Barachirashi Heard a little about the new Gyosen at Fortune Centre — having been out of the area for a couple of months made me forget how Fortune Centre is like an enclave for hidden Japanese F&B establishments. Occupying the space of two units in Fortune Centre, Gyosen is a Japanese fine dining establishment that primarily does premium Omakase in its main shop space. With another space being just situated across their main shop unit, this other unit is simple a dine-in area; food preparation is done within the main shop unit that serves Omakase meals. That being said, Gyosen does serve up a separate menu in the purely dine-in unit; the ala-carte menu comprises of appetisers, sushi/sashimi platter, as well as a DonBuri (i.e. Rice Bowl Dish) menu. For those who are interested to dine-in for their DonBuri menu, it is noted that the shop space only accommodates for one table of 6 pax, and two tables of 4 pax each.
Skimming through the DonBuri menu here, it is needless to say that the Barachirashi was the item that caught our attention. Essentially being a sashimi bowl that comes with an assortment of cubed, marinated sashimi, the Barachirashi here is actually pretty satisfying for its price tag of $15.90 (subject to service charge of 10%). While the cubed sashimi were considered to be pretty fresh and came in a good size and portion that allows a bit of fish with every morsel of rice, we were more impressed with the use of flavoured rice — a little surprising to us considering that flavoured rice is a rare find that only a select few places would choose to serve up. Served slightly below room temperature, we liked how the rice didn’t carry an odd temperature contrast with the assorted cubed sashimi above it, but we really loved how it does come with bits of truffle, Sakura Ebi and Ikura for a really umami mix of flavours with a bit of textural contrast. Also coming with pickled ginger and wasabi as per most other Barachirashi served at other Japanese establishments, the former gave a refreshing crunch that resets the taste buds from all the cubes of marinated sashimi here, while the wasabi was surprisingly stinging here that makes the entire bowl pretty “shiok”.
The highlight at Gyosen is probably still their Omakase; that being said, offering an affordable DonBuri menu with most of the items priced between $12.90 to $18.90 (the only exception to this is the Gyosen Sashimi Rice Bowl at $25.90) before service charge does provide them with an edge — ultimately, these are the items that the busy office folks around the area would probably settle for a fuss-free lunch or dinner, while the Omakase will probably appeal to a niche audience that would make a purposeful trip here just to give them a try. Service was pretty attentive despite us being located in the shop unit across the main unit — the staff did notice us and came out to refill our hot green tea even though we were the only patrons seated in the said area. With a menu that caters to different audiences, Gyosen is a spot that likely adds to that odd mix of tenants within Fortune Centre that makes this building so unique despite its age and location.