ts

1) Select a restaurant which has no other chains, hence the head chef will be the one preparing or at least overseeing the preparation of your food and you get an enjoyable dining experience that can only be emulated there and no where else, making you feel extra special.

So far in my book, only few restaurants have succeeded in gaining immunity from this golden rule, one of which is Sushi Tei.

K, T and myself started off our leisurely Saturday lunch with a Sashimi platter(Salmon, Tuna, Swordfish and Tuna Belly). No qualms about the freshness or cut and with Tuna Belly thrown in, I was surprised that they could maintain the pricetag at a reasonable $28.

The Grilled Cod in Teriyaki Sauce was well executed, though I'm pretty sure they used frozen cod instead of fresh ones judging from the texture.

The Deep Fried Soft Shelled Crab was also good. Crisp on the outside while retaining the mouth watering juicy goodness on the inside and the surprising absence of oleaginousness was pretty apparent.  

My Negitoro Don(Minced Tuna with raw quail egg on rice) was ok. Not much to comment about.

K and T liked their Curry Katsu Dons. They felt the curry was flavourful and had the right thickness to it.  

Sushi Tei has definitely won me over with it's consistent quality and affordable pricing and is the only Jap Chain(at least of this price range) I'd bother patronising.

Bon Appetit!