Birthday edition lunch: Shima

Lynn have gone to Shima several times with her family before. She's been wanting to bring me for ages, but their dinner ala carte menu is pretty pricey. She found out that they have a buffet lunch, and we've been talking about going, but never got around to it. Finally, I decided to take half day leave on her birthday to try it out.

Shima is essentially a teppanyaki restaurant. The lunch buffet runs from 12 noon to 2.30pm, and last order is at 2pm. Upon seating, without the need to order, they automatically serve you the entire lunch menu one time. From there, you can decide which ones you like best and reorder from there. I made reservations at 1pm, thinking that will give us ample time to eat. Alas, it was pouring that day, and the birthday girl couldn't get a cab. Although I reached earlier, it appeared that they were not going to start my teppanyaki until she arrives. But they did serve me the sushi and sashimi first. The sashimi was forgettable, but the kani maki was actually pretty good. The vinegar rice had just the right tinge of sourness, and the rice was fragrant.

The tempura arrived soon after the birthday girl did, which was a very late 1.40pm. That left us 20 minutes to try everything before last order! Only after she arrived did the chef bring out the food and start cooking. I don't know if it was intentional so that all parties get to eat food hot from the grill, or was it coincidence that the events occurred at the pace it did. The tempura prawn was nice, crispy and juicy. The shishamo was a tad oily, so I didn't enjoy it that much and we both knew it won't go into our second order.

The happiness started once our teppanyaki started being served. First up, prawns. It was soooo yummy! Cooked to perfection, it was crunchy from its freshness, no hint of the fake crunch from bicarbonate of soda treatment. It was juicy, and the sauces and flavoring perfect. I was in prawn heaven.

Next came the salmon. Cooked just right, it was soft and flaky and moist. The sauce it was sitting in completely complemented the fish.

Next came the oysters, which we were highly anticipating. Partly because we read in some blog that it was very good, and partly because we had been eyeing the plump juicy oysters on the grill. Oooooooh myyyyyyyy goooooooodnnesssss, it was A-MA-ZING. We were blown away by how the exterior was grilled to a crusty perfection, but the inside was still plump and juicy. No hint of fishiness, just the sublime briney flavor of the sea. This needed no sauce. It was perfect the way it was. I was almost tempted to ask them to fry eggs with the oysters ala oyster omelette style. But that idea came during our second round of food, so it was scraped pretty quickly, as I will explain later.

The vegetables was a nice precursor and balance to the meats that were to follow. They were done such that they were still crisp, but 'burnt' enough such that the sweetness of the vegetables came through. One of the sauces provided was for the vegetables, but I had absolutely no idea how to dip a bunch of loose veggies in the sesame sauce. Lynn used the sauce for her meats, anyway.

The garlic rice was a disappointment. Lynn say the standard dropped from her previous visit. I pointed out that since it's lunch buffet and by default everyone will be served one round inclusive of the garlic rice, maybe it's a mass production thing. It had that 'rice cooker fried rice' feel, ie, fried in a huge batch, and stored in a rice cooker and scooped as and when a new patron arrive.

Then came the meat. Our beef we asked for medium. I loved it. Like love love love it. Juicy cubes of beef, just the right amount of seasoning, perfect chew. I'm drooling now thinking about it. The chicken came soon after. Tender morsels of well-flavored chicken, with just the right amount of char. 

By the time all these were served, it was 2pm. So despite the fact that we hadn't finished our first round of food, we went ahead and ordered a second round of all the teppanyaki items. And we completely enjoyed the second round of seafood too. Unfortunately, by the time the meat and veggies were served, we were quite full. We did well though, and finished more than half of the veggies, the chicken and the beef, before we had to call it quits. We didn't even have space for ice cream, and needless to say, we were the last to leave the restaurant. So I learnt, when I come back, I WILL come earlier to more fully enjoy the food instead of eating in a rush. And I WILL be back. Definitely. Buffet priced at $49.90++ for weekday and $59.90++ for weekend.