Imasa - Penninsula Hotel

After reportedly trying for 2 seasons to go for the very popular Imasa Japanese buffet, my Aunt managed to secure a table to celebrate both my birthday as well as her own.

We arrived about 15 minutes after the opening of the buffet and, after having fasted most of the day, my parents, brother and I were ravenous. My Aunt, the original buffetbuff, infamous for eating huge amounts of food while still maintaining her svelte figure, is also famous for loudly berating one in public for not eating enough....especially when its a buffet.....and especially if she's the one paying.....and if it is particularly expensive, which this was. So, all of us, having been cowed into starving half to death was half salivating at the thought of food by the time we walked in. There were about 3/4 tables already occupied and I don't believe that the whole venue could fit more than about 30 tables.

I took a quick look around the buffet for an assessment. The first thing that caught my eye was the luscious, spectacularly impressive and hideously coloured uni. One of my absolute favorites, the rich, sea urchin was fresh, bright and usually prohibitively expensive. And it was there, all laid out in a platter, approximately six little pieces to each of the tiny wood boards which covered the ice filled platter. It was glorious to behold. Next to this was toro, also prohibitively expensive, white, fatty and lots of it!!! The toro melted in the mouth and was so tender and fresh, it was a delight to bite into. The uni I had with everything, pickled ginger, stuffed into my California handroll and even in my congee.

I nearly blanked out the rest but have no fear, loyal readers, I persisted in examining the remaining fare. There were some chewy abalone, decent sized, braised in Sake, lovely miso soup, crab congee, lovely amaebi (fresh sweet shrimp), regular tuna, salmon, hamachi, as well as a small salad bar, hot items such as miso cod (yummm), steamed egg custard with seafood, chicken patties and other Japanese hot foods. On the "to order" menu was bowls of slippery Japanese noodles, hand rolls (including a refreshing California handroll, a fried shark's fin hand roll, and others), fried pork katsu with plum sauce and green tea, black sesame and mandarin orange ice cream. The dessert section had mainly fruit and a small selection of sweets such as green tea cake and crystal mochi.

What can I say? It was small but absolutely delicious. I loved it all but went home feeling rather like a pregnant whale.

Definitely worth a go but only if you love uni and toro enough to offset the cost!