Cuppage area is known to be home to many Japanese restaurants and bars and the large number of native Japanese visiting the area gives it a little Japan nickname. To satisfy the high expectations of these Japanese, most of the Japanese food outlets are opened by Japanese and serving very food which is traditionally Japan in quality and palate. I was in town one weekend and was looking for a place opened late for dinner and made my way to Tomi Sushi at Cuppage Terrace.
The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seats with the majority being outdoor since the indoor seats are limited.
The interior was extremely small which is typical of a Japanese restaurant in Japan. There is a small sushi counter with 6 counter seats and another 3 tables for 12 customers only. The entire look of the restaurant was very authentic of most Japan izakaya restaurants.
The menu was very down to earth with no extensive pictures but mostly hand written items which are added on for the different seasons. The price is on the higher side compared to our usual Sushi Tei or Sakae Sushi but most of their fish are imported from Japan freshly. The sashimi was around SGD 50 for 5 types with only 2 slices per types. Each fish was very juicy and sweet and the freshness of the fish makes it melt in your mouth.
Here are some of the handmade gunkan sushi I would recommend ordering. The Cho toro sushi which is the tuna belly sushi which is extremely fatty and juicy and melts in your mouth like butter although my personal best was still from Tsukiji market. The scallops were sweet and succulent while the biggest surprise actually comes from the tamago sushi which I usually do not order. The egg was smooth and sweet and savoury at the same time and it was so perfectly rolled and pan fried, this I would say is the best Tamago I ever had before.
Some of the side dishes like this fried octopus tentacles was also very well fried with a crispy battered coating each piece of tentacles. They were fried just nicely so that the squid was still juicy and not rubbery.
The nabe udon had a very good broth but generally nothing too spectacular.
They were very generous with the serving of the bara chirashi don with small bite size raw fishes, tamago, ebiko roe and ikura roe. The toppings were much more than the rice itself so this was quite worth it.
Overall, sitting in Tomi sushi made me feel like I was dining in Tokyo since every customer around me was Japanese and the servers are Japanese as well. The food as per Japanese standards are high and so is the price tag. If you feel like a splurge, this is a place worth visiting but do be adventurous and try some of their speciality sushi or sashimi as I found that part of the menu the most memorable.
Address: 35 Cuppage Road 229460
Operating hours: 5 pm to 2 am
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