Chikuwa Tei Japanese Restaurant

It was daddy's birthday and the day before that on a sunday, my fam went to Chikuwa Tei Japanese Restaurant (9 Mohamed Sultan Road) to celebrate. Mom damn scared i forget to book cos i was on call on friday and concuss on sat but of cos i wont forget. Printed out many pics and mommy was even more excited about it than dad was. dad was surprised i found the plaque pictures. i must say my hard drive has alot alot of treasure!

This place is the same chef that ran the one man show at Wasabi Tei and i loved loved his thick slices of fish in the chiraishi. I was a repeat customer for his $20 chiraishi don despite the long queues and the squeeze and i must say i miss that atmosphere and virulence of his. This place just feels more clinical and impersonal. but im NOT complaining cos we can make reservations and we're guranteed a seat! been meaning to bring mommy to the old far east place but the once we tried, it was a public hol and it wasnt open. her fren and her didnt want to queue the other time they tried. so im glad mommy got a chance to try this time round.

Mommy and Dad tried the chiraishi don - chokeful of salmon/tuna/swordfish/scallop/uni/tamago. And they loved the rice. Even my gran commented on how good the short grain rice was and asked me if i know how to buy from the supermarket. I watched him prepare the rice before in his old outlet, and i thought i saw him add vinegar/sake and using his hands to manually stir the rice. Told grandma it takes much more than just rice grains and water!

It was packed tonight and a large group of boys beside us..generally its quite noisy at the tables where there are groups of people indulging in conversation. and i guess i would aim to sit at the bar the next time. I'm sure the people there would behave with the (now quite smiley)chef looming over them.

Brother's tempura udon im sure he regretted not going for the chunky chiraishi. this is definitely not enough for the hungry boy.

Sister's unagi set rice. She surprised me with this meaty choice as she's not one to go for meats. Think she just wanted a change from her usual cha soba/udon/carb choices. this is a real thick juicy chunk of unagi it was.

Gran's codfish hotpot set. I've been always wanting to try this. Boy are the portions huge!!many chunks of codfish and alot of veg (which mommy ate) in this. And as commented gran loved the rice. hmm should try researching the rice the next time i get time to go to a supermarket

My salmon head hot pot set. I forgot about it after i took a group pic so its a lil stirred around. Its got really tender salmon chunks there but i guess i'd go for the codfish the next round as it is 100% meat. Love the soup which is really cheng yet tasty.

Each of the above came with 2 plates of pickled veg. I missed the slivers of seaweed he served before the meal last time. Tried to order some black seaweed in vinegar but its not the same one!! it was like the chinese "far cai" drenched in vinegar. Mmm.

Old is gold man.