Dinner at Inakaya was nothing short of amazing. It was like a slice of Japan, right here in Singapore!

Everyone sits around a huge table (ala school canteen style) that’s groaning from the weight of fresh produce. You pick what you want (we resorted to pointing to the mostly Japanese wait staff), or ask the chef what the fresh catch or special of the day is (we did a combination of both); ask what the best way to enjoy it is, and leave it to the chefs to lovingly prepare it for you. It’s then passed directly to you by the chef on this extra long wooden ladle. (Remember, the table’s huge!)

We had the enormous Shitake mushrooms to start. They were plump, juicy, and simply grilled so you could appreciate the full extent of their earthy flavour. Delicious. Then came the crab legs. It was like upsize-heaven, Japanese style, for the legs too, were giagantic! These were grilled as well, probably so as not to overwhelm the delicate sweetness of the flesh. It was amazingly fresh; with a texture that was less firm than the Sri Lankan version that many here in Singapore are more accustomed to, but with double the natural sweetness.

As we were contemplating what fish to order, the chef urged us to try the special, this fish that is  found in Japan. (His halting English and my nonexistant Japanese meant the name was entirely lost on me.) Its flesh was plump, white and so fresh I wanted to cry. It was salt-crusted and simply grilled, which meant mouthfuls of soft flesh nicely offset by bits of salty, crackling skin. We had pork belly and wagyu beef as well, but the either the meats were overshadowed by the seafood that night, or they weren’t the best Japanese pork belly and beef I’ve had. We were just about to tell your stomachs to call it a night, when I caught sight of the huge (it’s supersize town in here!) scallops on display. The shells were about the size of  a CD, I kid you not. This was the star of the night. The chef pulled the raw flesh from the shell, diced it into bite-sized pieces, and put it back in its shell and let it simmer in its own juices. Each chunk of scallop was so rich and flavourful, with the salty-sweetness of the sea in every juicy bite. Heaven.

Thank you for everything. =)

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