Nogawa @ Le Meridian

Bf wanted to bring me here on several occasions but didn't quite work out, but alas, we finally made it after all these while :) heheh. It was his thanks to me for preparing the xmas dinner for him. And it was such a wonderful thanks. hehhehe.

The dishes we ordered are recommended by the friendly waitress:

1) Compulsory appetiser: Anglerfish liver in Shoyu and lime sauce. ($10 for 2)
While the fish looks quite scary, the liver is known to be a great delicacy, costing USD100 for the liver in Japan; the fish costs USD150.
Indeed this is very delicious, a slight pungent taste common to pate.


This is how an angler looks like - by the way, my bf was so pleasantly surprised they served such a deep-water ugly fish here. He wanted to try it but i was not too keen... :(

Here's another picture of Anglerfish from Wikipedia, lest you can't see properly the repulsive hideous look of the fish, and wonder why i just can't eat it in the hot pot! ( they don't serve deep fried version that evening...)


2) Ikura (salmon roe) $15: My fave! They claim to scoop the roe out from the salmon over in this restaurant kitchen, such that the freshness is unrivalled (unless of cos we're in salmon fishing nations). Yes it indeed tastes slightly different: less pungent than usual ikura.


3) Sashimi $80: Tuna, Tuna belly, Puffer fish, Puffer fish skin, Shrimps, Clams, Scallops, Aki etc.

Puffer fish

A japanese waitress (who could hardly speak Eng) dunk some of these herbs into our soy sauce, supposedly to add flavor to the sashimi.

My bf eating.
3) Tuna Belly Soup $50: See the claypot (above), and Soup (below).
Cooked tuna belly looks like pork. Heh. But it melts in the mouth. Yum!


4) Grilled Yellowtail cheek $25: Pretty nice and interesting to eat with the pickles. Lotsa meat.


Funny teapot converted into a flower vase


5) Grilled young Bamboo shoots ( $18): Very delicious with a sweet paste on top of it. But a bit costly at $18 for 3 small pieces.


Individual platter for desserts. Houjicha (baked green tea) is served instead of the usual green tea (ocha)

6) Red bean soup with chestnut and dumpling cake ($8): To dump everything into the soup. This is very very good!!

7) Plum wine Jelly ($8): My bf's fave! He saved this for the last. Haha.
The plum wine is made in-house. Very nice and refreshing!


Look how happy and satisfied he is!


The lady in blue kimono is that jap lady who showed us how to wrap the puffer fish and added the herbs for us. She spend most of the evening entertaining jap clients. The rest of the waitstaff wore pink kimonos.


The outside of the restaurant.


Bill is $254 but it's all worthwhile :)

Rating: dddd