Hanayoshi

Hanayoshi is fairly new in the Tanjong Pagar neighbourhood having opened in August.

 My husband and I decided to try it out for lunch. Lunches are always a fraction of the dinner price and will give me an indication on how the dinner will be like.

Hanayoshi has a beautiful and clean setup. The Japanese restaurant looks classy and seems to be aimed at a fine dining crowd. Everything about the presentation of Hanayoshi is well thought through. From the design of the place, to the tea sets used, to the sauce containers and the layout of the dishes. I am impressed by the level of detail in the presentation.

Beer

This was quite good. It was like a belgium beer styled beer but made by a Japanese producer. The flavor was clean and fruity. 

Wagyu and Sashimi Set $42

I ordered the wagyu and sashimi set.

The salad was quite nice. It was chopped up surf clam with a green salad. The surf clam had a crunchy texture and was covered with mayo that went well with the sweetness of the clam. The salad had a soy type dressing.

Wagyu beef was covered with a teriyaki type sauce and had some melt in the mouth fat running through it. I must say I like my wagyu cooked in a simpler style without sauce. This is because I can taste the flavor of the fatty beef and enjoy it. This was a fairly generous wagyu helping as you can see in the picture. The sashimi was fresh. There was some variety with yellow tail, tuna, salmon and sweet prawn. 

Unagi

Tempura

My husband got the unagi and tempura set $38. The unagi was nicely glazed with a teriyaki type sauce. I think the tempura is the star of this dish. The tempura batter was light and crispy. You can see from the pictures how crispy they are. I could hear the crunch as I bit into the tempura. This goes well with beer.

The food here is quite good. I think the drawback of the place is the service. While the staff are friendly and polite and ready to meet any need, they may need some training in terms of food knowledge. 

I asked them if the salad had octopus and they said they had to check with the chef. They came back to tell me it was some sort of shellfish but could not tell me the type of shellfish. Similar, when I asked about the salad dressing, they did not know what was in it.

Fine dining establishments in Singapore often fall short as they don't train their staff sufficiently about the food that comes out of the kitchen. Hence, most wait staff are unable to answer the customer who is interested in finding out more. This generally sets apart ordinary service from extraordinary service- the passion to serve. 

I enjoyed lunch here but I'm not so sure about coming back for dinner. The dinner prices are a lot steeper.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/hanayoshi.sg?sk=wall
Location: 21 Duxton Road
Opening Hours: Mon- Sat 12pm- 230pm; 6:30pm- 10pm
Contact Number:
Prices: $15+ to $42+ for set lunch