Sizzling Missiles of Meat

Iwashi (鰯) is coming into season as we speak. Even though it sounds like an exotic Japanese fish that is seldom available at your run of the mill Japanese restaurants or kaiten sushi places, we are sure that almost of you readers have, at some point in life, eaten Iwashi, because it is non other than the humble sardine. 


In our case, we have Ma-iwashi or Sardinops melanostictus (真鰯) in the restaurant. It's also known as the Japanese Sardine or Spotted Sardine. We don't think it's necessary to describe what a sardine looks like but most people are surprised by how big the fresh ones are with head and all. It's still not much flesh to go around but worth every bit. It's one of our favorite fish for sashimi. You will be wondering right now if we are crazy to serve sardines raw?!? Trust us, it's the best way to enjoy this soft and fatty fish. It's stronger and oilier tasting than Aji but the flesh has a creamy texture that is found in no other fish. Sashimi is the only way to appreciate the texture and flavour together with the slight grittiness of the small bones left in the meat. Most restaurants avoid serving this because of the image of it being a cheap canned protein to supplement instant noodles in the late of the night, but also because it is a highly labour intensive to prepare. The chef must pin bone this fish after filleting and it a very tedious process for your maximum enjoyment. 

Sorry to everybody who reads these blogs. It's mean a month since we had a posting and the excuse is that we have been really really busy. We simply do not have the time to write anything interesting, unless you want to know about all the boring and mundane stuff about running a restaurant. It is about time to do a more educational post so we promise it will be for the next post, soon.


Anyway, the restaurant has been in business for coming to 2 months and things are going great! We have lots to complain and gripe about but it's better than expected. No, we are not raking in the cash but things have been relatively smooth. The bad news is that the lights above the charcoal grill keep burning out because of the heat. We are going through a set of bulbs per week! The wires have been changed to heat resistants ones but the lifespan of the bulbs are drastically reduced by the charcoal fire. The door to the kitchen has been removed because the spring hinges just couldn't keep up with us. Lousy quality crap. Going to have it replaced this week.


Good news is that we have repeat and regular customers! That's the best affirmation and testimony to the great quality of our food that we serve at the izakaya. We really couldn't ask for more. We are not in the green yet but we will soldier on.


Speaking of soldiering on, it is time to submit GST plus year closing and boy do we have a ton of paperwork to get through. The first filing is always the worst because it's the first time and also because it  also has the most invoices because of the startup.


Stay tuned for the next update. We'll let you know through Facebook, which by the way has some really nice photos that we took.

It will be our first month in operation this week and things are going as they should-ish. We have been testing the grill on and off, so far so good. We will raise the height of the grill maybe an inch or two to reduce the smoke escaping out to zero. The problem is we really hate the grill! It is the root of all grief in the shop but yet it will be able to create delicious food. We had a short-circuit last Sunday caused by the grill. You must be wondering how can a charcoal grill mess with the electrics. It turns out that the temperature in the exhaust hood was high enough to damage the wires for the light fixtures above the grill. The insulation was toast and there was a short circuit. It went so far as to damage our main circuit breakers resulting in the whole shop losing power. Needless to say, we did ZERO business that day. It really isn't about the loss of sales that bugs us, after all it is just one day out of the hundreds or maybe thousands that we will be here for. What was horrible was the fact that we disappointed and failed our customers. Eight were seated and ready to place their order when it tripped. They left hungry. A few more came repeat customers came by but had to be turned away. Some were kind enough to want to wait for the power to be fixed but we really couldn't guarantee that things will be OK before they starved to death. That sucks! we have decided to refer to the grill as The Bitch.

The title sounds severe but it really is a bit of a milestone for a small izakaya. It has been a pretty rough start with many issues that has been dealt with or needs further fine tuning.

If anyone reading this wishes to try their hand in kushiyaki or sumibiyaki, our advise is don't. Don't even think about it. If you are dead set on it, then go see a psychiatrist because you are clinically insane or just jump off a roof and save the trouble. It really is that bad. The grill and the logistic for the grill is no end of pain. The amount of labour involved in the preparation of the skewers, the cost of the specialist chef, ingredients, storage and the low selling price, almost means that we are making a lost for every skewer sold. That's not including all the time, money and effort spent on oversizing the exhaust system solely for the charcoal grill.

We faced excessive smoke from the grill when we first tried the grill out and have since gone for a larger fan. In fact, we run two fans. A dedicated fan just for the grill. That helped but didn't solve the problem when we fired it up again, so we added glass surround for the exhaust hood to concentrate the suction. That again helped but didn't totally solve the problem. We and the engineers were perplexed because on paper, that would have been more than sufficient. After much head scratching, we figured there must be some kind of obstruction in the common exhaust ducting that we share with the other restaurants. Being the last on the grid, it's kinda shitty, because our exhaust gases face more resistance and travel further before being discharged. It turns out that our 'friendly' neighbour restaurant has made some of their own well-hidden modification to their duct, basically occluding it to such a point leaving us only about 15% of the duct cross section. This is so that they can get better flow for their exhaust but selfish behavior. At that point, we had a atherosclerotic duct-esclerotic plaque on our hands. If left untreated, it will lead to unstable fangina or even congestive fan failure. We had to act fast. The skilled engineers pulled out the obstruction, stented the duct and flow was restored. No more smoke in the shop! Day saved and beer was passed round. Tenza 1; Neighbour 0. They were not happy campers and now have a smokey kitchen but couldn't do much. We think they should stop being cheap and get a proper exhaust fan like everyone else.

Still on the charcoal grill, we won't be able to start serving grilled items and probably won't be until well into next month. Reason being, labour shortage. We just can't get enough Singaporeans or PRs to work in this industry but we are not able to employ foreign workers yet. Same problem with service side of things, so we are making do with part-timers but that is a compromise in service quality that we are unhappy about. Having said that, the part-timers we get, all from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, are a young and cheerful lot. They are eager to learn and willing to work hard. Great attitude. We just wished that we had more time to train them. In the mean time, we are sitting this out and trying our best to hire.

The fish display cabinet, being a custom design, also went through some trial and error. If we had a chance to do it again, we wouldn't have gone for a top opening design. It takes up too much valuable space in a small izakaya and is not the must practical thing for the chef also. This is not a big issue but it bugs us a little. Maybe we'll change it out next year.

Mostly friends dropping by for meals for now but we have quite a decent walk-in crowd too. We even have repeats! We've sold about 20 bottles of sake so far. We are not complaining. Obviously the daily sales is no where near the daily margin for break even but it's been less than a month and we haven't done much marketing.

We still need to get past the human resource hurdle before we are free to sprint on. Things are more or less on track except for the grill. We can only seek your understanding as to why we really are not able to serve grilled items even until now.

It's been nearly two weekends since the opening of the our izakaya last tuesday on the 11th May. We have sold a bit of sake but didn't realise that we have a nice spot above the mirror where we can keep the empty bottles as decoration until a week ago. Unfortunately, because of our lack of experience, we have discarded about half of what we had.

Spring is also Sansai (山菜) season. Sansai can be literally translated as mountain vegetables. It's not necessarily wild as most of it are farmed but they usually have different requirements from other table vegetables and more often than not tend to be seasonal. What sets sansai apart from yasai is the taste. Sansai should taste like spring; clean and fresh. When you enjoy a piece of sansai, it should feel like taking a deep breathe of clear, spring mountain air. 


Sansai is not one plant but a collection of seasonal plants. Currently we have fuki no to, taro no me, kogomi and fuki in the restaurant, with more varieties to come soon. Sansai was once exclusive to high end japanese establishments but we are now bringing it to you at an accessible price and location.

We first tried out the POS, kitchen and charcoal grill last saturday amongst some 'guinea friends' to do a full shake down of the restaurant. The goal from the onset was less about the food but more about checking the water-tightness of our systems, processes and equipment. We can proudly declare that saturday was a successful failure. Everything was a mess and that was good. Through that night of severe beating we managed to find many faults that must be rectified before the restaurant can be better.

Some of the things we discovered:

1. Kitchen exhaust was not strong enough for the charcoal grill.
2. Charcoal grill design flaw resulting in warp and difficulty in controlling heat.
3. POS bugs and errors.
4. Kitchen needs more storage space.
5. Work flow issues.
6. Restaurant layout needs improvement.
7. Counter seating problems.

Phone line and fax line are not working. Phone in shop rings but can't pick up the call. No dial tone either. Strange. No DSL signal too. How can a restaurant function without a phone?

We are working late into the night to get the pricing of the items spot on. It's real easy to set a highly profitable price but we believe in giving our customers value for money, so we are putting in more effort in this area.

TIP: Don't just look at the price or slices of the fish/meat you get. Check out the total weight on your plate. Avoid being mislead!

We need approval and license from the NEA to start operating as a restaurant. In order to do so, we need the shop to be ready for inspection and also submit supporting documents. Liquor license was more straightforward and done online. 
Today was also the first day that the restaurant saw it's full crew in action. Previously we were operating on a skeleton force of MD, Ops Manager and Head Chef. Everyone was at the shop today to receive goods and to pack things up. We have helluva lot more cleaning to do for the rest of the week. Surfaces need to be wiped, a few times, tableware need to be washed and don't forget the kitchen equipment that must be prepped for use. We need to decide where to keep everything and label the cabinets clearly. Everybody's morale was high and excited to setup a restaurant. People were eager to get things done and enthusiastic in helping one and other. Also, it's a good break from the monotony of working in an established establishment.

Japanese Cherries or Sakuranbo (桜ん坊 | さくらんぼ) are just coming into season and will last through to end of June. Sakuranbo is what the Japanese call their own variety of cherry whereas they will refer to imported cherries as cherry. The appearance of Sakuranbo on market shelves herald the arrival of summer. What we are getting now are ones grown in greenhouses and the sun ripe ones start in June proper. These cherries are obviously smaller than most cherries and of a cheerful blush red. Small fruits means more skin, therefore more flavour.


So what do they taste like? The answer is simple: Like Cherries! But with differences, of course. Sakuranbo is not the least bit tannic or bitter compared to the darker skin USA variety we might be more used to. The skin is firm but breaks apart when bitten into yielding a thin layer of konnyaku jelly like texture. The flavour lies mostly in the skin. The flesh is soft and sweet with a mildly alcoholic tinge yet has little acidity. We have no idea what the pit/seed tastes like. The pleasant floral cherry aroma lingers in your breath but doesn't taste like cough syrup which some of the dark skin cherry might. 

Last minute problems always never fail to appear. The contractors sent the wrong sized chiller and freezers today. Then spent eons convincing us that they are the right ones just because they are too lazy to bring it back. The dimensions are too big for the shop so there's no way for us to accept it. The drain hole for the fish sink is too small and rectification work needs to be done. This has potentially set us back by one day on our schedule because without the sink, we can't mount the compressor for the display case, which is coming tomorrow. 

Things are really heating up in the shop fast! We've never seen so many workers cramming for space in the little restaurant trying to cut, mount and clean-up at the same time. 2 more days to end of the week and 2 more days to completion of renovation works.

The much delayed 3D renderings of the restaurant is finally here! 

The exterior facade is covered in stone tiles, with a sliding glass door for the entrance. The signage is a brushed stainless steel lightbox but with our restaurant logo and relevant fonts for the final product. The wood counter will be partially visible from outside. Spotlights mounted on the ceiling will act as wall washers to complete the effect. 

4 natural elements are represented on the facade: stone, metal, wood and the glass represents water. Is it good fengshui? We are not superstitious but more importantly, do you like it? Tell us what you think in the comments!

This is the one-draft-away-from-final draft of the kitchen layout plans. It has been so fine tuned and crafted that it is the most perfect izakaya kitchen in the world, or so we hope. Since this is not the final draft, we can't show you the plans yet but be assured that we have spent really a lot of time and effort in getting the layout, work flow and momentum right. 

It was as though a bomb went off in the shop when we inspected it on Tuesday. The partitions walls were gone, along with the wall and floor tiles. All done in one day!

The hunt for bowls and plates continue. It's expanding to tea cups and glassware. There are a lot of nice things on the market but it's not always possible to find ones suitable for a business or where the supplier has sufficient quantities for us. For example, we need 150 side plates, 100 tea cups and 80 tall tumbler glasses.


Finally got the HDB approval to start renovation works today so hacking of the walls and floor begins first thing on monday! Stay tuned for the 3D renderings of the shop on Thursday.

We spent the whole morning cleaning out the storage area and rubbish bins. The bins were filled to the brim with leftover food and garbage, that remained strangely uncleared in the bins. The refuse collector claims that he is new to the area and didn't know that we would like to have the bins emptied. Makes us wonder what the bin is for. Anyway, it was heaving with maggots and the stench was amazing! There were wriggling maggots on the floor, under the bins and on the walls. Wonderful way to start the day. Sparing you the details, our dear restaurant manager became part time pest control and sent them all the kingdom come. The mynahs were having a field day picking the guys off.

Ever feel intrigued or even intimidated by the mystique of a tradition sushi-ya (sushi restaurant)? Do you know how to behave without seeming rude or acting like an ignorant and disrespectful foreigner? How about blending in with the other japanese customers or regulars at the sushi counter? What is that bowl of salt at the entrance? Who do you place an order with?

This is the first of the many writeups on food items that we will roll out whenever we have something in season or good to recommend to you.


Have you ever noticed that most of the fragrance of a citrus fruit is concentrated in the rind or skin of the fruit? Ironically, with the exception of the yuzu, when we have a fresh citrus fruit, it is the rind/peel that we commonly discard and only eat/use the sweeter or juicier flesh inside. Then there is the hassle of having the peel the skin to get to the edible bits. When you look into the details of the skin, the citrus oils are contained in the zest (thin, outer, coloured part) and the inner, white pith is almost always unpleasantly bitter. Wouldn't it be great to have a citrus where you can eat the entire fruit, like a pear or apple, thus savouring all the flavours?

We have survived through half a dozen Point of Sales (POS) equipment sales pitch this month and frankly find them all rather similar with regards to capabilities, user-friendliness and hardware. It really boils down to the details, like graphics, colour, support and of course, price. The quotations vary quite a bit from $7500 to $12000 for pretty much the same things. We can't decide. Maybe go with price. At least that is immediately and rationally most apparent. What do you think?

You wouldn't think that we will stop there, did you? We dropped by Takashimaya today to have a look and left quite satisfied but we have to be back again to pick up more stuff that will only be in stock tomorrow. 

For posterity, we thought it will be a good idea to post some pictures of the shop before renovation starts, so that people can be shocked by the transformation.