First fine dining out meal after June2021 semi-lock down

Finally, after 6 weeks of semi-lock down, I met up with AP for Japanese dinner. Been looking forward to this catch up! Last time we gathered for yakitori & izakaya-theme dinner at Yatagarasu for mine's and Ming's birthday celebration and the country went to lock-down prohibiting dining out when we were going to celebrate AP's birthday.

Sakemaru Artisan sake hideout is a nice place, even nicer now with spacious bubble around each dining group. We chose seats at counter, which is the best as we can see the chef in action! There are humongous display fridges lining up both sides of entrances full of sake selections, each with small accompanying notes.

As part of our mission to elevate the global standards of Saké, the SAKEMARU Artisan Sake Hideout is a concept dining experience to showcase our extensive range of exclusive artisanal Saké alongside modern Japanese Kappo-style cuisine here in Singapore.

The menu is interesting. The opening salvo was a raw-fish-in-season-that-i-forgot-the-name (shult?) that came seared perfectly with brown rich.

Firefly squid as starter: Seasoned well, and seared to perfection, the bite-sized squid came with tomatoes and mushroom all   

The fig mascarpone was unfortunately out of stock, but somehow the chef sent a complimentary order perhaps because detecting our disappointment when the hokkaido corn was also out of stock! Likely, out of his omakase supply :)

The fish somen was exquisite, it's light and the jelly-like broth complement the somen with fresh roe.

The best is ama-ebi which came large size, with raw golden egg yolk with soy-like sauce.

For main, we ordered simmered tender beef tongue. It came with squid-ink sauce, and tongue so tender, I didn't believe it's the body part. Unfortunately the taste is a bit bland, perhaps a bit overcooked?

For sake, we had a charafe of Kasaichiyo casareccio Omachi 50, which I enjoyed a lot. It is perfect as starter sake and has a pleasant floral like aroma. It goes down well especially with sashimi and light dishes.

We then ordered a bottle of Shirakiku Mirror Mirror Muraku Genshu, an Honjozo Junmai. It is a new conceptual sake made of apple yeast and black koji. Thus has a sourish taste, but goes down pleasant and dry. My friend spotted Shuhari which we would like to try - it's rare artisan sake from Okamoto village Yamadashiki Usunigori Nama.

Overall, I remember the chat, gossip with one of my bestest, and wisest friend in the world. We talked about our own blind spot, pacing in life and career, and shared some anecdotes about experiences working in different environment with slower pace, and about enterprise business applications.

Looking forward to next catch up!

A tremendous sense of gratitude for the night out.

 

Appreciation to Singapore Airlines crew

A good service and experience is hard to such but the appreciation leave deep understanding. I thus wrote a letter for a great service experience I had today on my flight SQ857 from Hong Kong back to Singapore. Thank you to the crew. It is the people matter.

Hello I would like to compliment Singapore Airlines staff members, the in-flight crew, as well as ground crew in HK for my flight earlier today SQ857 returning from HKG to Singapore on 7th of March. 

There was some mishaps with my pre-order shopping items and the SIA attended and resolved my items with graciousness, high customer service attitude and consideration that save me much hassle of later follow-up. First of all I would like to compliment SQ857 flight In-flight supervisor, a lovely lady in burgundy kebaya, who was very gracious and attentive. She took the leadership of the situation, frequently checked on issue, and dispatched her staff effectively. She also took the matter at hand and resolved it swiftly by giving me the missing items from my pre-order. I sincerely appreciate that since the items were bought and paid for since December, and the disconnection happens because of missing information and lack of follow up from Krisshop. I also compliment the gentleman at the gate 22 in Hong Kong airport who attended to me and even liased with onboard member during pre-boarding time. 

I had flown SIA for years for business and leisure. During my trips there were inconsistent minor service (such as forgotten green tea order during service), this crew in general were pretty good but the 2 individuals exemplify the Singapore Airlines brand with excellence. And with that, restore my faith as a Singapore on the Singapore Airlines brand. Please pass my compliments to the management team and in particular the outstanding individuals whom interacted with me today.

Thank you.