Rikobou Mushroom Salad
Last night, I had dinner at Takumi Tokyo with some friends. Takumi Tokyo is one of the new Japanese restaurants to open up at Keppel Bay. With several branches in Tokyo, this Japanese chain’s menu boosts a wide variety of Teppan-yaki and Robata-yaki dishes. The restaurant has two separate counters, one for Robata-yaki and one for Teppan-yaki. We sat at the Robata-yaki counter even though the Teppan-yaki side seemed to be more exciting where most of the actions were. But it was nevertheless a decent meal with some rather interesting dishes to note.
For appetizers, we had Rikobou Mushroom Salad. I have never heard of Rikobou mushroom before this and neither had any of my three other Japanese dining-companions. Rikobou must be either a local dialect word or a pretty rare type of mushroom (the latter is according to Takumi’s menu). The plump mushroom has a nice texture and the oragnic salad was crisp and refreshing, but we thought it would taste better if the mushroom was served warm.
Namafu with Yuzu Miso Sauce
We also had an interesting-tasting Unagi-Sushi. The Unagi has more of a dry and flaky texture; kind of like a smoked mackerel rather than the usual soft-texture eel. But the appetizer that I loved most was the Kyoto-style Namafu with Yuzu-miso sauce. It is soft, silky and slightly chewy and pairs perfectly with the sweet miso sauce. Simply delicious!
Grilled Cheese with Balsamic Sauce
For the main course, we had a mix of Robata-yaki and Teppan-yaki dishes. One that deserves mention was the Teppan-yaki Cheese and Tomatoes with a Balsamic glaze. It tasted like the Italian Caprese Salad but even better with the cheese nicely grilled on the outside gooey chewy on the inside.
Charcoal-grilled Mebaru
We also had the Charcoal grilled Mebaru (Rockfish). The price was a little on the steep side, costing us $50, for a very small fish. Fortunately, the fish was good. Even though Mebaru is already at the end of its season, the fish tasted sweet and soft. Another char-coal grilled dish that also tasted great was the Sauteed Kuro-buta with Thousand-year Rock Salt that was perfectly done with just enough taste of salt.
Grilled Salad with Konawata Sauce
The only disappointment was most probably their specialty- Grilled Scallop with Konowata sauce. (Konawata is entrails from sea cucumber). Not that the dish tasted bad but I imagined it to be something more spectacular when I saw it on the menu. It was rather ordinary. But except for this, the meal was quite decent overall.
Takumi Tokyo
2 Keppel Bay Vista, Marina at Keppel Bay, Singapore 098382
Tel: 6271 7414
