This is my first food face off feature. I hope to make it as fiery as the face off between our Singapore Table Tennis players and their organisation’s chairman and as interesting as the one between the various political opposition leaders (that have since come and gone…more of the latter) and our ruling political party (with some emphasis on “ruling”).

Cilantro Modern Asia
Address: Blk 59 Marine Terrace (located within a coffeeshop)

When I first saw the signboard for Cilantro go up in my neighbourhood coffeeshop, my first thoughts were of cynicism and skepticism. I thought it was unlikely that the local heartlander crowd would accept such new fangled cuisines - we are talking about beer drinking uncles and retirees with their beer bellies and market going aunties in their pajamas (it is a sign that you are in the heartlands *read suburbs* of Singapore when you spot 40 - 50 year old aunties walking about in public in their long flowing pajamas that are typically bright pink/green or some other matronly colours ).

I was unaware then that the stall was a brainchild of some rather reputable chef until I stumbled upon an online article. Call me a slut but somehow my impression of the stall was instantly changed and feelings of pride swelled in my bosom that some sort of culinary renaissance was developing in my sleepy neighbourhood.

When we arrived there on a Saturday evening, the stall was in the process of getting swamped by customers waiting for their orders to be taken. We overheard angry voices (in a mix of hokkien and chinese…I guess this justifies the Asia in their name) in the kitchen. The influx of customers was apparently creating a big backlog of orders for the kitchen. Customers were not getting their food fast enough and several items were running out fast. The phrase “no more rice…no more rice” was heard repeatedly. Surprisingly, the waiting customers seemed to take the delays better than the kitchen staff. I attribute it to the conditioning that Singaporeans have experienced with queues (and being resigned to non-ideal situations like the ERP and transport crap we are facing) and the fact that this was a coffee shop we were talking about.

Cilantro Modern Asia supposedly specialises in Japanese and Asian dishes. The online article I read cited their Wagyu Beef Rice and Wagyu Shabu as must-tries. So try we did.

Our Wagyu Beef Rice (S$9 plus) was served not long after our order. Note the mismatching chopsticks. We spotted the rest of the patrons having dis-similar chopsticks too. Not a problem except they probably need to work on their processes to ensure a more efficient order taking and serving system.

There was a good portion of beef.  They tasted fine (I hesitate to use the term well done in case readers are mistaken that they are overcooked instead of them being done well…erm..you know what I mean). My only grouse was that the sauce that they drizzled on the beef and rice was rather salty.

Then the food stopped coming. We were hungry so we had the Mee Siam (S$3) as an appertiser. This was in conjunction with the Agedashi Tofu (S$2.50). The Mee Siam was quite tasty. The combination of Mee Siam and the Tofu that I was alternating with…not so.

A further half hour would ensue before we were delivered our Wagyu Beef Shabu (S$15).

It was true about the rice. They had run out of it. However, they did offer us the remnants scrapped off the bottom of their rice pot with a disclaimer that the rice was likely to be inedible. We were game for it as we were rather hungry (cue sad violin background music).

The soup base wasn’t that bad. The Wagyu beef was fresh and tender.  The sesame and ponzu sauces that came with the Shabu was a disappointment though. They had a heavy taste and would completely overpower the beef.

Our dinner here immediately brought to mind comparisons with Akashabu. Thus the Face Off (ta dah).

Akashabu
Address: 5 Stadium Walk #01-12 Leisure Park Kallang

Akashabu is located in more regular surroundings.

With a better ambience.

The cutlery on display was of a higher quality. The chopsticks were matching ones.

Our starters were the Agedashi Tofu (S$3) and the Hamachi Sashimi (S$7). We had no issues with either.

The Sashimi was fresh enough and we could taste the yummy fat content in the fish slices.

How the system works here is that you order your ingredients for the Shabu Shabu from a ala carte menu. We had:- Buta - (pork) S$5.50
- Hotategai (scallops) S$6.50
- Shitake S$2.50
- Hakusai S$2.00
- Edamame S$1.50
- Rice S$2.00

The soup stock was fragrant and the ingredients were of sufficient quantity to keep us happy and satisfied.

What made the meal a good one was the sauces. It was a good mix of ponzu sauce, chilli slices and the sesame dressing. They truly complimented the meat and seafood we had.

Verdict: Cilantro Modern Asia Vs Akashabu
Ambience: Akashabu (bring dates to Cilantro only if you want to make the evening a short one…)
Service: Akashabu
Food: Akashabu (even though we did not have Wagyu beef at Akashabu, the combination of the better soup stock and superior sauces clinched it for us)
Value for Money: Akashabu (the meal at Cilantro came up to S$30.30. The one at Akashabu was only S$35.30. The S$5 extra was more than well justified.)