Wanted to try at least once a Japanese restaurant located at Cuppage Plaza and Google search led to Hanashizuku. Menu seemed alright with izakaya food like hot/cold appetisers, fried food, sashimi, grilled food and carbs.
A quick check with a friend and she's available for the date and hence, reservation was secured a week ahead. Booking was relatively easy via Chope. But note that there are two seatings for the dinner with the earlier one at 530pm and the next one is 8pm. Decided to have early dinner and to complete the reservation, will need to input the credit card details with $50 deducted to secure the reservation. This 'deposit' is refundable a few days after you have completed the reservation.
There will be a confirmation SMS once they have received it and once again a reminder on the day of the reservation itself (about 2 hours before).
We were there at 530pm but the signage was not turned on yet. There was a group of Japanese guests waiting outside as well.
shopfront |
After checking our reservation, the staff ushered us in and brought us to the counter seats.
counter seat view |
ready to eat |
hot green tea @$4++ |
Calpis Sour @$8++ |
otoshi @$4++ per pax |
Fresh Oysters with Ikura @$20++ |
spicy but nice |
closer view |
The oysters were plump and firm. A dash of spicy yuzu sauce gave the oysters a bit of a kick.
I thought that we ought to have some vegetables in our meal, hence ordered the kaisen sarada or otherwise known as seafood salad. We were both happy with this as there were adequate pieces of sashimi on it and the dressing was lovely too. There were maguro, sake and hamachi slices on the plate. Yums!
Kaisen Sarada @$18++ |
yakitori of momo (@$3.50++) and liver + hatsu @$3++ per skewer |
The yakitori while I liked them, its price was rather steep so we stopped at 2. Hahaa! What's dining at an izakaya without fried food? Guess what I ordered?
Tori Karaage @$12++ |
My next drink was the Peach Sparkling Sake which came right out of the can. Hmm, that's the downside when seated at the counter. I can see how the drinks are prepared.
Peach Sparkling Sake @$12++ |
For the finale, we had Mentaiko Pasta to seal the deal (or in other words, to make sure we leave the restaurant feeling full!).
Mentaiko Pasta @$19++ |
To our surprise, it was a rather creamy (creamiest, even!) version of mentaiko pasta. As we ate, it tasted more and more like carbonara (Japanese version, of course) and thus, it remained a mystery as the mentaiko pasta that I've had at other places doesn't look nor taste like this. But the bill stated that it was mentaiko pasta.
Overall, it was a nice experience at Hanashizuku right from reservation to the actual dinner. Although we were seated at the counter, Chef didn't interact with us. However, he smiled when we told him that the seafood salad was nice.
Hanashizuku Japanese Cuisine 花しずく
Address: 5 Koek Road #02-01 Cuppage Plaza Singapore 228796
Website: http://www.hanashizukurestaurant.com/
Contact: +65 6733 7498
Business Hours:
Mon-Fri: 11:45am–2:30pm, 5:30–10:30pm
Sat - Sun: 5:30–10:30pm