Price inflation has been running hot for quite some time now and doesn’t seem to be abating. While there’s not much we can do about a general increase in prices, one thing that we can manage is lifestyle inflation.
For example, whenever we have a craving for sushi and sashimi, the first place that comes to mind is Izakaya Niningashi. The seafood served there is fresh and of high quality, with their wide selection of nice nihonshu as an added bonus.
But a meal there can easily set us back S$100 per person, inclusive of alcohol. It’s still our go-to place for a great night out, but sometimes we just want some decent sushi at an affordable price. And that’s where our friendly neighbourhood kaiten sushi shop comes in.
When Genki Sushi first opened their branch in Junction 8, it attracted long and snaking queues. But nowadays, the demand has died down and while it’s still a popular spot, we don’t have to wait long to get a seat.
I can’t remember when we last had a meal there, but it must have been more than a year ago. When we saw that it was having a Hokkaido Festival, featuring freshly flown-in scallops, we decided to head over for a late lunch.
While Genki Sushi is still known as a kaiten sushi-ya (回転寿司屋), most people just place ala carte orders from their mobile phones, instead of picking pre-made items off a rotating conveyor belt. The dishes are then assembled-to-order and whisked over to specific seats on a cute little plastic shinkansen.
It’s definitely a much more hygienic method, especially given the recent spate of anti-social behaviour (eew!) at chain stores in Japan like Sushiro. I suspect that the traditional kaiten system will become obsolete soon, and replaced with alternatives like Genki’s.
Three limited-time (期間限定) items were highlighted in their Hokkaido Festival menu, and of course we had to order all three. Starting with the Aburi Mentai and Garlic Butter thick-cut hotate sushi.
Both toppings had strong flavours, with the flame-torched mentaiko mayo being especially tasty. You really can’t go wrong by adding mentai-mayo to anything, be it sushi, french fries or pasta. But it was quite overwhelming, and masked any natural sweetness from the scallop.
The garlic butter was likewise quite dominant, especially the butter component. While both versions were nice, I felt that they could have used a lighter touch on the condiments and allow the hotate to shine a little bit more.
Luckily, the crab and ikura topping on the Mini Hotate Don was concentrated in the centre, and allowed us to try the unadorned scallop first. It was surprisingly good, with no fishy scent and a faint underlying sweetness.
Of course, it’s not fair to compare it with higher-end sushi places, where the scallop sashimi tends to be more meaty and flavourful. But for chain store quality, these were more than decent. They could have skipped the crab though, as it was slightly fishy, and simply gone with the ikura topping.
I was thinking about ordering another portion of the hotate don, but decided to go with the more filling Gyudon Lunch Set. It came with a good-sized gyudon, miso soup and chawanmushi with crab stick and shitake.
It was shared between the two of us, and the portion was enough to fill us up. But then again, we’re small eaters nowadays so your mileage may vary.
We could have stopped there, but I wanted to try out their “normal” Hotate Sashimi. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference from what we had in the “special” hotate don. Perhaps both were using the same raw ingredient during this promotional period?
I suppose one way to find out is to make a return visit after the Hokkaido Festival has ended, and order the same item again.
The bill came up to a total of S$42.41, inclusive of two hot green teas. Which is a fraction of what we would have paid at Niningashi, although it’s not a fair apples-to-apples comparison.
Given our positive experience at Genki Sushi that day, I expect that we’ll be back there again soon.
