A friend of mine told me about this Japanese restaurant he had newly discovered, said it had a sort of ongoing daily buffet kind of thing, with a fairly extensive menu, asked me if I wanted go try.
As it so happened I had been (quietly) missing one of my favorite Japanese buffets in the Shenton Way area, and since this place looked enticing, I was glad to try.
There really is a difference between an authentic Japanese restaurant, and a restaurant serving Japanese food to patrons whom they think don't know what quality cuisine, and service is.
Pity for those restaurants, because there are some really good ones out there, and Irodori (like the one at Shenton Way) is one of them.
One of the first things we ordered this evening was the Sashimi Moriawase.
If you don't know what it is, well, it's really a plate of mix sashimi that's got Salmon, Tuna, Yellowtail, Swordfish, and Octopus, and can I say that I quite liked the yellowtail and the tuna but the swordfish and octopus not so much?
There'll be those amongst us who will take to octopus with gusto- a friend of mine used to just chomp off the heads- but oy, for someone who doesn't even take calamari or grilled octopus on a regular basis, it takes time to get used to the raw version, which for some reason is significantly different from the Salmon, my go-to, and my favorite.
We tried a lot of different foods after that, but somehow we still came back to the Salmon, and afterwards, the Tuna.
That's not to say that the other foods were no good.
Of course not.
It would have been lovely had we had enough space for the Irodori Maki, the Futo Maki or the Shake Maki which is really a Salmon Mayo Roll.
But we decided to go for the ToriKaarage, the Ebi Tempura, the Renkon Tempura, the Age Gyoza, the Nasu Tempura, and the Tamanegi Tempura.
Out of this all can I say that I had my favorites?
That even though I appreciated the well fried prawn and the well fried gyozas with mayonnaise, it was the Renkon Tempura, the Nasu Tempura and the Tamanegi Tempura that I liked best.
It isn't because I prefer vegetable tempura over everything and anything but it's just that the Renkon lotus roots were remarkably crispy, the Tamanegi big onion had that wee bit of onion juice mixed with the crisp of tempura batter, and I have a special love for Nasu, which is eggplant.
What I liked best was just how crisp and tasty the batter was.
And even though I got somewhat carried away by the big onion- so much so that I ordered portions 2 and 3- it was delightful to just nibble on the Renkon, and the Nasu, feeling the crisp and the crunch of the batter over the soft, mushy veggie.
Then I had thought we were done.
But then the wait staff brought over a plate of Half Lobsters with Mentaiko Sauce on the house which by no means looked like an afterthought but was huge, fresh, and which had a most generous slather of sauce on top.
I take a fancy to lobster.
I also take a fancy to Mentaiko sauce.
So there it was- one for me and one for my friend.
Too bad there was only one half for each person.
I could have had two.
Right after the lobster came the Yaki Mono and the Teppanyaki.
I can't remember what it is of the Teppanyaki we got- it might have been the Teriyaki Salmon or, maybe the scallops- but there was, definitely, from the Yaki Mono menu- the Cocktail Bacon Maki.
I liked the bacon.
The sausage, well, not so much.
Perhaps I'm not so good with salty, processed food these days.
By this time we were beginning to feel sort of full (sashimi really does fill you up) and I was starting to worry if there'd be leftovers- not so nice lar- but then I didn't want to just let it be without attempting, so I decided a bowl of ramen in soup might help me nibble up the food quicker.
I ordered, the ramen came, I savored it slowly with the soup, and, it worked!
I'm going to be back here at Irodori for their buffet next time.
I'm sure of it.
This time however I'll probably cut back on the Tamanegi Tempura (six onions are a tad too much) but I'll try their Temaki hand rolls, especially the soft shell crab one, and I'll want to have the Yaki Udon.
Hey, I like noodles.
And I try to have them on the days I can, whenever I can.