By Jaime Ee, 30 May 2005
Business Times

THIS low-key restaurant which earned a following at its original Holland Village location has opened a second outlet in another hip residential area. It's so discreet you might just walk right past Sebastien's without noticing its sleek, understated premises.

Opened just two weeks ago, it's comfortably easing into its new routine, happy to serve the few customers that walk in upon discovery. In fact, it's so intent on being low-key that when BT approached it for photography purposes, the manager adamantly declined, insisting that it wanted to keep a low profile since it had just opened.

Which is a shame, because right now it's offering one of the best value ala carte buffets - $49 for lunch, $59 for dinner and $99 for a special buffet that includes a toro sashimi and a lobster item. Of course, read this with a caveat - when we went, the place was totally empty, and we enjoyed excellent service and quality food. It might be a different scenario if they are suddenly besieged with sushi fanatics eager for a good deal.

Unlike other buffets which offer cheap sashimi cuts, Raku offers restaurant quality tuna, salmon, yellowtail, swordfish, octopus and sweet prawn - and we could order as much as we wanted. But that would be a mistake because the other stuff is also very good. We had a lovely special Raku salad of sashimi strips, crisp greens, tomato and seaweed bathed in wasabi mayonnaise dressing which had a good spicy kick. For sushi, thick grilled unagi adorned lightly sweetened rice, and juicy scallop and salmon roe sushi showed the chef's generosity despite the marked down price.

The waitress regularly changed our plates and made spot-on recommendations. When my companion asked for non-wasabi dishes, she took the initiative to tell the chef to make our sushi without it and put it on the side instead.

Of her recommendations, we enjoyed the special Raku chawanmushi with goodies like gingko and shrimp in its delectable smooth custard base. The house agedashi tofu is topped with a spicy mapo tofu sauce and crispy lotus root slices, while a cold spinach is drizzled with black sesame sauce for a clean yet interesting taste. House rolls include a tasty salmon skin roll that's covered with raw salmon on the outside.

The buffet menu is on for a limited time only, but the restaurant hasn't decided how long that would be. As most of the buffet items are also on the ala carte menu, it's an excellent deal. The food is not fancy - good, simple but most importantly, they offer a buffet without a buffet mentality. Raku is quantity and quality, and that's a tough act to beat.

Raku Japanese Restaurant and Bar
10 Greenwood Avenue. Tel: 6219-9447
Rating: 7/10