Marriage changes lifestyle, for better or worse it is relative but in my case, we have become such cinderellas that those late night dates that start with dinner, drinks and even two more rounds have become such a rarity, I hang my head low in shame.
So in a bid to revive this bit of romance, the Hubba and I stumbled upon this secret gem and have been making repeat visits.
And, somehow or another to save on parking, we eat around the area. The Entertainer App pointed to a show stopping amazing deal of 1-for-1 kaiseki or omakase at Hana Sushi.
First, we should have known better when the promotions outside the restaurant showed a variety of promotions - daily ones and they included shabu shabu buffet, omakase and unlimited sushi buffet. Any self respecting Japanese chef would not lelong (reads: sell for cheap) his craft this way.
Secondly, there were no japanese customers in sight. That already screamed volumes and we chose to brush it off.
Thirdly, there was no freshly grated wasabi. I was already crestfallen when my amuse bouche came in the form of fried salmon.
Since we embarked on this kaiseki, a mini one, we had no choice but to play along with the other courses and prayerfully not be bummed by the end of it.
These faux cherry blossoms were a good attempt at replicating dining in Japan.
Fried Salmon
This was barely much with a drizzle of sticky balsamic. How Japanese this is, I had a ton of questions in my head.
Fried Salmon Skin
Two different shades in our plates, I suppose it was a case of over frying? Served with mayo, I was already unimpressed.
Gindako with Mentaiko Sauce
The last time I had something similar was at Sakae or even Sushi Tei. Nothing spectacular save for the fact that this was not fishy.
Sashimi Platter
The bed of icecubes bothered me, and best of all they appeared in an entire chunk.
I liked the raw prawn enough, salmon and yellow tail reasonably and the marinated fish that I could not figure out what. And nobody explained what it was either. Lemon with raw fish, this was strangely not Japanese at all.
Grilled Eggplant
Another meh-dinary course, at this point we were almost wishing the kaiseki would end.
Miso Soup
Sushi
The only time any waiter bothered to explain the dish was this particular course - and it went like this;
"Toona, Swordfish, Sell-mon, Eel and Egg."
And really, at the rate we stifled our laughter, I would have passed out of internal bleeding. Supermarket sushi standard and that stiff tamago only reminded me how much I missed the authentic egg custard.
Green Tea Icecream with Red Bean
Holy jeez, the meal finally ended with an overly sweet scoop of green tea icecream topped with red bean.
$68++ for two, hardly any value at all and we were already wishing for the Kaiseki somewhere at the start. I would hate to say this but kaisekis or even sushi are not their specialty, Nijyumaru brings to mind at half the price and double that satisfaction.
If anything like the higher end restaurants, my cup was constantly refilled.
Hana Sushi
Forum Shopping Center #01-17
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