Welcome on board to SushiAirways Sushi Bar

This article was first published on 31/12/2012 and information herewith is no longer accurate.

“Happy New Year! Welcome on board to SushiAirways. The aircraft is under the command of Captain Chef Wong Eng Chun and leading air stewardess Simbian Chua. We hope you have a pleasant journey with us.”

Flying into the heart of the touristic Kampong Glam district in Singapore, the enclave of the quaint Arab Street and Haji Lane, SushiAirways (寿司航空) is a new Sushibar offers a panoramic first class “flying” experience unlike any other, minus the turbulence.

When you enter the restaurant, you’ll have to totter up a flight of metal-plated stairs, like those leading up to an aircraft. Upon reaching the entrance, you’ll be greeted by service staff dressed as air stewardesses. As you enter the cabin, be awed by its interiors which was made to closely resemble the legendary 1930s Douglas DC-3, an American fixed-wing propeller-driven chrome plated aircraft.

Taking an unconventional design approach for a Japanese restaurant and bar, you will be surprised by actual aircraft gallery meal carts and storage boxes, overhead compartments, characteristic aircraft lighting and rounded panoramic aircraft-like windows overseeing Kampong Glam.

This cute, gimmicky eatery serves, nope, not yucky airplane food, but yummy Japanese cuisine, with a kitchen helmed by a former chef at Grand Hyatt Singapore, Chef Wong Eng Chun. It has an extensive ala carte selection of fresh seafood flown in four times a week from Japan.

Should one feel spoilt for choice, and cannot make up one’s mind, one could entrust their dining experience to SushiAirways’ Omakase (“I’ll leave it to you” in Japanese, $180 to $250 per pax) degustation menu which offers seasonal items not found in the à la carte menu. But of course, you have to make reservation first lah, cannot go on the very day and request for omakase!

To start, we had a very light appetizer which is the Fish Roe from Red Snapper. It does look abit wormy and even though the fish roe is not photogenic, it taste great! By pairing it with a little mandarin peel and Chef Wong’s homemade soy sauce, it gives a light citrus taste which is refreshing to the palette!

Next, we had this DIY Negi Tori Roll. This roll is very unique because it doesn’t come with the Japanese rice. So you basically just wrap the uni (sea urchin), tuna, tobiko (fish roe) and spring onions together with the nori and eat it.

Here’s our DIY roll, as you can see, we just dump everything into the nori and eat it! The rich uni kinda evoke the flavor of the other ingredients and I love how the tobiko “pop” in my mouth when they are chewed.

Fresh and tasty sashimi is served in SushiAirways. Our Sashimi Mori Set has Hotate (scallop), Shake Belly (salmon belly), Kajiki (swordfish), Hamachi (yellowtail), and ebi (prawns).

There also served the sashimi individually or set in their ala carte menu. Special Chef’s Sashimi Mori costs $58 (Small) and $88 (Large).

We also had a variety of sushi such as Kajiki (swordfish), Shake Aburi (seared salmon), Hamachi (yellowtail), Tamago (omelette egg), Hotate (scallop) etc. The fish slice ratio is good and I love the Shake Aburi the most!

In their ala carte menu, they also have Premium Assorted Sushi ($38 small, $58 large).

The presentation of Mango Roll ($30) can be better though. First, the mangoes are not sweet enough. Secondly, they aren’t wrap around the sushi like those Dragon Roll which you are in other sushi places. Hence the mango slices keep falling down and we have to eat the mango slices separately from the sushi.

Avocado Maki ($25) is definitely better. We can eat that as a whole with fragrant sesame seeds and flying fish roe that gives a good crunch to the sushi.

A typical Japanese restaurant will not miss out cold soba especially on this hot weather in Singapore. SushiAirways’s soba is unique because their soba is made from yam and specially imported from Japan.

If my guess is not wrong, it should be Jinenjo soba. The soba has a delightfully smooth texture and best enjoyed with a bowl of cold shoyu-seasoned broth with spring onions. Because the supply from Japan is rather irregular, the chef explained that their soba is not in the menu. However, when it is available, they will recommend it to the diners.

Their alcohol list is as extensive, and one of the more unique ones include this Nikka Whisky which looks like a Chanel perfume bottle.

Sushi Airways offers affordable set lunches at only $15 which is served with a delicious healthy garden salad with flavoursome wafu dressing and miso soup. The mains include the ever popular chicken and salmon teriyaki to crispy pork katsu, udon and the colorful Airways chirashi (sushi in a rice bowl) set.

Look! Their name card is so cute! It is a boarding pass!

And I was asking the friendly leading stewardess, do they have strict requirements to be SushiAirways stewardess? She said,”not really, as long as she is 1.65m tall and can fit in a size 8 dress.” Oh haiz, looks like I can’t be a stewardess this life!

This article was first published on 31/12/2012 and information herewith is no longer accurate.

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