Another Japanese restaurant! Singapore is seriously full of them. Well… I guess high demand, high supply, hence the many places offering cuisine from the land of the rising sun.

The Sushi Bar is one such place. This small but popular shop has been satisfying consumers with affordable, neatly arranged sushi rolls, fresh chirashi dons and sushi at Far East Plaza since 2012, with long lines clamouring for their Japanese fix.

It opened another outlet at Ngee Ann City a few months ago, featuring what seems like a more upscale restaurant concept compared to its original branch. And this is the one that I recently visited.

Sometime before going there, I had seen an absolutely stunning picture of their Aburi Kaisen Don (S$26.90) on one of my favourite food blogs to read, Daniel’s Food Diary, and so I had my heart set on having that.

There were many other tempting items on the menu, but the Aburi Kaisen Don didn’t disappoint, with its thick, juicy and sweet slices of lightly torched salmon, swordfish, yellowtail, scallop and tuna sashimi, complemented by fluffy and moist sushi rice. Of course, the generous sprinkle of ikura didn’t hurt.

In particular, I really liked the swordfish, as it was satisfyingly sweet and rich, with a light crunch.

The tamago was quite nice too and I was happy to discover that it was not too dry, but with the memory of the wonderful ones from my Japan trip 3 months ago still fresh in my mind, it would be wise not to make any comparisons.

I think one or two slices of fish were a tiny bit chewy possibly because of the cut, however overall, I very much enjoyed this dish and it is something I would have again if I had the chance.

My sister and I also shared the Scallop Mentaiyaki (S$14.90) along with the don. The thin slices of scallop were refreshing and mildly sweet, and when eaten with the mentaiyaki sauce, fish roe and spring onions, were even more delicious.

The surprise dish of the day for us though was the Hamachi Kama (S$25.90), which we thought would just be a yellowtail collar but amazingly enough, came with the head of the fish too, eye, cheek, and all.

This was super tasty, with a good crisp on the outside but soft and delicate on the inside. The fish was either lightly seasoned or not at all, which I really liked as it retained the original flavour, juices and fresh taste of the meat.

We literally polished off every single bit of meat on that head. Poor fish, but hey, at least it didn’t die in vain.

My parents had the Salmon Aburi Roll (S$15.90) and Tonkatsu with Rice (S$14.90) as their main dishes – I didn’t try either so not too sure how they were, but they did look rather appetising.

Now the scallop roll, soft shell crab roll and wagyu don are dishes that I really want to go back to try…

The queue can get really monstrous though it seems, so it really depends on whether you have the patience to wait so long for food.

We were super lucky this time as we went at around 6.45pm and it wasn’t crowded yet – but when we came out of the restaurant around 8 plus the queue was crazy.

For around S$40 per person, it’s not exactly cheap, but for the quality and taste, I dare say it was pretty worth the price.

This is a place I would go to again… but maybe during an off-peak timing because I really don’t want to queue for so darn long!

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The Sushi Bar Dining
Ngee Ann City #05-35/35

Website: https://www.facebook.com/thesushibar.sg

No reservations on weekends and public holidays. For reservations on other days, SMS to: +65 8818 3535 (NAC) or +65 9653 6464 (FEP).

Opening hours for Ngee Ann City: Everyday from 11.30am to 9.00pm.
Opening hours for Far East Plaza: Mondays to Thursdays from 12.00pm to 3.00pm for lunch, 5.30pm to 9.00pm for dinner, Fridays and Saturdays from 12.00pm to 9.00pm, closed on Sundays.