Ohsumi Japanese Restaurant: Porky Paradise
With the ieatfamily
With so many places offering $15 steamboats, why would you want to pay $35 just for a Pork Shabu Shabu? Well for me I rather go for quality rather than quantity. My daily calorie allowance is limited, so why spend my calories on 2nd rate slices of pork when you can have a platter of flowery pork shoulder like the picture above?
This was the first time I have ever set foot in Cuppage Plaza and I was just amazed at how many Japanese restaurants and Karaoke Bars there are here! What a Sua Gu (Ignoramus) am I! Cuppage Plaza is to the Japanese as Golden Mile Complex is to the Thais. It feels like a place where all the local Japanese go for a reasonably priced meal. So it is no surprise that Ohsumi is quite a popular place with the local Japanese.
Shabu Shabu is a simple and straightforward dish. Unlike our Chinese Steamboat where the emphasis is the boil lots of ingredients to make the soup tasty, in Shabu Shabu the emphasis is on savouring the natural flavour of the meat so they just to use the water to cook the meat. So they give you merely boiling water with few pieces of garlic in it rather than chicken broth. This way you get to savour the unadulterated flavour of the pork together with either the Ponzu or the Sesame sauce.
The Sesame Sauce here is excellent and they give you a generous pitcher of it. The pork shoulder we had was very good and dipping it into the sesame oil made it a rather simple but tongue tingling morsel indeed. 4/5 The beef was supposed to be US Prime Striploin, but I felt that it lacked the beefy flavour that I was yearning for. 3.5/5 This is a place where the pig reigns over the cow.
I ordered the Kurobuta Pork Loin after the first two plates, determined to find the best tasting pork Shabu Shabu and I am sure glad I did. Kurobuta or the Black Hog is to pork what Wagyu is to Beef. This special breed of Berkshire pig is well known for its excellent marbling and fragrant meat. I had a great Kurobuta dish at the Sage recently, and I wanted to know what Kurobuta really tastes like without the marinade. Wow, there WAS a distinct difference in the taste, aroma and texture compared to the normal pork! Kurobuta has a floral perfume to it and the texture was more springy....if all pork could be like this! Definitely worth paying extra for it. 4.5/5
Conclusion
If you come here, just go staight for the Kurobuta pork and forget about the beef! For those who eat a lot, the all you can eat buffet might be the way to go. If you don't start with Kurobuta, you'd probably be quite satisfied with the normal pork. As they say, ignorance is bliss. For me, I think I have fallen in love with a little black pig.
Ohsumi Japanese Restaurant
5 Koek Road #03-24/28
Cuppage Plaza
6235 6178
12 comments:
Les ah, how are the prices there; especially for the buffet heh? =p
The buffet is only for shabu-shabu ah?
Other recommendations for the restaurant?
If you ever head down to Cuppage Plaza again, do check out the famous sumiyaki place Kazu. It's almost always packed with Japanese expats though, so do book in advance! Tel: 6734 2492. You'll be dazzled by the variety and of course the taste! Enjoy!
Yes I passed by and thought that I should pay them a visit the next time! Looked very interesting. Anything specific to recommend?
I would like to second Jo's recommendation of Kazu. The one item that you must try there is the beef rolled with cheese (grilled item on sticks). It comes with a dollop of mustard for dipping and is die die must try! The chicken items (ball, bar), lamb, beef rib, and onion are also excellent.
Are there any other restaurant that offer Shabu Shabu in Singapore?
Thanks for posting this!
On my last visit, the raw anglefish liver was most excellent. Ya shld also try the horse sashimi too, if just for the novelty! It had a texture akin to wagyu due to its intense marbling, but had very mild taste by itself, which was easily rectified by the sauces they provided. I also had a great grilled daikon with foie gras dish. oh ya, they used to serve chicken sashimi too, but not sure with the recent spate of bird flu incidents if they still serve it.
I know of Waraku, Shabu Shabu is $30, and Yakiniku Daidomon $40. Still on the lookout for others.
lol, wow looks like you the Shabu Shabu Man! Anywhere else to eat Shabu Shabu?
Anglerfish (aka monkfish) liver is also one of my favorite items, but it is now out of season and many places do not have it on the menu anymore. One place that always features it is Nara Japanese Restaurant in Goldhill Centre (6256-6568). If you like monk fish liver it is worth stopping by Nara for his, which is very nice and not too expensive at around $12 per serving.
Another very good Japanese restaurant in Cuppage is Azuma (#03-01 tel: 6738-9395). They have a sushi counter as well as a section set up for shabu shabu. I haven't tried the shabu shabu, but their fish is of very high quality, as is their yakiniku items (prepared in another location downstairs in the same building). You can order the yakiniku from the sushi counter. If you go, try their special otoro makimono. I haven't tasted better.
Is it all in buffet style for Shabu Shabu?
I had tried once when i was in Japan.
I still dont know where got any Shabu Shabu in Singapore~
Thanks for the posting~
will be trying soon! yeah~
ieat, paiseh! miscommunication! I was refering to Kazu which jm and jo recommended!
i had my v-day dinner yesterday! e kurobuta is definitely good!! now i find normal pork too hard n tough already!!
both don n me prefer e special in-house sauce than e sesame or peanut sauce! =)
e buffet without drink-all-u-can is abt 47++ & e other one wif drink-all-u-can is 67++
in all, we spent abt 150 yesterday night
I have never ventured beyond level 1 of Cuppage Plaza somehow. Need to pay the other levels a visit. The pork shabu shabu really looked good~
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