寿司四季花まる

Finally stopped by Sushi Shiki Hanamaru (寿司四季花まる) on a weekend for an early lunch. It's supposed to be a casual sushi bar at this Singapore branch instead of its conveyor belt kaiten sushi, so even if you sit at a table like us and order off the menu, the plates are still stacked and counted before the bill is rung up.

Of course it has many outlets in Hokkaido and three in Tokyo. But please don't compare the food of this restaurant in Singapore to the ones in Tokyo and Hokkaido. I think you'll cry. As it is, this is already one of the more affordable sushi places in the city at S$5 for two pieces. Many supposedly good ones have turned horrible in the last few years. Given the constraints and pricing, what they've done here is fairly laudable. The quality is currently decent, much better than many other conveyor belt equivalents in town. Whether the cuts are nice, would be dependent on who you get as your sushi chef on the day/timing you visit. Some friends have had eeky sushi here, and the others who visited at different timings didn't mind it. It was all dependent on which sushi chef is on duty at that point.

The king crab miso soup was delicious. That miso used was lovely. But getting the meat out of those thin legs ain't worth it, unless you really like to do that. None of us ordered tempura. We just went for sushi. Loads of protein and a bit of carbs. I enjoyed how they cured their cod roe (pollock, really, たらこ) in house with less salt so that it could be placed on sushi. That was fine! Surprisingly, I was okay with how they treated their mackerel, sardines and herring. They tasted all right. 10 pieces of sushi and a bowl of soup filled me up nicely. I hope they don't let these current standards drop. For now, I guess Sushi Shiki Hanamaru is a reasonable destination to get a quick fix.

Sushi Shiki Hanamaru (寿司四季花まる)
within Hokkaido Marche (北海道マルシェ)
Orchard Central, #B2-11/29/44/48 
181 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238896