New Robertson Quay Omakase Restaurant Offers $35 Negitoro Ikura Uni Don

We have encountered stern-faced sushi chefs who stare intimidatingly at us as we chew on their sushi. But we have never met one like Ron Newton Leo, the head sushi chef of newly-opened omakase restaurant Ginza Shinto. At a recent media tasting there, we watch as his hands deftly shape a piece of sushi, which he passes to the journo beside us. “Don’t drop ah! I’m not going to make another piece for you,” he jokes.

A while later, another diner asks about the provenance of the uni. “From Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 market,” deadpans chef Ron, who has over 30 years of sushi-making experience — including stints at Goodwood Park Hotel’s Tatsuya and Nogawa Japanese Restaurant at Concorde Hotel. Dining at his counter is a different experience from being at, say, sushi temple Shinji by Kanesaka, which are helmed by Japanese-speaking sushi masters.

At Ginza Shinto, chef Ron and his chefs whisper to one another in Hokkien. He banters affably with us as he whips up our meal (secure yourself a good seat at his counter if you want to learn more about sushi from him). His humour is so dry, his diner looks almost convinced when he says his uni is from Ang Mo Kio (“it’s bafun uni from Toyosu Fish Market,” he later clarifies). Bafun uni, which comes into season in October and is harvested from the deep waters around Hokkaido, is usually served at higher-end sushi restaurants. Compared to the most commonly-found murasaki uni, bafun uni has a darker, burnt orange hue and more intense flavour.

For its opening promotion, you can also get the aforementioned bafun uni in a Negitoro Ikura Uni Don ($35, dine-in only), which usually costs $55. It’s a decent full-sized short grain rice bowl topped with the uni, caviar, fatty minced tuna and salmon roe. For $35, the don also comes with house-made chawanmushi and miso soup. But the promotion is only till tomorrow (Oct 23), so make haste if you want to try it.

At our omakase lunch, chef Ron presents a piece of negitoro nigiri sushi to us with a flourish. And it’s named... ‘Forget Me Not’. Kinda cheesy, but the man is wholly unpretentious and likable. Instead of the clean, delicate flavours favoured by his counterparts, he unabashedly goes heavy on the seasoning. We’re served Miyazaki A5 wagyu beef that’s meant to be dipped in a beef sauce with raw quail egg yolk, amaebi (sweet Japanese shrimp) sushi flame-seared and draped with foie gras and grated yuzu zest, plus a starter of cherry tomatoes with a truffle oil dressing.

The restaurant also has a permanent $65 Mini Kaiseki Set, which comes with seven courses including sashimi, sushi, yakimono (a grilled dish) and mushimono (a steamed dish). There’s also a $30 Saba Tempura Gozen Lunch, which has a main rice dish with mackerel and tempura, and chawanmushi, miso soup and a dessert.

According to chef Ron, he gets seafood shipments from Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Osaka on other days of the week, so plan your schedule accordingly if you want seafood from Toyosu (formerly known as the famed Tsukiji Fish Market before it shifted locations due to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games).

For under $100 a head, Ginza Shinto offers a spacious, beautifully-appointed space with 50 seats to dine in. Current safe distancing rules apply; diners at the sushi counter who are not in the same group will be spaced 1m apart. During daytime, the counter is lit by the soft glow from a skylight (there are also tables and VIP rooms available for groups).

#01-01, 5 Mohamed Sultan Rd, S239014. Tel: 8938-8355/ 6970-8355. Open daily except Sun, 12pm-2.30pm; 6pm-11pm. www.facebook.com/ginzashintosg.

PHOTOS: YIP JIEYING/ GINZA SHINTO