I think we're alone now...

Sushi Zanmai, the Gardens, pre-CNY: Tiny booth featuring dark woody interior, a lone 60-watt-or-summat lamp, affording unusual privacy in a crowded, high-traffic restaurant. Mel referred to this as the perfect setting for an extra-curricular rendezvous. Somehow, Richard Ashcroft singing "God knows you're lonely souls" comes to mind.

We had met up for yee sang and by golly we were going to have us some yee sang, even if it was all but two of us, at a sushi joint. The festive menu offered up the perfect deal - salmon yee sang for two! A trio of lemon juice, olive oil and honey drizzled on a bed of very fresh salmon sashimi and fresh shredded vegetables and tempura fritters.


Humble in size but big on taste! Am usually indifferent to yee sang, but this one really stood out, due to the use of fresh vegetables and the absence of those more commonly employed, highly-pigmented bits and pieces (what exactly ARE those anyway? Flour crackers? Plastic squiggles?)

I'm not a huge fan of the sushi here, hence we did noodles to bump up our meal instead. Mel ordered the tempura udon, which came a way smaller portion than expected.

My hiyashi chuka ramen - refreshingly cold and generously topped with a variety of all-time favourite Jap ingredients like wakame, kanikama and chuka kurage.

Mel demonstrates creative use of Sushi Zanmai's packaged napkins, for love refugees and runaway lonely hearts staying incognito from the disapproving eyes of this crazy, crowded season.