Inagiku Japanese Restaurant @ Raffles City Shopping Centre (again!)

DH and I really love this place, not least because they have freshly flown sashimi from Japan, and interesting promotions which showcase ingredients which are in season at the moment.

DH had the Hokkaido set (featuring produce from Hokkaido) and I had a sashimi sushi set, and we shared everything, including a bottle of sake.


His starter plate of 4 different items was unique. Anti clockwise, from bottom right, Marinated Salmon with Salmon Roe, Marinated Herring Roe with dried squid and konbu (kelp), Mixed crab meat with crab miso and Salt cured squid. The squid was very salty, but the rest were very good.

My sashimi platter came next - toro (tuna belly), hotate (scallop), hamachi (yellowtail) and akagai (ark shell). All were excellent and favourites of DH and I.

DH was supposed to receive his sashimi platter of botan ebi, oyster and salmon next. But the botan ebi was sold out and replaced with crab, and the oyster was baked with a creamy golden sauce. The salmon and crab sashimi were sweet and very delicious. The baked oyster, slathered with the Inagiku signature sauce, was fantastic. The large, fat oyster was sweet and tender, and not chewy or overcooked.

Shirako Ponzu (codfish smelt in japanese vinegar), rich and smooth. It was a very generous portion, and DH and I shared it with glee.

My sushi platter was fantastic - (clockwise, from top left:aburi flounder fin, aburi toro, uni, negitoro (diced tuna belly) and ikura. My favourite food in the world is aburi toro. Toro is fatty tuna belly, and when it is eaten as sashimi or sushi, it tastes very rich, and tender and flavourful. Aburi toro is lightly seared tuna belly, usually with a blowtorch. The taste is just phenomenal. It retains its rich succulence, but with an added dimension of smokiness. The searing process really brings out the flavour of the fatty tuna. When you pop the morsel of goodness into your mouth, the juicy burst of flavour is pure delight for the tastebuds.

DH's chawanmushi with seafood gravy, was very interesting as the seafood was not embedded within the chawanmushi as one would normally expect, but placed on top. It had ikura, scallop, prawn, and sea urchin. Steamed sea urchin was a first for both DH and I. It tasted smooth but had less of the sea urchin taste if one ate it sashimi-style.

This was a salt grilled mackerel. We would have gone for flat fish, but we thought that the flat fish was dried, and hence less fresh. Turns out we were wrong as the salt fish was supposed to be fresh too, but the mackerel was nevertheless a good choice. It wasn't dry and tasteless like how some places serve it. This one was delicious. Sweet and tasty and very moist and fatty, every bite was sheer delight.

DH's steamed king crab arrived next. Only the legs were served of course. Sweet and firm to bite.

Then, a very interesting dish. Squid stuffed with rice. Glutinuous rice. Which was seasoned and flavoured with all the juices of the squid. Wow. It was chewy and tasty, I really enjoyed it. We saw this one in shops in Hokkaido, but didn't buy any.



We closed off with a seafood miso soup, piping hot, which they served us the last time. Which gives credence to our suspicions.

Dessert was caramel ice cream served on a slice of japanese apple.

Wonderful.