Sushi Tei (Big Splash)

Playground @ Big splash is the revamped and much hyped about location these days for its semi chic food offering which can be found surrounding the defunct location. The list of restaurants to try there is quite extensive and its important thus, to start somewhere. Having had Sushi Tei close to a year back, i was once again goaded to try it out at its new location.

The exterior of the restaurant is simply a refurbishment of the old big splash building with an additional signboard. The interior consists of a oval kitchen set in the middle of the restaurant with glass panels to allow a full view of the kitchen and sushi making counter. A conveyor belt which taxis the usual sushi plates run through the restaurant as well. Seats are a mesh of wooden and minimal cushioned seats for the customers to choose from while the lighting within is rather dim as opposed to the bright interiors of Genki or Sakae sushi.

Unagi and Tamago Sushi (Yellow plate $6) - Looking at the shot, its obvious that the unagi is huge! I picked this from the conveyor because i was dead hungry and because the portion seemed too good to be true for a sushi plate. Taste wise, the unagi was soft and sweet while the tamago and sushi rice held firm. It wasn't until i learned the actual price of a yellow plate before i regretted as this was $6 which is really expensive by my standards.

Chawan Mushi (2 for $8) - Soft and sweet summarizes this up pretty well. Pieces of chicken meat and shark's fin can be found closer to the bottom but the one thing that irked me was that the dish was not piping hot when served. It was lukewarm at best and that took alot of enjoyment away.

Age Dashi Tofu ($4) - Another dish that should be served hot but made it to our tables only slightly warm. The age dashi tofu has to be the worst of its kind i've had to eat thus far. The skin had a sticky and unbreakable quality to it while the bland tofu inside simply didn't help. Also deserving a mention is how cool the sauce it came with was as well. An overall badly done item.

The above plates were basically tasteless. The tuna sushi had a rather fishy aftertaste that did not agree with me while the tamago and crab meat simple tasted like bland sushi rice. The unagi pieces were extremely thin and came with no sauce whatsoever. Disappointing.

Yakiniku Don ($10) - I had a bite of this dish and the meat was hard and overdone while the rice was once again lukewarm.

Curry Katsudon ($8) - A simple dish which i ordered for filling purposes. The curry was not spicy as Japanese curry itself is never known for being spicy. The chicken pieces were miserly and hard while the curry tasted very much like those that could be bought from NTUC. Somehow, i was hoping for more but that was never satisfied.

Sukiyaki (3 for $36) - The sukiyaki beef came in 4 long slices and the fats were readily apparent on each piece. Some call it marbling but it doesn't sit well with me as i prefer sukiyaki with minimal fat and more meat. The hotpot that came was miso based and is of the sweet variety. Its filled with mushrooms, onions, vermicelli and tofu for good measure but none decreases the sweetness of the broth (this can be good or bad depending on your tastes). Regardless, this is one of the more affordable and value for money items i've found in the place. Still not exceedingly good though.

Cha Soba ($6.50) - Another item i did not get to try but comments were that it was good.

Total damage for 6 people came to $112.39. Averaging less then $20 per person.

Although Japanese food is one of my favorite cuisines and i've tried Sushi Tei in the past. This branch needs work before its worthy of the name. From my friends, i understand that they have eaten at other branches where the standard was much higher and better then the items we've had here. Service was better as well. Either way, i did not enjoy paying at the counter, did not enjoy eating lukewarm and suspiciously "unfresh" food and did not enjoy the air con dripping down on me as i signed the cheque. Maybe this is the new business jitters i've heard so much about regarding new entrants to the field but still, i don't think i'll be coming back to this branch. Take your chances.