Nadaman, Shangri-La Hotel

W will be gritting her teeth when she sees yet another post on Japanese food, but then she was the one who prompted me to check out Nadaman. Since it was Friday, to celebrate the impending weekend, I happily opted for the mini-kaiseki (SGD45).

The kaiseki kicked off with a cold appetizer: blanched vegetables in dashi stock, and silken tofu with grated young ginger. Very refreshing and light!

The second course was a seaweed fishcake served in a clear broth. The fishcake was nothing special but the clear broth was very tasty and made a good change from the usual dashi stock.

The sashimi dish - yellowtail and a very red-looking tuna. Decently fresh, if not as mouthwateringly sweet as those I had recently at Tatsuya and Goto. The made-out-of-paste wasabi was also a slight bummer....

Next came a little bowl of stewed vegetables - yam, pumpkin, and soya-marinated egg plant in ankake sauce. A humble and simple dish, but thoroughly heart-warming and down-to-earth.

I was already fairly full by this point but the surprises had yet to stop. In quick succession, grilled teriyaki Japanese bluefish, steamed flavoured rice with bamboo and vegetables, and miso soup. The bluefish tasted very much like cod - oily and succulent, and full of flavour from the teriyaki marinade. The rice was also a pleasant change from the usual white steamed rice with pickles.

Finally, dessert of milk pudding with azuki beans.

All-in, a good meal at a very decent price, although admittedly my expectations had been spoilt by that stupendous kaiseki just a week before at Goto!

Nadaman
Shangri-La Hotel, 22 Orange Grove Road