se sa me   (Closed)

after reading good reviews of this new restaurant, I decided to try it out at lunch today. But the experience was really so-so, we ordered one Japanese set and one Japanasian set. I would not call the dishes here are fusion, as they were all pretty much japanese to me. the quality and variety of raw fish they use here were really quite elementary and not particualr fresh. all the fusion twists were quite minor and nothing to to surprised about. I must say the setting of the restaurant is quite nice and service was fine, but the food didn't meet the standard. BTW, the restaurant was only a third full when I was there through the lunch..

Restaurant: Se Sa Me
Cuisine: Japanese Fusion
Meal: Lunch
Eating with: 7 people

Not knowing where to go for lunch, I decided to walk around and headed up to buildings nearby the office. Ended up at such a wonderful place!

************************Environment / Surrounding******************************

Upon arrival at the restaurant, the decor and environment had an immediate impact on me. It was clean cut, modern and comfortable feeling. Plenty of wooden decorations and friendly waiters and waitresses greeted us immediately.

The restaurant is very spacious and relaxing.

**********************Food******************************

Appetiser 1: Their house specialty sashimi mix bowl (4.3/5)This may look like a typical sashimi mix, but its complexity reaches beyond its colours.
First off, the fish was very fresh and marinated in their own specialty sauce. The sauce is a little spicy mixed with japanese soy sauce flavour. It does not over power the fish as it still allows you to taste the freshness and texture beautifully. With each bite that you take, the fish simply melts in to your mouth with a good mixture of all sorts of fish, sesame and spring onion.

Mix in with the fried root vegetable that they provide, its a splendid combination of oiliness and fresh sensation. Everything simply goes well with each other with a perfect sense of balance.

They also serve a very generous portion as you would not usually expect from a set lunch meal.

Appetiser 2: Fish sticks (3.8/5)The fish sticks were excellent here as well. The fish sticks came with a special sauce (I can't remember now) and some salad.
The major selling point of the fish sticks were the fish itself. It really speaks to the quality of the fish that they use here. The fish was layered (signally good and fresh fish), meaty and wonderfully supple and soft. It had just enough grit on the texture.

The fish was not over fried since the fish were covered in a perfect layer of crispiness without being too dark brown (over fried), or without being too thick. It was just enough, which served its purpose: adding a layer of texture.

However, the fish was inconsistent. We had two plates of these. One plate had fish that was near perfect, the other was only average.

Main Course 1: Cod with foam (been over a month since I was there, can't remember). (2.9/5)I have to say this was the only disappointment in the entire meal.

The fish was not great (just average), the sauce wasn't anything special, and the foam was almost tasteless.

I'm not saying this dish was horrible, it just isn't simply worth trying at Se Sa Me given the plethora of good food here! Not much else to say, except that you its not really worth it.

Main Course 2: Water bathed salmon with rice and curry 4.5/5Now this is something that should be commended.

The salmon was sealed and water bathed in 42(or 45 degrees) so that the salmon is evenly cooked throughout, and it was served on top of rice and a very thin thai style curry.

The salmon was brilliantly done, as not only the texture of the fish was great but the timing of the water bath was magnificent. The fish was done to the point where you taste both cooked and uncooked taste to it. It was naturally smooth as salmons are supposed to be (frying a salmon completely ruins this imo) warm, and it melted in my mouth.

I couldn't stop feeding myself on this, as I savoured every bite and waited for the salmon to melt.

Salmon can be tricky as they are usually quite thick, and seasoning salt would need an extensive amount to have enough flavour to compensate the depth of the meat. The amount of salt that they put on the salmon is absolutely perfect as well. With every layer of the salmon sinking in my mouth, I could taste the sea salt wonderfully blending in to every second that the fish was melting.

The rice was normal, and the curry was very watery, but it was a nice finisher to the superstar of the plate. It was a nice package overall.

Highly recommended!

Main Course 3: Sashimi Rice 3.8/5The sashimi rice was also quite good here. Sticking with less fusion and pure Japanese flavours here, the fish again were very fresh like the appetiser we had earlier.
There were definitely enough fish to rice ratio, and the fish were all well cut (not too thin, but enough thickness to get the real enjoyment to eating a chunk of fish). Fish quality was very good, but I have had better at a cheaper price point.

If you are a sashimi lover, you can't go wrong here but its more traditional which is not what Se Sa Me is about.

**********************Service******************************

The overall service was cordial and friendly. The waiters were quite knowledgeable about how each dish was made and cooked when I asked them for in depth details on the menu. They came back and asked us on the feedback of the food, which in my opinion always shows that the restaurant really want to continue to improve on their food.

We were lucky as the waiters and waitresses gave us a Buy 1 get 1 free set lunch deal! It was very welcomed.

**********************Price******************************
Set lunch 1: $188
Set lunch 2: $260
Set lunch 3:368

**********************Conclusion******************************
It is quite expensive given the competition it faces, and even with the quality of the food it serves it's quite pricey. However, I would still come as a treat for myself because the food was innovative and wonderfully fusioned. There were many dishes that I have never had and all the ingredients were fresh and of high quality.

Japanese fusion can be tricky, but Se Sa Me has done it right.

Lunch for 5 celebrating mothers day, with 2 kids....the food was fantastic, the salmon with caramel was exceptionally good, and the ginger marshmallows at the end sublime. A small hiccup at the beginning when we were served complimentary "mocktails", which were very good by the way, but turned out to contain Sake...not ideal for my 10 n 12 yr old, but they seemed to enjoy them! The staff were extremely friendly and polite, and bent over backwards to make handrolls for the children containing just cucumber as they found some of the menu not to their taste. The resident DJ added a nice touch and the restaurant ( maybe for this occasion only???) seemed to be segregated into 1 section for those with kids, and 1 for those without, a great idea. I look forward to an evening visit when i suspect the atmospherics will add to the already excellent food.