Shima

Do you remember food or places that hark back eons ago? They always say "the good old times" never the good new times. So why do we get carried away and keep making things new? Is it the reason why we call it the human race? We just needed to race? The good old times must have been just a myth. No one ever thought it good at the time. Actually, every age has its own crises of the time. Some were quite intolerable to the people at the time and who lived through it all. Could it be that in the end you always go back to the people that were there in the beginning? Is there anyway that could let people know that they are in the ''good old times'' before they have left them? Time will always fly and things will always change but memories my friend, they stay with you forever till the end of days.

This week I went back in time to find an old favourite restaurant that I have frequented but it has become new. It was my most frequented restaurant at one time not just because I like it but for many too and the location at Goodwood Park made it a cinch. 

Shima Restuarant is one of the oldest and most authentic Japanese restaurants in Singapore when it was set up in 1980. In fact, it was the first Teppanyaki restaurant here and can be considered the first fine-dining Teppanyaki restaurant. Sashimi, sushi, shabu shabu and sukiyaki are on offer too but their stand out favourite has to be the Teppanyaki. I remember vividly the corner where Shima stood, walked up a flight of stairs and get seated and the Teppan chef will come and whip up a storm of chicken, beef, prawns and a poached salmon in special sauce in a foil. Before this, you got appetisers such as salmon sashimi, California Handroll, Tempura and Miso soup. Finally a bowl of delicious garlic rice too. All of these are on free flow basis meaning it was a Teppanyaki buffet of sorts. Good quality and great tasting. Once you are done, you would have been ushered over to another lounge area where you got served coffee or tea with a refreshing lime sorbet. Those days, the lounge has a smoking area and all these for just a princely sum of maybe $30 plus (I cannot recall the exact prices back then) and just before you leave, you can get into a steam room much like a photo booth, press a button and steam will come down on you to give you a burst of full steam shower so that you would smell fresh again and not like some leftover teppanyaki.

Shima was founded by a Japanese Singapore resident Katsuhiro Watanabe. It was the de facto best Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant here that offered you quality but value for money bang for your buck food. The landscape has changed and somehow I like many have not visited as often and suddenly Shima has fallen under the radar for many. Some years back, they were bought over by a local food company and went through a face lift. This is how it looks like as the same corner now.

They are just at the ground level now.

Shima has retained the age old griddle that were specially made so as to have consistent and the right heat for Teppanyaki. Such griddles are very much like the Chinese woks - the older the better as they give you even cooking and brings our the flavour of each dish. 

Salmon sashimi as the appetiser is very fresh but there were no handroll. If my memory serves me right, they used to serve Agedashi Tofu too. 

But the sushi rice was perfect with the right tinge of vinegar. Not every sushi you devour has this texture and quality, seriously. Very good.

Shima's signature is Teppanyaki.

Chicken is easy to eat. Mine felt a little dry in a few of the morsels.

I was not as impressed with their Tempura this time. 

Nor the garlic fried rice. I mean both are still good but I remembered they used to be better. The garlic fried rice used to be very well done and was a favourite. We know better than to eat rice at a buffet but yet I would have one anyway because it was so good and piping hot. This was not piping hot perhaps. 

Their other traditional dish is the poached salmon in a special sauce. It is still here today.

The oysters seemed to be very popular here. Everyone seemed to have repeated another order or so. Not me. My preference for oyster is for them to be fresh and raw and I would squeeze a little lime and tabasco sauce. Even then, I am no glutton to gobble up anything more that half a dozen. 

Love the prawns as they are crunchy and sweet. The cooked oysters are on the right.

The vegetables may have been changed. I thought it used to have more bean sprouts.

This is what you should not miss. It looks like Angus beef but they are not and are Australian beef fillet. They are fresh and cooked to your preference.

Chef at work

Be warned of the fireworks but the chef will inform you before hand.

You don't want to go home without your eyebrows.

Fire is a good servant but bad master. Just like most things.

If you are a meat eater, you would be overjoyed!

I learnt that a few of the chefs started work here more than 30 years ago. Such loyalty. Manager Roland was friendly, knowledgeable and attentive and able to create a banter and feedback. Service is good here.

We signed off with   an ice cream. No more coffee or tea nor the sorbet. Shima has inevitably changed. We have to thank Watanabe-san for his creation. This was where I have met many of my customers, colleagues and friends in a certain era. Thanks for the memories. Would I be back? Certainly! I love Japanese food, I love Teppanyaki, the food here is of quality but the parking is expensive.