This is one of the few truly authentic Japanese places in Singapore, a MUST TRY since it's not too pricey just a little weeny bit. But for such authentic and nice food, it's worth it. En Japanese Dining bar is actually a chain Japanese restaurant which started in Hongkong, specialising in Okinawan grilled cuisine. Majority of the servers can speak Japanese and there are quite a few Japanese servers within the crowd.
What I really enjoy about visiting En is the warmth of the server who will remember your face and greet you warmly and their attentive service and their menu extensive. Er... but you will need to be quite familiar with Japanese dishes since the menu is in Japanese and pictures are quite limited. ALTERNATIVELY, you can always cheoh Moi along and treat me lor. Kekekekek! You might want to take note that En is affiliated the much pricey Japanese fusion restaurant, Zen.
In clockwise starting Top left corner : (1) Hijiki (2) Mozuku (3) Grilled Shishito (green chilli) (4) Hamachi Kama (grilled yellowtail fish) (5) Goya Champuru (6) Somen Champuru (7) Buta no kakuni (braised pork belly) (8) Grilled Hotate (Scallop) (9) Tebasaki (Fried chicken wing) (10) Tofu-yo (Okinawan fermented tofu)
Though a picture can tell a thousand words but if you cant tell what kind of food is from the photo, you will never get it lah. So allow me to elaborate more on some of the dishes... Itadakimasu!! *wink*
(1) Hijiki
Hijiki is a uncommon type of edible brown seaweed commonly found on rocky coastlines. Personally I like eating hijiki and it's quite commonly used in Japanese tsukemom (pickles). Though a survey carried out by the Food Standards Agency in UK found that hijiki contains inorganic arsenic, a form that occurs naturally in some food and can increase people's risk of developing cancer if eaten regularly.
(2) Mozuku
Mozuku, another type of seaweed which resembles our chinese fatt choy or the tubifex worm, is eaten here with a vinegar dip. Okinawa produces 90% of the Mozuku consumed in Japan. Mozuku is now in the spotlight due to its high pharmacological potential. It is found that Mozuku vinegar dip kills E.coli bacteria, which can cause severe intestinal illness, and it has also been found to have anti-cancer properties.
(3) Grilled Shishito
Shishito is actually Japanese green chilli. These mini, thin-walled green chilli are hotter than bell peppers but not as hot as our local chilli. It's high in vitamins A and C and are commonly cook in tempura and yakitori dishes.
(4) Hamachi Kama
Yakizakana (Japanese grilled fish) is often served with grated daikon (radish). The proper way to eat any yakizakana is to squeeze the lime or lemon on the fish, then pour a little soyu on the daikon and eat the meat together with a little daikon, each mouthful. The daikon is suppose to smoothen the heat-ness of the grilled fish and the lemon is to remove the fishy smell of the grilled fish.
(5) Goya Champuru
The word "Champuru" refers an Okinawan stir fry dish, literally meaning a "mixture". Goya means bitter gourd and so this dish is stir fry bitter gourd with luncheon meat, tofu and egg. The okinawan bitter gourd is the smaller, less bitter type so this dish is really very refreshing. Yummy!!! It's a MUST order for me each time.
(6) Somen Champuru
Somen is the same as our chinese's longevity noodles - shuo mian. The somen by itself is rather plain tasting so it goes well with the vegetables, luncheon meat, egg and the light stock.
(7) Buta no kakuni
Ok. I know this dish looks soooooooooooo SINFUL. Kekekekkee! Okinawan dishes is very much highly influenced by chinese dishes so Pork appears so frequently in the Okinawan diet. Everything from head to tail is used. As the saying has it, only the "oink" and the toenails go begging. Contrary to your seeing, this dish is not as fattening and oily as the oil has already been drained out during the simmering.
(10) Tofu-yo
OKIE!! THIS is a KILLER!! This tiny little cube is very costly in comparable to its size though I didn't note the price cause I was not the one paying. Kekekeke! Anywhere it's a special okinawan delicacy that my kakis supposedly so adore. BUT after Moi's one taste of it, I swear I never want to taste it again. Hahahahahaha! The taste is very strong and not describable. It tastes like something between cheese, something rotting, something alcohol and something smelly. =P Dun ask me to describe it. I can't.
Tofu-yo is very similar to the foods called sufu, tou-fu-ju and furu in China, and is made from tofu by the action of microorganisms in Okinawa.. It is nutritiously rich with good vegetable protein, fat, and other nutrients and is treasured as nutritious food for health to be taken after an illness or as a side dish at such a time. And for those health nuts, tofu-yo is a cholesterol free food.
Anywhere, ended our dinner with sake onigiri each and desserts. I particularly favoured goma-made desserts as Moi is not fond of sweet stuffs.
Dessert : Goma (black sesame) pudding + Goma ice cream
I know that both En and Zen serves very good raw beef carpaccio but since I am non-beef eater, it's nothing enticing for Moi. =P
En Japanese Dining Bar
207 River Valley Road
#01-57 UE Square
Tel : 6735 2212
Website : http://www.endiningbars.com/
Last order 11:30pm for weekdays and 12:30am for weekend
No comments:
Post a Comment