EmmaGoodEgg

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.

My Inner Bimbo

Well yes.  I am a MissBimbo addict, hence the lack of posts.  I have even coerced Bobby in the act.  He tells me where my bimbo is going and I happily dress her appropriately.

This is me in France going to the Louvre.

Willow and I look fabulous!

That's my boyfriend Pete Dirty (Doherty).  He's a junk rockstar and gives me 150 Bimbo Dollars and day and 100 Bimbo Attitude points a day.  I'm a little bit chubby because one of the goals on the previous level was "You've found work as a plus-size model. To gain those vivacious curves, you need to weigh more than 154 Lbs".  This is such an awesome game.

But I gotta change my bimbo name though.  Somehow a bimbo called EmmaGoodEgg doesn't ring true to the ears. 

more at twiigs.com...

Ps/ Willow doesn't need a poll because Willow already has a bimbo name.