Having taken leave for the day, my friend and I were off to Sushi Mitsuya for lunch. Sushi Mitsuya was one of the restaurants which I looked through their menus (that’s available on their website) and felt it would make more economical sense to go for their lunch sets.

Mizukagami set ($100) offered during lunch would give me 1 extra piece of sushi compared to Umi dinner set ($130). For a more stark contrast, one would need to pay $100 more for 3 additional pieces of sushi for Shugyoku dinner set ($200) when compared to Mizukagami lunch set ($100).

However, when we were seated in the restaurant and presented with the lunch menu, I went soft and decided to splurge by ordering the most expensive lunch set. Haha. My friend always tell me I’m a different person in front of the menu; My determination to not-over-order just disappears with any menu. I noticed too. Haha.

As I was worried about not getting seats if we walked in during lunch hours since I reckoned they would be packed with the lunch crowd, reservation was made a few days before. And probably because we made reservation for 12 noon, the time which they just open for operation, we were given seats (starting) from the end of the counter. Not the best seats in the house since we were tucked right at the corner. The L-shaped counter allowed 3 to sit at the shorter end. So my friend and I felt a little neglected and deprived of the chef’s sushi-making actions. We could only see his back view.

And from the menu (pages 1, 2), we ordered:-

1) Kasha (chef’s recommendation), $180 comprised of:-

(A) Appetizer (above) – I was first served a bowl of boiled watercress with bonito flakes before I was next served with tsbugai (sea whelk). Frankly, when it comes to omakase, I am not a fan to be served with vegetables. Just a personal opinion. Bring on the meat for me, please. But of course, with the watercress, we were off to a refreshing start. I especially enjoyed the sea whelk, which meat was removed from the shell for one’s easy eating. Empty shell was included for presentation to show how big the sea whelk was.

  
  
  

(B) Assorted sashimi (above) – And the assortment included kinmedai (big-eye snapper), slightly cooked sawara (Spanish mackerel), salted boomerang fish, hokkigai (arctic surf clam) with Japanese chilli, hotaru ika (firefly squid) and otoro (tuna belly). Now, I am not too sure if it was boomerang fish that was served. I had questions marks written all over my face but chef Sean was in a rush. I would be fine if he repeated his words hastedly, yet still making sure we knew what we were eating. But sadly, I was left with big question marks. Even Google couldn’t help me.

(C) Assorted cooked dishes (2) (above) – Mushroom and deep fried kurosoi (rock fish) served with bonito broth and soya sauce. Now, the fish dish was beautifully executed. The dish had my friend (who took a bite) and I nodding our heads away.

  
  
  
  

(D) Assorted sushi (above) – For nigiri sushi, I was given hotate (scallop) with black salt and yuzu, kasugo (baby snapper), saba (mackerel) with radish slice, chutoro, uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe), anago (sea eel). and minced maguro (tuna) for makimono. And to end the course of my sushi, a castella-styled tamagoyaki (egg) (not pictured, refer to item 2B) was presented. I did not like the tamago though. It was stingy-ly small. And for our sushi, we were also encouraged to use our hands as the staff had separate towels for us to wipe our fingers. And it was a nice gesture that the sea urchin and salmon roe nigiri sushi were served in halves for ladies.

(E) Soup (above) – Clear soup with fish cake. Fish cake was of tofu texture. Soft and pillowy. Nice.

(F) Dessert (above) – Sweet potato pudding cake with 2 pieces of apple.

2) Ichie, $60 comprised of:-

(A) Appetizer – Similar to mine but only with 1 dish; Boiled watercress with bonito flakes.

  
  
  
  
  

(B) Sushi medley (8 pieces) & makimono (above) – And for nigiri sushi, my friend was given hotate (scallop) with black salt and yuzu, everywhere fish, sayori (needle fish) with dried kelp, king mackerel (sorry, can’t seem to google up its Japanese name), shimesaba (marinated mackerel) with kelp, maguro zuke (marinated tuna), boiled kurumaebi (tiger prawn) and anago (sea eel) with sauce. For makimono, 3 kinds were given. And to end the sushi course, an equally pathetically small tamagoyaki (egg) was served. Similarly, my friend and I “Huh” at the 2nd sushi but chef Sean was mumbling his reply and I could only figure out the 2nd sushi to my friend’s lunch set as ‘everywhere fish’.

(C) Soup – Similar to mine, clear soup with tofu-like fish cake.

(D) Dessert – Again, same with my course’s. Sweet potato pudding cake with 2 pieces of apple.

And when it came to the end of our lunch sets, I felt slightly unsatisfied. I had seen photographs shared by others on instagram of their meals at Sushi Mitsuya, and I was looking forward to trying their uni-rice sushi (without the seaweed) and hopefully one of the many special dishes as posted by Sushi Mitsuya on their official instagram account. And cause I was served none, I couldn’t help but enquire. I was told by the staff that the special dishes on their instagram account were created for events. Sushi Mitsuya conducts events like ‘Uni Extravaganza’, etc.

So to satisfy my craving, we placed more orders:-

3) Uni sushi, $35 (above) – And for this, 5 pieces of murasaki-uni (violet sea urchin) were used. A mouthful of umami-ness.

4) Kanimiso, $18 (above) – After showing the staff some photographs from their official instagram account, they arranged for me to try the crab dish. I was told we were nearing the end of the crab season. And this would be the snow crab with crab roe miso. Really good.

We enjoyed the food dished out at Sushi Mitsuya. Nicely executed. However, cause we were rushed through, we did not exactly had the best dining experience. When our nigiri sushi were served, chef Sean spoke like a bullet train as he introduced our sushi. And when we couldn’t quite make out what he said, he would repeat like yet another bullet train. Hmm… I certainly did not like that. Hello… Sparing us a few (more) seconds by speaking slower when we queried won’t hurt. No? Not too sure if it’s because they thought we were part of the (rushing) lunch crowd.

I had seen nice(r) dishes shared by others on instagram. So if one prefers variety and don’t mind paying more (as compared to the lunch sets) for premium ingredients, one may consider going for their dinner instead. Lunch is good enough if one is more into sushi.

Myself? I’m certainly interested to attend 1 of their events to try head chef Ryosuke Harada’s creation that’s specially crafted for the events. When? Well, not anytime soon though. At least let me rid the bitter taste that’s left from my rushed lunch experience.