I like using instagram to learn about new eateries and to see drool-worthy pictures of food that’s being shared. And in my instagram surfing, I came across photographs of Sushi Murasaki’s uni-toro-caviar sashimi. It looked so tasty! And with that, I tried to search for more information of their dinner on Google, but found nothing except of reviews of their lunch instead. And that actually raised my interest further.

Thus, coupled with the fact that I was still craving for sushi, I convinced my friend to change our original plan of having a simple meal to enjoying an extravagant omakase meal at Sushi Murasaki that evening we were to meet. Haha.

So yes, I called at 2pm and made reservation to have dinner on the same day at 8.30pm. However, upon hearing our requested reservation time, the lady on the other end said they close at 10pm. To which, I realistically told her the earliest we could arrive by was 8.15pm. I wanted to go for my 6.30pm crossfit class lah, you see. Haha. And after seeing what seemed to be mostly on-request or specially made dishes on instagram, I wanted to request for head chef Raymond Tan since it’s usually the head chef that has the freedom to create off-the-menu dishes. However, the lady hastily repeated my reservation details and hung up. Hmm…

My friend and I managed to reach at 8.20pm. Sushi Murasaki is located within Millenia Walk’s Nihon Food Street. And at the entrance of the restaurant, we were greeted by a lady behind the reception counter who was about to recognise we were her 8.15pm reservation. Haha. And upon entering, the U-shaped counter came into full sight.

The menu was presented as a rolled-up scroll placed on our respective plates. And from the menu, we ordered:-

1) Kumo, $180 comprised of:-

(A) Sashimi #1 (above) – Hairy crab and its roe.

(B) Sashimi #2 (above) – Thinly sliced clam.

(C) Sashimi #3 (above) – Premium fatty tuna (otoro) and medium fatty tuna (chutoro).

(D) Appetiser #1 (above) – Foie gras terrine and fig. This was seriously good. It was an explosion of different textures and tastes.

(E) Appetiser #2 (above) – Fresh water eel (unagi). Meat was succulent with skin fried to a perfect crisp. Although it’s also from this that my friend and I realised that eel has thick skin; While the skin was crispy, it didn’t break with one bite. o_O Ha.

  
  
  

(F) Nigiri sushi (6 pieces) (above) – Striped jack (shima-aji), golden eye snapper (kinmedai), spotted prawn (botan-ebi) with its paste, sea urchin (murisaki uni), seared tuna belly (aburi otoro) topped with minced tuna, caviar and gold flakes, and foie gras topped with sea urchin (bafun uni). So yes, I had hoped to try head chef Raymond Tan’s special sushi creation. But I was relieved although we got chef Tommy for the night, he included 2 fancy sushi. That said, the rice portion of the sushi was on the small side. To the extent it didn’t feel right when I used my fingers to pick up my sushi. It was too… Rectangular (thin and long) instead of being oval?

(G) Mini premium don (above) – When we had our orders taken, we were asked of our diet restriction. To which I said my friend and I don’t take beef. The staff mentioned one of the dish for my omakase had beef. To which, the replaced my rice bowl which was to contain beef to minced fatty tuna and scallion (negitoro), sea urchin (uni), salmon roe (ikura). And to call this a mini don was definitely wrong. It was certainly a big portion!

(H) Signature soup (above) – Clam soup.

(I) Dessert (above) – We were given the option to choose between matcha pudding and rain drop cake (mizu shingen mochi). And of course, my friend and I chose differently so that we could try both. And we were advise to have the rain drop cake before the matcha pudding. And the rain drop cake was pretty goof. It’s texture was similar to jelly, which was light on the palatte.

2) Murasaki, $180 comprised of:-

(A) Sashimi #1 – Similar to mine; Hairy crab and its roe.

(B) Sashimi #2 – Similar to mine; Thinly sliced clam.

(C) Sashimi #3 – Similar to mine; Premium fatty tuna (otoro) and medium fatty tuna (chutoro).

(D) Appetiser #1 – Similar to mine; Foie gras terrine and fig.

(E) Appetiser #2 – Similar to mine; Fresh water eel (unagi).

  
  
  

  

(F) Nigiri sushi (9 pieces) (above) – Similar to what was served to me, but with additional rock fish (mebaru), scallop (hotate) and medium fatty tuna (chutoro).

(G) Hot dish (above) – Steamed abalone, topped with sauce made from its liver.

(H) Signature soup – Similar to mine; Clam soup.

(I) Dessert (above) – Matcha pudding. And this was pretty good! I understood why we were advised to have this after our rain drop cake as the smooth custard was heavier.

3) Uni-truffle somen, $45 (above) – And I had to order this cold dish of angel hair pasta as an a-la carte item after seeing it on instagram. And this was really good. The additional shaved truffle definitely made it better. =p

It was unfortunate head chef Raymond Tan was busy that night with their upcoming concept of robatayaki. So while he did hop over to make a few appearances at Sushi Murasaki, it was more to speak to his (noisy) regulars. Of which, Sushi Murasaki actually reminded me of Akashi to a certain extent. Head chef Raymond Tan has a strong group of regular patrons that’s supporting him.

While speaking with their manager, I got to learn that head chef Raymond started training at Akashi, before moving on to Kinki, Sushi Jin. To finally opening his own restaurant, Sushi Murasaki.

Will I recommend Sushi Murasaki? If one is not too particular about having an authentic dining experience… Then yes, I would.

In fact, when the day comes where I’m tired of restaurants-hopping and wish to settle with just a few favourites, I would patronise Sushi Murasaki on a regular basis for their non-traditional sushi. Although there’s room for improvement on the rice portion.

I like the ambience at Sushi Murasaki where it’s cosy and… More personal? I like how the chef and service staff created a close rapport with their regulars. Although that also meant that it gets a little rowdy as some of their regulars treated the space as their own. A group of 5 were talking loudly that night my friend and I dined in. Which the manager also came up to us to apologise. So yes, thumbs up for service.

But I would come during (weekend) lunch instead. Their lunch menu (pages 1, 2) showed that I could also get appetiser, sashimi (3 kinds), nigiri sushi (10 pieces), soup and dessert, but all at a more affordable price of $128. =) And if one wishes to know more about their lunch omakase or rice bowl (donburi), one may read fellow blogger RubbishEatRubbishGrow‘s review.

Related posts:

Dinner @ Sushi Kondo | Sushi Restaurant in Sentosa Lunch @ Sushi Dai // CLOSED Dinner @ Ginza Yoshino Sushi Dinner @ Kaiho Sushi // CLOSED [Revisit] Dinner @ Sushi Kimura | Sushi Restaurant in Orchard