Ganko Sushi

I seldom hang around the Plaza Singapura area, so when Park Mall ended its business and changed to UBS Mall, 9 Penang Road Building, I have never set foot in the mall.

It was only due to a birthday celebration that I made my way to the building to Ganko Sushi. Founded in 1963 in Osaka, Japan, Ganko Sushi has developed into a major chain restaurant with over 100 outlets in Japan. The first overseas outlet was in Hong Kong in 2019, and their 2nd in Singapore in 2021

The outlet at UBS Mall is quite spacious and can accommodate many diners at one time with both counter seating and group table seating. With Omakase sets from SGD 198 for 2 persons, Ganko Sushi is very popular amongst Japanese food lovers

Using century-old ingredients makes them unique. Ganko uses Chidori Vinegar (made from a 200-year-old recipe) for their sushi rice and Marunaka Shoyu, a handcrafted, naturally brewed soy sauce that is recognised as Japan’s National Tangible Cultural Property

We went for the 10-course Omakase, which starts off with 2 starters and a plate of 3 kinds of seasonal sashimi. The 2 starters had the Japanese flying squid served on Shiso leaf and mayonnaise, and fish sperm served cold with grated radish and spring onions. Both starters were light and refreshing, and the squid was very sweet, while the sperm did not have any particular taste; it was creamy in texture. The sashimi was also very fresh and sweet and cut in optimal slices, which were not too thick or thin

Next, we had the chawanmushi, a tempura-fried platter and 7 kinds of sushi plate. The chawanmushi had crab meat and salmon roe, and some flower petals which made the dish look extremely exquisite. The taste was soft and smooth with the umami flavours of the crab meat and ikura. The tempura was perfectly fried with no additional oil to leave your mouth greasy, and the ingredients remained fresh and crunchy. The sushi had the perfect ratio of fish to rice so we could appreciate the fish flavour, which paired with the vinegared rice well. The slices were also generous and covered the rice sufficiently

The next batch of items was the grilled scallops, followed by a clam and shrimp soup, and grilled fish with Japanese melon and strawberry as the ending dessert course. The grilled items took a very long time to be served, and we waited almost 10 minutes from the sushi course, so we kind of lost the momentum for the course meal. That affected the meal a bit, as we were getting full from drinking tea, so the grilled dishes just kind of went past us. While the overall taste was ok, it did not leave much of an impression

Overall, the food was nice, but the waiting time was too long in between courses, and they explained that it was because they were celebrating Father’s Day or something and too many groups were having their meals at the same time. I don’t really think that was a good reason since the restaurant was open to be planned at full capacity, and when we visited, it wasn’t 100% at full capacity

Address: 9 Penang Rd, #01-01, Singapore 238459

Opening hours: 11 am to 2.30 pm and 6 pm to 9.30 pm