Despite being frequent visitors of the Dempsey enclave, we had never been to Rakuichi – until last week. Tucked away (too) discreetly across the road from La Forketta, Rakuichi is a gem worth seeking out if you’re in the area and craving some fantastic Japanese food.
Sitting up at the counter, we had front row view of the gorgeous fresh seafood on offer including scallops, red ark shell clams, mackerel and some seriously eye-catching kinki.
After our customary ootoshi dish, we began our meal proper with a sublime serving of fresh oyster dressed in ponzu sauce and topped with a colourful medley of chives, radish and seaweed. Aesthetically pleasing, the combination of the tart, citrus sauce was a match made in heaven with the briny shellfish – in one fell swoop. It was the quickest $12 dish one could possibly consume – a tad expensive to be having this on a regular basis though!
Our platter of sashimi arrived next on a bed of crushed ice. Visually stunning, the dish comprised an assortment of salmon, tuna, mackerel and swordfish. The pieces of sashimi were sliced to just the right thickness, neither too thin nor too chunky – each precious sliver was melt-in-your mouth good and extremely fresh to boot.
Wagyu on skewers was next – well marbled chunks of beef grilled to perfection and accompanied with peppers and onions to add a touch of sharpness and slice through the lipids. Paired with the mustard on the side, it was delicious.
We spied on the menu a hotplate of oysters and tofu and ordered this without hesitation – seemed like a winning formula. It was another very good dish. Five plump oysters, tofu, cabbage swimming in a hotplate of mouthwatering miso gravy.
Like all good Asians, we had to end the meal with carbohydrates – homemade spinach soba was our choice (what can we say, we love the colour green!) It was really good. Firm but springy, and delicate without being too fragile. Our only gripe was that the accompanying dipping sauce was a tad too bland (almost tasted like water!). Well, thankfully there was a tad of the miso gravy from our previous dish left to solve that problem…
Rakuichi Dempsey 10 Dempsey Road #01-22 | 6474 2143
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