This place was never anywhere on/ near my dining radar being somewhat understated the extent (or not) of its distinctions (or not). I even had doubts on its worth, finding imperfection in its grossly extortionate prices.

It was not until a recent visit that delivered a cruel smack. The sushi/ sashimi and or ala carte items were almost non-comestible.

I chose the Sashimi Set ($30) only coz it looked the most appetizing of the *blah-blah* lot of lunch selections. And oh my!

On the platter were salmon pieces, hirasama kingfish and mediocre maguro which all disintegrated under the gentle clasp of my chopsticks. The tai slices taste insipidly un-tai…and ika eew! The *cool* omg chawanmushi hinted at some ginger essence being superfluously added. Gohan used wasn’t vinegared rice in the first place (should it be?). It kinda tasted familiar…hmm…like those from home cooking. Long-grained with a whiff of jasmine, it truly insinuated perhaps Thai rice was used. No? How such a humble bowl has sinned in mediocrity.

The other Sanshoku Set ($25) the friend had was as well substandard. It comprised 3 mini dons ~ Hirasama kingfish bowl, tuna bowl, regular assorted sushi bowl, a fried-then-simmered tai nimono, chawanmushi and the requisite appetizer etc. The friend commented the maguro had overstepped the bounds of taste they being too significantly marinated. Not sure how the rest of his meal tasted like though.

He couldn’t resist an ala carte order of Foie Gras and Eggplant with soy bean paste ($18) simply coz it sounded so bizzare. And oh boy! What a solid piece of foie gras it was! O_O I have eaten foie gras in all manner of recipes and presentations, but never this HARD! As much as we tried our best to forgive this felonious liver, it was against our ethics to even ingest such a blasphemous form. This poor duck sure died in vain. The ensemble was also too overwhelmingly swathed in such a thick puddle of brown miso I felt such injustice for the Nasu that I adore so much…this vegetable.

We being yao kui adventurous, also had 2 pairs of aburi tai ($18/ pair) and aburi hotate ($18/ pair) on our lunch table. The tai neta, slightly scorched and tainted with a smidge of momiji oroshi, didn’t deliver the *oomph* charred flavor or taste that usually have a bearing on aburi sushi. The natural sweetness of hotate was also sadly marred by the brown miso there was none of the nice smokiness emanating from the seared scallop.

Ten-jyaku’s chefs seem to be big on garnishes. From soup to nuts, those little extraneous trivials didn’t manage to serve their purpose the chefs meant to dedicate to their goods. Instead of accentuating the dishes, those dispensable miso, akajiso and condimental embellishments seemed more like superfluous appendages which highlighted even further the poorness of their quality. Yes…a set lunch may not be a veritable gauge to his culinary prowess, but a restaurant or chef who is selective in his deliverance doesn't warrant a commendable excellent review in any matter. I was a happy camper with a mere $15 set lunch just the other day...the chef wasn’t calculative nor had compromised on the quality of the sashimi slices served. Set lunch or not, cooked or au naturel raw, the fish were all so fresh lunch left me nicely satiated, not to mention leaving behind a pleasant memory and good taste in my mouth.

Oh yes… after the most atrocious set lunch ever…not like I would have cared anymore…but as we await our mandatory watermelon slices…they never came. Why so only coz this place doesn’t serve any!! LOL!

I wonder its survivability.

So there you go….here’s my take on an erroneous establishment...once again. A once-chic restaurant that had become completely déclassé. The experience left me flummoxed to the bone…but please please…do decide for yourself, after sweating through this review, if you would want to bring anguish at your own risk.

If you have cash to burn, that is.

Ten-Jyaku falls into that category of being a rather pricey Japanese restaurant. Though not the most expensive that I've come across, a good meal here comes with a bill not to be shrugged off. Well, maybe if you make 5 figures a month, that's something else. This place is located just next to überburger along Millenia Walk. The decor of the restaurant looks gimmicky with cane framed enclosure columns that surround dining tables looking to me like extremely inefficient use of space in a prime rental location. It does serve its purpose of turning the heads of pedestrians that happen past and surely enough, we got interested enough to "check it out". The interior does make an interesting business lunch/dinner location if you need to make some impression and your pockets are fairly generous. On top of that, you get waitresses clad in kimono, socks and those wooden japanese slippers.

We decided that since this is work related, we'd take it slow, try to move off sets and main courses and see how this places turns out. Dinner started with appetisers(pufferfish and vinegared seafood) and most of the rest consisted of sushi, a bowl of plain noodles, prawn teppanyaki dish and egg.

For the marinated pufferfish, I was actually expecting fugu sashimi, but I guess not that many places here serve that evidently. This one tasted just like the one at Beppu, which means it tasted like a mix between ba kua and dried cuttlefish. Well, I'll know never to order these things again. It doesn't taste bad really, it's just something that I didn't think as justified for its price.

I am assuming that the vinegared dishes in the way of appetisers since they are vinegared with lemon slices to whet the appetite. Check out the dainty portions. Yeah, I said dainty. The Assorted Seafood as you can see in the top photo doesn't contain much assortment. What we basically got were octopus which is available in the second dish, scallop and a prawn. However, I must commend that the taste was good. The octopus wasn't rubbery at all and the taste permeated the tongue from the first bite. Despite being vinegared and with lemon, you still get to taste the flavour of the meat which felt really fresh. The scallop comes lightly seared on the exterior but is actually raw in the interior. Didn't get to try the prawns though, but it looks good too. You can also see that some effort has been made on the part of presentation of the dishes.

From the name of this restaurant, one may have surmised that there could be something special about their sushi here. Which is a correct assumption actually from what I experienced. What they serve here, does contain a distinctive mark of quality which does not appear in most of the less costly Japanese eateries. I also assume that it is also the reason why they charge so much for it here apart from having pretty earthen/stone tableware. Most of the freshly made sushi here cost from $8 and upwards. The uni sushi standing alone up there is a mouthful of $18. Ouch! But hell it was good. The uni was smooth, creamy and light. It's something that I didn't get enough of, but at $18, I really need to exercise moderation. And also to my surprise, they Californian Maki rolls tasted a lot better than what I've had elsewhere. This was one where I could really feel the ebi roe burst with flavour in my mouth when I chewed on the sushi. I'm telling you that what they serve here are fresh(which is really important for raw stuff) and good tasting. There is no doubt about that.

The prawn tempura wasn't terribly exciting, but it was good stuff and most people love prawns. That's good enough a reason to order it. It was also the most expensive item which we had ordered @ $28 for 5 pieces.

The Dashimaki tamago is probably the most expensive fried egg I've eaten. Ever. I have no idea how many eggs were made to make this stuff, it's just fried egg and I'm not sure it's ten dollars worth of egg in there.

Altogether, I would say that Ten-Jyaku provides for a pleasant dining with a simple menu that doesn't confuse you with too many options. The service of the place was polite, but far from prompt considering that this place wasn't very packed and there are a few servers around which seems to be always busy and not taking note of needed attention. If you're looking for a fairly quite place to dine with a nice sashimi bar and fresh tasting sushi, this place deserves some consideration if you're cool with how much things cost. The above food with a small bottle of sake ran up $183.00. Ack!

pics here