Affordable Chirashi Don & Sashimi From $10.80 At Tiny Sushi Joint In Condo Complex

How Shogun Sushi began

Shogun Sushi is fronted by three partners: Jason Tan (far right), 53, and Standley Cheow (centre), 33, both hotel industry veterans who oversaw F&B and banquet operations. Amid a sizable drop in business during the pandemic, both quit their jobs to start a biz with Carevin Tan (far left), 54, an ex-hotel sous chef of two decades.

He’d previously hung up his apron in 2006 to open his own sushi and bento catering business (which still exists today) – and it was his relationship with seafood suppliers that led the trio to open Shogun Sushi. The business partners also figured a sushi and sashimi-focused joint would work well for their unit at Sims Urban Oasis, which was recommended to them by a friend. “There are no other stalls selling Japanese food nearby,” explains Jason. “And there are a lot of expats living in the condo. Now that bigger groups can gather, we’re hoping they’d be able to order sashimi platters for their parties from us.”

Hired a chef to handle day-to-day operations

They’ve hired Malaysian-born chef Cheong Choon Mang to handle daily kitchen operations. He’s spent around 15 years cutting his teeth at the likes of Megumi Japanese Restaurant and most recently, Fukuya Japanese Restaurant at Keppel Club as a chef de cuisine.

While we witness several customers ordering sushi during our visit, Jason shares that business has taken a hit with the recent relaxation in dining rules. “The crowd has fallen quite drastically, even on weekends. Probably because they’re all going out to eat with their friends [instead of tapowing],” he shares. 

The partners are also plagued by rising food costs, especially for their seafood which arrives fresh every other day from Tokyo’s Toyosu Market (previously known as Tsukiji Market before it moved). “The price for seafood keeps going up. We’re not sure if we can sustain our prices, but we’re trying to stick with it for now as we’re still very new,” Jason adds.  

The look

The first thing that grabs our attention is a massive logo of a samurai helmet-wearing smiley emoticon, looking like it was plucked straight out of The Emoji Movie. The rest of the smallish joint is clean, woodsy and quite charming – too bad dining in isn’t an option.

The menu

Here’s what you can expect to pay: $6.80 and up for a bento set, and between $5.80 and $13.80 for a box of nigiri sushi. They also sell mentai-topped salmon maki rolls ($7.80). The priciest set on offer is a box of sashimi with ten slices of hamachi (Japanese amberjack) belly for $16.80. Overall, fairly affordable compared to your usual sushi-ya, with the trade-off of having to eat out of a box.

There is currently no fixed menu for larger sushi platters – enquire with Shogun Sushi directly for details.

The booze

Shogun Sushi also stocks alcoholic beverages: both Japanese beers ($6 per can) and sake (from $26 for a 300ml bottle).

Aburi Salmon Uramaki, $11.80 for eight pcs (8 DAYS Pick!)

Shogun Sushi uses short-grain okome rice, a cultivar grown in the United States, flavoured with sushi rice vinegar. The grains are just sticky enough to bundle neat uramaki (non-traditional sushi concealing the nori on the inside of the roll) hugging batonnets of cucumber, avocado, tamagoyaki and crab stick. The rolls are then topped with salmon slices and Kewpie mayo before getting the aburi treatment and a final dusting of furikake (dry Japanese seasoning) and briny ebiko (shrimp roe).

Savoury and smoky – you can’t really go wrong with torched salmon and mayo – with a generous enough ratio of mildly sweet sushi rice to ingredients. There are also some contrasting textures from the crunchy cucumber and smooth, rich avocado. 

Note that our roll was made fresh for our photo shoot, so your mileage may vary depending on when you visit.

Salmon Mentai Uramaki, $11.80 for eight pcs

Shogun Sushi’s other popular roll trades up the mayo and furikake combo for a thick layer of mentaiko sauce (spicy pollock roe with mayo, also torched to finish). Pretty yummy too – we especially like the mentaiko’s spicier-than-usual kick, which keeps the roll from getting too jelak.

Teriyaki Chicken Bento Set, $6.80

Every bento set order comes with furikake-topped rice, a chunk of tamagoyaki (rolled omelette), chuka wakame (seasoned sesame seaweed) and a protein. The chicken thigh, coated in a homemade teriyaki sauce, is pretty similar to what you’d get at most food court Japanese stalls – that is, not particularly noteworthy. The skin is limp, though thankfully, the chook isn’t too dry even though it’s been sitting on the shelf for some time. The portion is fair for the price though.

Sushi sets and bentos are prepared fresh around 11am and 4pm, if you’re looking to get your grub fresh out of the kitchen.

Beef Yakiniku Bento Set, $8.80

A bit of a misnomer since the thin strips of reasonably fatty beef short plate are simmered with onions in shoyu and mirin, rather than grilled as the name implies. Not our favourite – the sprinkling of sesame seeds doesn’t help much amid pallid beef that’s only slightly savoury, alongside undercooked onions.

Chirashi Don, $10.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)

We’d rather fork out a little more for the chirashi don here. Cubed salmon, lean tuna, hamachi and octopus intermingle with bits of cucumber and pickled daikon radish on a bed of vinegared rice. An umami dollop of mentaiko mayo mixed with salmon scraps lies in the middle, beneath a heap of ebiko – shiok. 

Mixed Sashimi, $15.80

There are some perks to having an ex-restaurant chef in your takeaway joint – like sashimi sliced a la minute if you happen to visit during off-peak periods, since they usually don’t prepare trays of sashimi in advance to maintain freshness.

We get lusciously thick slices of salmon, tuna and hamachi, which turn out unerringly fresh even if they’re not as pristinely sliced compared to restaurant fare. Carevin sheepishly admits that a standard order of sashimi (starting from $13.80 for salmon or tuna) comes with eight slices, not like what’s pictured here – though he’s adamant that they slice the fish just as generously for every customer.

Bottom line

Shogun Sushi offers pretty decent and affordable takeout sushi, with some hits and misses (skip the bento boxes). We wouldn’t say the food is worth making a special trip down for, but no harm popping by to load up on no-frills hearty and tasty fusion sushi rolls, chirashi don and sashimi if you’re in the area.

The details

Shogun Sushi is at 4 Sims Dr, S387387. Open daily 11am – 8pm. Tel: 9788-2522. More info via Facebook. 

Photos: Aik Chen

All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg