Sakae Sushi (West Mall)

This outlet at Westmall has undergone a renovation and look nicer than before. Most of the tables have its own computer screens though some are out of order. It has pretty hanging lights, beige leather seats for some seating areas. And of course, there is the perpetually trolley belt, that passes through all the seats.

Its menu also look neater with all the sushi its offers included in it, besides the usual Bento, Don sets, side orders and desserts. All of its Don set comes with a miso soup. But till today, they only have raw salmon Don set, and no grilled salmon Don set. In addition they are the typical fare like tempurai, eel, pork cutlet.

If you are looking for variety you can try its Bento sets, which have several items in each set. But it is always more expensive.

They offer a few different children sets in adorable plates like airplanes, etc.

To be frank, I have been to Japanese restaurants in Singapore that provide better sets, ie. Cheaper with more variety and great taste. But Sakae Sushi as a chain restaurant does offer affordable Japanese cuisne.

Buffets, i hate buffets. I really do. You know all-you-can-eat buffets are those where they offer a large variety of food, and diners can take as many servings as they want, all this for paying a fixed price? You pay one price then all the food are there for your picking, being human, especially Singaporeans, naturally we are “kiasu” and will want to eat as many as much variety of food as we can. Thats the problem, if don’t eat enough then will feel wasted pay already but never eat more. But if eat too much, u gorge yourself full and at the end of it you’ll feel silly. With that contradictory in mind, sometimes you wonder should i eat more or should i eat just sufficient? O Well..

Sakae Sushi, the place most Singaporeans, if not young people associate with sushi. With 33 Outlets spreading all over the island, its green frog logo are most familar to most people. Colour plates sushi are at $1.90, while premium red plates are at $5.90. Of course, there is the all-you-can-eat lunch, high tea, dinner buffet available at different timing and prices. Besides sushi and sashimi, there are also teppanyaki, yakimono, nabemono, tempura, agemono, ramen/udon/soba and donburi dishes.

For tech-savvy people, you can have “fun” browsing through their menu and placing orders via their web-based, patented Interactive Menu. Unfortunately, during my visit there yesterday, the system was down. O well. Back to the point, went to have high tea buffet (Mon to Fri excluding Public Holidays) 3pm-6pm with my brother, adult price is $16.90 , and youth price is $13.90 .

As everybody knows sakae sushi, and different opinions on whether it is good or not, i shan’t comment much, let the pictures do the talking : )

Some of the things we had:

California, Soft Shell Crab, Ebi Tempura handroll Ebi Fry, Avocado, Unagi handrollFried Scallop Udon Sushi

Total bill was $36 for two person. Service-wise, if don’t think too much still passable, but if really want to scrutinise, ill say not really acceptable. One waitress when cleaning the plates saw that we had some leftover and told us not to waste food and order less as though we were like primary school kids. Come on man, you think i’ll really want to waste food? I also know food is precious, obviously is the dish is not nice and not to my taste then i left it there. O well. Then another waiter while taking the orders gave those not-my-problem altitude. Thats why i always have a love-hate relationship with the 10% service charge that almost most of the restaurants charge now. If your service is good, fine u deserve the tip, but if not the money paid is really unfair to consumers.

Although diff people had diff opinion about the place, some say its good, some say its not, but lets face it, how good a sushi/sashimi can be when you are paying this sort of price? Nevertheless, i'll say Sakae Sushi has done rather a good job providing affordable sushi for the mass public. For those gourmet sushi eaters, avoid this place please : )

You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )