This week's subject of Eating In, Sushi Cyu Ryo, has against all odds made it to my 2020 top table list.
Prior to my first dinner there in December, the eight-seater seemed to be another new food joint to jump on the trendy omakase bandwagon.
Indeed, I was wrong.
Its head chef Yamakawa Chikara has proved through his food that, despite the restaurant's shopping mall location, what's on offer from his kitchen is a real culinary sophistication.
Dishes were crafted to honour the genuine taste of premium-quality produce rather than showcase some puffed-up cooking twist. And the meal was all about the guest's palate pleasure and never boastful stories of a chef.
Sushi Cyu Ryo's head chef Yamakawa Chikara.
Recently, to cater to Japanese food aficionados on lockdown, Yamakawa designed a home delivery menu.
The menu, centring on best spring season ingredients from Japan and France, features four options of meal boxes: the omakase nigiri set (2,400 baht); the bara chirashi rice box (2,000 baht); the Red and White sushi roll box (1,450 baht); and the Kaisen roll box (900 baht).
The omakase set represents the chef's choice of best-of-the-day seafood through hand-shaped sushi, sushi rolls and sashimi as well as warm dishes in tasting portion.
What was delivered to me included five large pieces of nigiri sushi with toppings such as otoro (fatty tuna belly), akami zuke (marinated red meat tuna), sea robin, red snapper and sakura-smoked hamachi (yellowtail).
The super flavourful, melt-in-the-mouth otoro starred again in the maki roll, which came in three pieces. While four thick and supple slices of hamachi from Shimane Prefecture, garnished with sugar-cured tomatoes, spoke for the sashimi.
The Red and White rolls feature fresh toppings of hotate scallop, lean akami and fatty pink otoro accompanied by uni and ikura.
There were also generous helpings of creamy prime-grade uni (sea urchin roe) from Hokkaido, pop-in-the-mouth ikura (salmon roe) and juicy fillets of slow-cooked anago (sea eel).
Also of the set, pliable and naturally sweet Hokkaido scallops came with gummy kouika cuttlefish. French oysters were poached in rice wine and served with pan-seared fish fillet. A soft and cushiony tamago Castella cake provided a sweet finish. Giving a palate-cleansing complement to the seafood were housemade pickled ginger and myoga (Japanese ginger flower).
The omakase set represents the chef's choice of best-of-the-day seafood through hand-shaped sushi, sushi rolls and sashimi as well as warm dishes in tasting portion.
Equally sumptuous but not as diverse or fanciful a choice was the Red and White maki rolls. Seven sizable sushi featured fresh toppings of hotate scallop (representative of the "white"), lean akami (the "red") and the fatty pink otoro. Included in the box were generous portions of uni and ikura.
Yamakawa's rendering of bara chirashi featured a large box of sushi rice topped with diced sashimi seafood. You can expect to find blanketing the perfectly cooked and vinegared Japanese rice a generous helping of otoro, akami, sea bream, scallops, sea eel, kouika cuttlefish, uni and ikura.
The kaisen rollls were prepared with akami, kouika cuttlefish, anago, hotate scallop and nori seaweed with oba (green perilla leaf) to lend an aromatic herbal touch to the sushi roll.
Sushi Cyu Ryo is located at EmQuartier Helix Sky Dining 7th Floor. Delivery and takeaway service are available daily 11am-2pm and 4-8.30pm. For more information or to place your order, call 065-716-0450 or Line: @sushicyuryo.
