Happy 1st Anniversary with Iketeru

I was expecting an quieter place after driving into a half-empty carpark, instead I walk straight into a assault (Chef Ricky was even behind the Sushi & Sashimi counter for the first time I entered Iketeru)


Starter dish: Boiled Mushroom mixed with Tofu Sauce & Steamed Japanese Yam served with Sea Urchin
Mushroom texture was like covered by jellied vinegar (reminiscent of the vinegar-coated dishes 4 months ago), silky smooth in your mouth (and tangy too) until your first bite, then flavours gushes out and melt together on your tongue. The delight was finding out how well the tofu sauce goes with the mushroom (heck, Chef Ricky probably made a great variant on the white sauce with the tofu puree).



Yam was good, I was a bit worried by the deep coloured urchin, which was not what I was used to having over the past few months, but it tasted good. must master my chopsticks skill so that I can dice the thing into bite size portion, zice it into my mouth and chice around like a kungfu master.





















Soup: Clear Broth with Scallop Dumpling
Scallop? what scallop? I want my scallop!!! (stupid tongue can't taste the scallop, stupid eyes couldn't even see any signs of the scallop)
compared to previous attempts, a bit of a letdown.
Where is that freaking scallop?







Sashimi: Light Grilled Bonito, Raw Amberjack & White Meat Fish
Liver sauce wasn't only bitter (Chef Ricky's comment), it was bloody, just bloody, very bloody......LIVER BITTER (i confess, Ricky, I confess); but it really, really, really goes well with the Bonito (more sake in the preparation might have helped although I prefered it as the basting sauce when you grilled the bonito).

Is it me or does the Amberjack taste much more finnier this time round? At least rich fatty tuna solves everything. (in the middle of the dish, Chef Ricky came up to me and asked me to 'man man sek')


Simmered dish: Simmered Turnip & Prawn with Chrysanthemum Sauce
The picture just doesn't do this dish justice *I just wail and weep at the quality of the photo*. Probably the prettiest dish he has presented so far, A beautiful carved turnip, crowned by thin slices of green, coated in sauce and draped in Chrysanthemum flower petals, with a prawn and mushroom.

The trick to savouring this dish to the ultimate would probably be figuring out the ideal slice of turnip in relation to the sauce (much like the fugu challenge last year). Oh the agony of the golden pi number in this dish......still can't figure it out, sorry!!! Each bite ended up too saucy or too turnipy.












Grilled dish: Grilled Pacific Saury with Salt, Simmered Oyster with Soya Sauce & Assorted vegetables (egg rolls, gingko nuts, chestnut, marinated tuna, lotus root crisps!!!)
Lovely, perfect, wonderful, utopia, best dish of the night.

I miss my japanese egg rolls, I miss tamagu, I miss good quality japanese egg rolls. These are runny, these are soft, these are making me sing (no matter how off key, off pitch, off tone I am) because they are the embodiment of this perfect dish.

A sweet sweet chestnut and simmered oyster, 3 succulent gingko nuts. so utopic.
The lovely marinated tuna in sesame seed oil sprinkled with sesame seed, 7 lovely slices, just lovely, i am approaching Cloud 9.

And the wonderful lotus root crisps: kiss Mr. Potato goodbye, kiss Pringles goodbye, kiss all those potato crisp goodbye. (I am just not ready to throw away my Nachos and Tortilla just yet).
the saury was tasty, i lemon-light it, I garnished it with white radish. yet it was slightly undercooked, this so spoiled my perfect dish of this evening. *sob*














Fried dish: Deep Fried Cod Milt, Matsutake Mushroom, Chilli & Japanese Sweet Potato Tempura
The waitress actually teased me by suggesting that I might want the traditional tempura sauce (which I will pass). The mushrooms, chillis and potatoes tempuras are clingy, light, zen. but the cod milt just bloated like a overwatered skin, it taste so horrible. Another beautiful dish ruined by just one element. (Oh why do they have to have so many customers on my 1st anniversary, these people are spoiling the chefs and my evening).

















Main Course: Rice cooked with Japanese Chestnuts & Red Soy Bean Soup with Eggplant
Unlike previous servings, the rice was not permeated by flavours. Maybe it needs more nuts, the proportion of nut to rice should have been much greater. Maybe I need to go fast in a Zen buddhist temple for 3 days and 3 nights before I come back to sample this dish (I score another Chef Ricky snicker). Yet eating it was Zen, eating well cooked rice until you bite into a chestnut, and the flavour unfolds into your mouth, mixing with rice, until everything becomes a flavourful mush in your mouth which you want to quickly swallow before it becomes bland mush but you just can't because it is still a flavourful mush and you want to savour it slowly. The state of perfection is oh so brief.


Dessert: Sliced Japanese Pear & Grapes, Lime Sherbert & Japanese pastry
The grapes are mellowy rather than tarty, pears were bitey rather than crunchy, the lime sherbert was much bigger than the one I got at last year's MIGF. Red Bean cake were a good addition. (Chef Ricky admits that he is a novice when he it comes to dessert and pastries and is still learning, I still recommend a true blue Japanese sweet chef)



Poor Chef Ricky is getting slammed after the lull of Ramadan, he has a lot of preparations that still need to be done for the Gourmet festival next month and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for his patience to listen to my prattle.

The evening could have been perfect, I want it to be perfect. I blame the other customers. (Yeah, I am a selfish bastard but I am not blaming the chefs yet.)

Oh well, cheers to my first anniversary with Iketeru.

Awaiting more feedback on my food reviews, Say it so in the comment section.