It's the third of the month again and tonight we're heading to Maedaya for dinner! Finally! I've been wanting to visit Maedaya - voted the #1 Japanese restaurant on Urbanspoon. It's famous for its yakitori and huge selections of sake. I'm going there for its yakitori!
I called Maedaya around 630 to ask if there are seats available to ensure that we'll be able to dine there. The friendly staff said there were lots of seats available! Yippie! We got there around 7 and were seated immediately. The diners were all angmohs and I didn't see a single Japanese. Not a good sign. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed. The complimentary fried renkon were delicious. They were thinly sliced and sprinkled with salt. They went so well with the dipping sauce. I was so tempted to order another serving of it. Mr Tan commented that we can start buying renkon from Asian Grocery and frying them at home.
I'm on a diet so I tried to cut down on the food order but it's kinda tough because there are so many choices on the menu. Finally we chose Maedaya's popular Sumiyaki Set (5 skewers of yakitori - chicken thigh, chicken meat balls, pork belly, bacon and cheese and chicken breast I think), gyoza, vegetable and cheese korokke, tuna sashimi, soft shell crab and scallops hotplate.
Perhaps I went there with too high expectations, I was disappointed with the quality of the food. The yakitori that they were famous for were at best average. I thought the meat was not marinated long enough and they weren't basted sufficiently. I also prefer my yakitori to be slightly "chao tar" (charred) for a smokey flavour. I actually prefer the yakitori that I had at Menya.
The soft shell crab was alright, nothing special about it. Not something I would order again. The tuna sashimi came with sesame oil, soy sauce and mayonnaise. Hot sauce was poured over the tuna sashimi before mayonnaise was drizzled over it. All we could taste was the sauce, not the tuna. Mr Tan obviously didn't like it. He prefer to eat it fresh!
The scallops hotplate was rather disappointing as well. The scallops were coated with black pepper and garlic sauce. The sauce was overwhelming and the whole dish was too oily. The scallops were overcooked and lacked the chew. The ones at Shou Sumiyaki, though a tad more expensive, were definitely tastier. The vegetable and cheese korokke were very filling. The cheese were melted on top of each korokke but despite the cheese, the crust was still crispy but once again, very oily. This meal is such a huge blow to my diet plan. We were really full by the time the gyoza arrived. The first thing Mr Tan said when he saw them was, "So oily again. My lips are full of oil already." I quite like it though, the skin was thin and it went pretty well with the sauce that was drizzled over it.
Yes, other than the yakitori, everything else was full of oil. A serious case of oil overdose! For the price we are paying, I was expecting better quality food. The service was good though but we won't be returning for sure.
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