Tomi Sushi: Eating Japanese

Japanese food in Singapore is a mixed batch, especially after one's palate has known the wondrous pleasures of eating Japanese in Japan.

There are some good ones, even very good ones outside of Japan, to be sure. But they tend to be rather expensive.

One interesting aspect is that in the Japanese cities, the restaurants are generally specialized. If one feels like a tempura, one goes to a specialist tempura restaurant. If sushi, then to a sushiya. If one craves an unagi, then a visit to the unagi specialist is in order. But in Singapore, most Japanese restaurants are generalists. Even sushi-ya known for their sushi and sashimi often serve a soba or udon, and the odd tempura. Tomi Sushi is one such generalist.

Tucked in a corner in Velocity, it is one of our go to places for a nice, clean, Japanese meal. They have Sapporo on the tap

Cold, smooth, with a beautiful head, this is a wonderful beer served from the tap, vom fass as the Germans would say...why use a German term to describe a Japanese beer? Arguably, the Germans have been attributed to first have brewed beer, or at least spread its brewing techniques all over the world.

On order for dinner was a unaju, a grilled unagi with sauce served on a bed of steamed Japanese rice.

The unagi is quite superb. Creamy meat, beautifully barbequed, with a slight hint of charcoal. I found the sauce smothering the eel to be a bit on the thick side, but it was easy to overlook, as the meat was superb.

We also had an order of mixed tempura

Rather good...the batter is very light, crisp, if a bit...only the very slightest bit, on the greasy side. The prawn, fish, and vegetables are very fresh. Very good indeed.

The chawanmushi takes 15 minutes to prepare, and is quite delicious too

The egg custard was smooth, with chicken bits, ginko nuts, prawns and crab sticks. Very good.

And a cold soba accompanies

Not unusual, de rigeur soba. But really nothing to complain. The noodles were nice, smooth, a bit of the buckwheat flavour still lingering.

Quite a good place for a Japanese meal. Not spectacular, but above the more commercial joints like Sakae Sushi and their ilk.

Tomi Sushi
Novena Square, Velocity
6255-2355
11:30-15:00 17:30-22:00(open daily)