Aoki - A Samurai in Singapore

I've been mulling for the longest time about a post on Aoki, a Japanese restaurant in Singapore Bobby and I frequent whenever work or some time away brings us to its shores.  Aoki is part of the Les Amis Group, the group who runs Les Amis on Claymore Hill and Les Jardin in the Singapore Botanical Gardens and other fine dining restaurants, so it comes from good breed.  It was for this reason that my husband Bobby the foodie booked our first reservation for lunch at Aoki all those years ago in 2004.

The reason why I mull over an Aoki post is because I am unable to pinpoint exactly why I love this restaurant.  So I pore over the Aoki reviews online and unexpectedly find many unflattering, quite the opposite of my own views. 

The entrance to Aoki has no English sign, instead there is Aoki in Japanese and a rough cotton curtain hanging at the doorway.  Together with the dark cool atmosphere of the restaurant and the cave-like feel of the lower eating area where there are front row seats to the sushi bar, to the arty paper scrolls hanging from the ceiling, all this adds to Aoki's bushido play at lunch.

Aoki on Claymore Hill.  Photo screenshot from the Les Amis Group website.

The sushi bar.

I look up to the paper floating from the ceiling.

Chef Aoki at lunch service.

I find executive chef Kunio Aoki bears similar qualities to a Samurai warrior as he wields his knife to slice fresh tuna belly lifted out of a refrigerated wooden box.  Silent, precise and perhaps even ominous, as one website have described him, Bobby and I are lucky to always sit in front of Aoki-san.  I say lucky because watching the man craft delicate sublime Japanese dishes is quite a show.  Even the lights shining over the chef area are designed like theatre floodlights.

The theater does not end just with the chefs, the fellow diners on the sushi counter are as much part of the act.  There's a boisterous Chinese family of four, Belgians ordering Bento boxes, visiting Japanese, the new girlfriend on the first date with Mom.  I remember the curt nod of the chef when told by a fellow diner that the grilled fish was salty.   

Incidentally, there was one time when we sat in one of the private booths provided on the upper floor, and I must say we did not enjoy lunch as much. 

Chef Aoki and his knife.

All the years we've been sitting in front of Aoki-san, both of us slowly developing a crush, in awe and speaking in hushed tones.  Bobby and I are rather envious of the people to whom he converses with throughout lunch service, when all we can dare is squeak "Aoki-san, may we have that sashimi koi dish with shavings of white truffle, please?"

Koi sashimi with white truffles.

A few weeks ago we were in Singapore for SP's wedding.  This time we brought Beloved Son along to Aoki's.  And since we've all eaten fairy food, we'll be looking rather forlornly at the carbohydratic sushi rolls at ol' Excapade from now on.

Table settings over the years at Aoki.

Freshly grated wasabi.

Assorted sashimi and beef with vegetables steamed in a box.

Seared Wagyu beef nigiri and Hokkaido Oyster.

After lunch we walk out onto the Singapore streets on a cloud.  Never doing any shopping because we've blown all our budget at lunch.

Comments

[Bo]

Was very much looking forward to dining here after reading the great reviews. The only table available was the counter so we gladly accepted. When we arrived at about 12:20 for our 12:30 reservation, only two other parties were at the counter. We were placed in the middle by the sink. Hoping to sit a bit off to the side, we requested the corner seat which was empty at the time. The waitress said she would check with the reservation staff who came back with a no, saying it was booked. I said I didn't know I could request a particular seat on the counter and she said they reserve it for 3-4 people.

At this time, I wish I could have recorded the clearly annoyed faces of the chefs behind the counter like Ramsay's secret diner does. Really guys? Is it that hard to be a little flexible and service oriented? To not give your customers dirty looks as they try to politely optimize their dining experience? When the corner was eventually filled, there were only two diners unlike the 3-4 the waitress said hold the corner for.

Needless to say, this simple inability to take care of the customer put a dark cloud over the entire meal...

We ordered the lunch set 9 piece sushi and Chirashi. My order and another customer's order (incidentally the one on the corner) came quite a bit earlier than our respective partner's dishes so we were left waiting for some time before we could begin.

I found my $50 sushi selection to be okay only. For the premium lunch special, I found it hard to believe they'd have squid, 2 omelette and Tai in the selection.

My wife enjoyed her Chirashi but I found the small cubed pieces of premium fish to be a bit of a waste, inevitably causing you to mix many different types of fish into a single bite, defeating the purpose of seeking out fresh, quality sushi/sashimi. Also, I noticed the fish selection for the same dish of guy next to me to be very different!

Dessert came with an interesting plum gelatin, custard and a third item which I can't recall. While everything was pretty good, I did notice that we were the only diners to get the small open plates while the other diners' desserts were served in a lovely box.

Granted, my overall experience and the lens through which I viewed the food must be tempered by my initial experience, I believe it's the little things that separate restaurants at this level and Aoki definitely fell short.

[EmmaGoodEgg]

Thanks Des B, hope you will enjoy Aoki. Let me know how it goes :)

[Des B.]

Sounds good. I will drop by when I am in town next time.