ことぶき居酒屋 Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant @Holland Village

This seemed to be a relatively new restaurant, and the January promotion of a Deluxe Don Special caught our attention.

We entered the restaurant around 6.45pm, and the waitress very enthusiastically informed us that all food orders (excluding drinks), were entitled to 20% discount, if we ordered before 7pm. Hence, we just quickly browse through the first page of specials and placed our orders, plus an additional sashimi platter. After our orders had gone through, another waitress came to inform us that specials on the first page were not entitled to discounts… Well done! Truth to be told, now that we had a chance to slowly browse through the menu, there was indeed very fine print on that specials page indicating that there was no discount available. We guessed that the waitresses just needed more training.

Soon, our food arrived!

• 牡蛎ポン酢 Kaki Ponzu ($8/ pc): The oysters were very fresh and plump, and the Japanese vinegar complemented them well. A pity the oysters were not removed from the shell completely, leaving us to struggle with our chopsticks and hands.
• 鮭かぶと煮 Sake Kabuto Ni ($15): This huge salmon fish head was slightly under-cooked with soy sauce, and the meat was very tender.
• 鯵塩焼 Aji Shioyaki ($20 for whole fish): This was a rather skinny horse mackerel, and was unremarkable. The meat had a soft and mushy texture, while the skin could have been grilled longer. We definitely preferred the salmon head.
• 鳥 南蛮 Tori Nanban ($12): We thought it was a mistake to drizzle so much Nanban sauce on top of the grilled chicken, as the skin became very soggy.
• ヂラックス丼スペシヤル Deluxe Don Special ($30, usual price $40): Premium rice bowl topped with ebi, scallop, sea urchin, salmon, tuna, salmon roe and tamago, this was the highlight of the meal, and definitely the most value-for-money. The ingredients were fresh and much more superior than the sashimi platter.
• 刺身盛り 上 Jyo Sashimi ($40): Supposed to be a special selection of 5 kinds of sashimi, this was a disappointment. The tuna was sliced so poorly that it was disintegrating.

Overall, abit of hits and misses, and strange service, whereby we were ignored for the larger part of the meal, and when we were almost done, the waitresses suddenly decided that we needed new plates. In fact, we were offered another change of plates after we were done eating.