Sumo Bar Happy

This is actually a throwback post from last week. It's out of sheer laziness I took more than a week to write. I'm currently on diet hence the lack of food exploration. I want to look my best for Chinese New Year and my upcoming London trip in end April.

A belated birthday dinner from the brother. Sumo Bar Happy is a restaurant that is founded by the guys who are behind Tanuki Raw. It's a bar-like concept where people chill over bar food and alcohol. During my visit, I noticed the groups consisting of mainly couples, single men and one Japanese family. My brother and I stood out like sore thumbs because every other group consisted of at least one foreigner.

I wasn't too hungry so I settled for light bites. What you see here is the Lobster Taiyaki Sliders ($26). I didn't exactly read the menu and just glanced through instagram before ordering. This led me to mistook the Taiyaki pancakes as a crispy shell which unfortunately wasn't the case. Taste wise, I found the dish to be easy to eat. There's a sweetness to the fluffy pancakes which gave good balance to the sliders. I however still feel that a crispy shell would give the lobster sliders the added oomph. 

On top of the sliders, I also ordered the Spicy Mayo Char Siew HH Sushi ($5) and the Spicy Salmon HH Sushi ($5). It's on promotion if you reach there before 7pm. I would say that both sushi were done well but I'm still a greater fan of cold raw sushi.

The brother had his sights on the Sashimi Mazemen ($22) which is a combination of assorted sashimi and cold noodles. His assessment was that the raw fishes were really delicious with the slices very thick and generous. He also took notice that despite its thickness, the fishes were very easy to eat. The cold noodles and onsen egg that comes with the bowl play the role of the side dish to provide a complete meal experience.

Being at the bar, it'll be a waste not to try some of their sakes and my brother ordered the passion fruit sake ($10) to go with his meal.

I would say that Sumo Bar Happy is a pretty interesting concept which appeals more to foreigners used to bar top dining. I found the experience cramp. The menu selection has a number of unique dishes however there's an over emphasis on beef. As someone who doesn't eat beef, selecting a spread is rather challenging. If beef, alcohol and Japan agrees with you though, you might wish to check this place out.

Sumo Bar Happy
261 Waterloo Street #01-24 Waterloo Centre S180261

Fish Mart Sakuraya

This is the first weekend after the Chinese New Year break and everyone is adjusting to life back to work. To tell you the truth, I was pretty excited about my weekend because I was looking forward to my Foot Reflexology and Shoulder Massage. In a year where I'm pretty obsessed with Singapore's best, I found Feet Haven to be the winner of Harpers Bazaar's Best Quick Fix Massage. The massage which won was the one I tried, 30 mins Foot Reflexology and 30 mins Neck and Shoulder Massage for $55. I'm pleased to share that it's really awesome! Been getting shoulder and muscle cramps on my legs but the masseuse got all the right pressure points which was a first kind of experience so good job to them!

Prior to massage, I went to Fish Mart Sakuraya for lunch. This is a rather impromptu visit. Contrary to my usual practice where I usually don't let those I dine with choose the dining venue, I let Vain Pot pick whatever she wanted to eat at Parkway Parade. So Sakuraya it is. Fish Mart Sakuraya as the name suggest is a Japanese supermarket with a section specialising in fresh fishes. They also have a dine-in section serving Japanese food.

One of the key highlights of the fish mart, especially for dine-in customers is that you get to choose your own fresh fish for the chef to slice up. The fishes are so in-demand that when Vain Pot went to choose, there's only one slab of salmon left. Oh well, the salmon taste really fresh so there's nothing to complain about! Prices are by weight, and the one you saw cost us $15.50.

Aside from sashimi, we decided to share our food to get more variety. I picked the Kaiso Futo Maki ($10) which was made up of tuna, salmon, prawn roe, seafood salad and cucumber. I found the Maki to be well-prepared and definitely met my expectations. I need to stress I don't usually order makis so I don't carry unusually high expectations on this dish.

Vain Pot selected the Una Don ($15) which is basically an Unagi rice bowl. I found the Unagi to be prepared flavourfully and the bowl is pretty satisfying on its own. The slices of unagi are cut to avoid the tiny bones and the flesh thickness was just right.

We kinda over ordered when we greedily decided we wanted to try the Kani Creamy Croquette ($6). It was fried till crispy without it being excessively oily which is something I place strong emphasis on because I hate oily food. The creamy crab meat inside the croquette was also seasoned flavourfully and made the croquette very addictive. I'll strongly recommend you to try!

The discovery of Fish Mart Sakuraya is a hidden gem to me. The prices are decent and food is fresh. It offers a good fix to Japanese cravings and the crowd is just right. I'll definitely be back again! This place is perfect for Japanese food lovers who do not want to blow a big hole in your pocket.

Fish Mart Sakuraya
#B1-83D Parkway Parade, 80 Marine Parade Road