Described as a casual dining Japanese restaurant and bar with intimate settings and then further elaborated to have its menu inspired by Chef Nakano, previously of NOBU at Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas's fame; Sen of Japan hits the nail on the head. Casual? - not so much for the everyday user; but for a high-roller who have just been dealt a lucky hand at Baccarat; this my friends, is what you would call fast-food; the retracing of steps back to the table fast and furious following a quick refuel.
Sen dishes out modernist Japanese cuisine, the kitschy influence of American culture on the menu highly evident and most enjoyable (if I must say so) at most times.
We kick off with a gorgeous platter of sashimi, the lofty aims of the Otoro and Chutoro aiming to please the both of us, yet, the cured Saba steals the show with its pickled centers and salt speckled hide. Paired with a delicate Hakkaisan Tobubetsu Honjyozo sake from Niigata ($21/120ml), and you've got a match made in heaven.
Another standout dish was the Special Carpaccio ($16.50) - white fish and sesame dressed to the nines in a light Asian inspired dressing perfumed with ginger and chives. A super addictive dish enhanced by the light-handed use of yuzu that dances across the palate.
After witnessing a throng of over-gregarious pokemon players dash across the glass walls of Sen of Japan, I turned my lips in slight mockery and sank my teeth into a portion of the Salmon Aburi Roll ($20.50). Very quickly, almost too dangerously quickly, I fell in love. Bits of crispy tempura flakes creating an unfamiliar yet textural playground in the mouth. Proportions are spot on and the blanket of torched salmon spreading thru to every bit of the rice roll. We were recommended the Ginrei Gassan Setchu Jyukusei from Yamagata ($20// 120ml) to pair along with this debauchery and boy did the emanated sophistication from the ripe fruit flavors enhance the delicateness of the aburi salmon.
Then begins the rice less introductions to Sen of Japan's mod Japanese cuisine. The Black Cod Soy ($12) with butter lettuce presented with shards of crispy fried kataifi overhead was a sure bet at pleasing the seafood aficionados. Cooked to the T presenting creamy innards below a nicely grilled surface.
If you wish for the sake exploration to continue, I would implore you to get the Iwai Junmai Ginjyo from Kyoto ($50/300ml bottle), its natural acidity and gentle disposition helping to bring out the best in white meats. This includes the following dish, the Grilled Chicken with Cucumber Salsa ($27.50) - details like the control of balance in the spiced cucumber salsa elevating the humble grilled chicken.
At this juncture, I would go as far as to say, I was pleasantly plump. But the notion of sweet endings ALWAYS lingers, hence the Green Tea Brulee topped with Black Sesame Ice Cream ($15) that followed suite. Graced with the dopest piece of sesame florentine you'll ever find, this classy dessert gets an OTT treatment with the usual brulee topped with a ginormous mound of delicious goma ice cream - the overall yield may look larger than life but it will spark off the case of gone-in-60-seconds. I kid you not.
Sen of Japan
2 Bayfront Avenue
#01-86
Marina Bay Sands Shoppes
The Shoppes
S(018972)
t: 6688 7426
Operating Hours:
Daily: 11 30am -11pm
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