Yours Toothfully by Dr Chan Joon Yee

Everybody in Singapore knows about Sakae Sushi http://www.sakaesushi.com.sg/

My son calls it “sushi moving” and he loves the place. He usually enjoys watching the sushi moving more than eating the sushi. Anyway, this interesting concept is a hit here in Singapore. The quality of the sushi is nowhere near that of well-known restuarants here and in Japan, but the sushi is really quite edible. One just needs to keep an eye on the number of “colour plates” to avoid exceeding one’s budget. As usual, red means danger. That’s the most expensive colour and you’ve got to make sure your kids don’t get their hands on too many of those.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I don’t think the owners of Sakae would be too flattered by a new outlet that calls itself Saki Sushi. Not very original as you can see. In terms of pricing, they are all out to undercut Sakae. The cheapest plate costs only 99 cents as compared to the $1.20 Sake blue or green plate. I don’t know how many outlets they have, but I decided to give the one at Punggol a try.

I bought about $14 worth of various types of sushis. The cheap and “staple” stuff is all edible. All the makis are OK. Tuna and salmon are also edible, but not that great. The tuna slices are somehow not quite right. As for the squid sushi or ika sushi, that’s a total disaster.

Normal ika sushi is thinly sliced and “grooved”. The ika sushi sold at Saki is one entire piece of small squid wrapped around the rice. When you chew into it, the fibres in the squid will resist any attempt you make to bite through the meat. You’ll end up with a chewy, fibrous mess in your mouth after one hours chewing.

So remember that Saki is not Sakae. Go to a Saki if you must, but never order the ika sushi. It’s a total disaster. When can we have some decent food in Punggol?