Omakase is a special dining experience, in which it is more than good food and trusting the chef on it, it is also about the showmanship (quoted a fellow patron) and the interaction with the chef. This is why Ikkoten Omakase is my favourite omakase restaurant among the tough competition. Chef Brandon Low ensures that the dining experience is a multi sensory one, fully engaging all of our senses. It is a place where tradition is made exciting with unique touches, where Japanese cuisine is subtly reinterpreted to explore new tastes that pleasantly surprise me.
Every moment here is full of excitement, from the beauty of the dishes, the stories of the ingredients and cooking philosophy, the textures of the food, the aroma and to the taste of meticulously crafted dishes.
And this time, I’m back again, to enjoy the newly crafted Uni feast for the first time! As an uni lover, I totally love it! Best of all, the uni used here is of premium high quality, chemical free and has the pure creamy custardy sweetness.
5 dishes of different taste profiles to experience the bountiful harvest from the sea, earth and fields.
So how well does peanut tofu go with uni? Excellently, amazingly and unbelievably well! This is match made in heaven. The roasted nutty taste of peanut holds up so well with the creamy umami of uni. I’m amazed.
Being prepared with various methods, Ankimo here tastes and feels like foie gras terrine from the sea. So unique, so creamy and so luxuriously good.
The Ginko Nut sprinkled with sea salt is so simple and so good.
The eggplant dish here is the beat eggplant dish I ever have. Made with Japanese eggplant, the taste is so refreshing with a layer of savoury goodness. And the texture is perfect, featuring a slight crunchiness not typical of eggplant.
Fish with Japanese peppercorns is so good, especially with the peppercorns to perk up the taste.
Tsukuri, Seasonal White Fish Sashimi with Bafun Uni is probably one of the best uni dishes. The contrast of crunchy, refreshing, juicy, thinly sliced cucumber, rolled with mildly sweet white fish, and the creamy briny sweet uni is out of this world. It’s wow at first bite.
Kobachi featuring Bafun Uni Chawamushi with yuzu is one of the best chawamushi because the subtle flavours are so well-balanced between creaminess, zest, savoury goodness, vegetal pungency and buttery egginess. And the taste is so awesomely unique.
Yakimono is Binchotan Charcoal Grilled Seasonal Fish that really surprises by how good and different a fish can taste. When eaten on its own, the fish is creamy and fresh with a natural briny sweetness. When sprinkled with lemon juice, oh my, the taste transforms to pure toasty goodness with that lovely aroma of roasted meat. It is so good! I’m amazed by how much lemon can changes the taste.
Nabemono is Uni Shinjo Japanese Hot Pot. It looks so beautiful, like white flowers blooming. And it tastes beautiful too. I can immediately catch whiffs of the beautiful aroma of the soup when it is set in front of me. The taste is so warm, comforting with a soft sweetness of the sea and the earthy flavours of the mushrooms. The “flowers” are made from a special blend of fish paste with a hidden ganache of uni, yielding an unique texture with a slight bit of bounciness typical of fish ball mixed with cake texture. Another awesome surprise.
And it is a must to request for takeaway of the rice since the chefs will wrap it up in Japanese Bamboo leaves. Imbued with the aroma of bamboo leaf, it is so, so, so delicious.
Signature Sakura Ebi Donabe Meshi with Miso Soup & House-made Pickles is pure comfort tasty food. The premium Niigata Koshihikari rice is cooked in fish bone collagen broth to imbue each grain of fluffy starchy rice with that milky briny sweetness, and yield a smooth texture and pearl-like sheen. This is so-so-good. And with the intense umami of Sakura Ebi and smoky umami of freshly shaved natural bonito flakes, it tastes even more complex.
Mizugashi of sweet, refreshing Yubari Melon and Kyoho Grape ❤️
Sesame Pudding with Kinako powder is full of earthy goodness.
Chef Brandon pouring free flow house-made sake for patrons. We have lots of fun drinking it.
Thoughts: Unique, Amazing Experience
86 Telok Ayer Street
