Mori Awase

Went for a sashimi buffet promotion (only with voucher) at the new Japanese restaurant at Holland Village, Aji no Mori. It's located at the space formerly occupied by Mykii, of free-flow-bread-eggs-and-pancakes-weekend-lazy-brunch fame, which is moving/has moved.

So you pay SGD 15, excluding service charge and GST, for all the a la carte sashimi you can eat, except for amaebi (sweet shrimp) and hamachi (yellowtail). You can choose from sake (salmon), maguro (tuna), mekajiki (swordfish), tako (octopus) and ika (squid) (: if you're a sushi/sashimi nazi connoisseur, I wouldn't recommend heading down under normal circumstances.

I was pleasantly surprised when the sashimi arrived. Portions were decent, and it was served at pretty close to room temperature. The taste was alright, but presentation left much to be desired. Everything was served in cubes, if possible; and otherwise, the slices weren't properly cut. Presentation was non-existent, actually. Some might deem the ika slimy and unpalatable, but everything else was fresh and quite sweet.

There was, surprisingly, sabisu (free dishes) provided. Before our first order arrived, we got some strange vegetable appetiser. It tasted ok but had a strange texture--the leaves were rubbery. Then we had some potato salad with bacon which was tasty but sinful, containing generous helpings of Japanese mayo and bacon slices, huhu. We suspected that this was a ploy to fill us up before we could get our second order of sashimi which had been forgotten/not placed.

Strangely, they don't have green tea, only brown. The menu is quite extensive wrt kushiyaki (grilled sticks), agemono (fried items), sides and beverages, though we didn't sample any of it. To call it a Japanese restaurant may be somewhat misleading since they don't have the standard fare--chawanmushi, noodles, rice--but have, instead, a smattering of smallish items.

Service was good, if a bit overzealous, and there seemed to be a lot of dish breaking. Hahaha. Body language seemed a little negative at times, and staff forgot to refill our tea, although they were attentive to our calls. The restaurant is, after all, really new and its staff, inexperienced. Perhaps I can be more forgiving.

Ambience was.. I don't know, actually. There wasn't really one, I think. Decor was kind of a mish-mash, and so were crockery and cutlery. You have Waraku-esque floor-seating alongside regular tables and some booths at the back, in addition to an outdoor area. Regular people probably wouldn't mind, but like I said, connoisseurs of Japanese cuisine wouldn't enjoy the experience. Well, you get what you pay for.

Overall, it's a little rough around the edges. Who knows if it will survive to become more polished? It certainly won't, if I go for the buffet again. LoL. We had 4 rounds of sashimi and didn't order anything else. The bill came up to about SGD 20 per person.

Maybe worth a repeat visit, if only with a voucher d:

Incidentally, I do plan on visiting the new Kenny Rogers Roasters beside it, which took over the Barcelos grilled chicken? There must be bad fengshui or something.


xo