Hanabi Japanese Restaurant

Hanabi has long been praised for its high quality Japanese buffet at a good price of $33++, so i raised this place up as the location for our relief teacher gathering.
The girls were late, so the guys started first with sashimi moriawase. This place offers Sake (salmon), Maguro (tuna), Sugi (cobia), Hamachi (yellowtail), Tako (octopus) and Ika (squid). Large enough selection for a buffet. The Sake was good and oily enough, and the tako was really bouncy and fresh. Ika was relatively fresh too, but it is still an acquired taste. Hamachi and Maguro were a letdown for their relatively bland flavour. Sugi was similar in taste to hamachi so nothing special there. I had some issues with the poor cutting style too, which was why so many of the slices tasted bland. They were more like cuboids than slices.
Zaru Soba to finish off appetizers. Nothing much to comment on this. Since this is possible to make at home too. The noodles were abit caked up though, because of the lack of ice. In the background is Soft Shell crab sushi with kimchi sauce on top. A unique fusion sushi worth trying. The soft shell is crispy but not oily, and the kimchi sauce is zesty and not very pungent.
By then , the others arrived. Since our visit coincided with the 3rd year anniversary of Hanabi, we had a complimentary Hokkaido Tarabagani Kaminabe (King Crab Paper Hotpot) for every 4 buffet diners. The soup was fantastic. Creamy and seafoody. Tarabagani was overcooked...but still an experience for those who never saw such huge crab legs before. Salmon slices were fresh and oily too, and they rounded off the soup with vegetables, enoki and cabbage. This also came with a plate of Mekajiki sashimi (swordfish). The texture of the mekajiki as usual, pleased me, but the taste was bland...
Having got tired of sashimi i ordered the cooked stuff. This was yakiniku, nice and simple. Simple it was, but high on flavour. Delicate sweetness and fresh thinly sliced beef with sauteed onion made it taste so much better than pathetic Yoshinoya's. This plate was finished cleanly. What was lacking was a bowl of rice.
Saba Shioyaki was over grilled to blackness. The fish used was tasty and fresh, but the chef needs more skill. Kado-man's shioyaki will always be the benchmark.
Buta Kimuchi (pork belly fried with kimchi) Thinly sliced pork belly fried with kimchi and onions. The tangy spiciness of kimchi was not overpowering, and complemented the thinly sliced fatty pork belly. Unique combination which works well. By now we were convinced Hanabi does better in the cooked food department.
Tempura Moriawase. I didn't try the vegetable but the prawns were fine. Flour was good enough, and the crispiness was nice. Prawns used were of the small variety though. But still passable for us to order 10 prawn tempuras the next round.
Salmon Teppanyaki was fabulous. Crispy skin but not charred, with a very tender meat that isn't overcooked, this dish was good enough to warrant three rounds. The browned part of the flesh was especially nice, with the aromatic brown taste, some crispiness followed by the oily taste of tender salmon. Must try.
Tonkatsu. I ordered this as a little test. Since tonkatsu is so cliche, i believed they would do it badly. I was mistaken. Very well and even breading on the outside, hiding a slab of pork that was juicy and tender. The sweet sauce on top lent further levels to this exceptionally nice tonkatsu. Do try this. Wonderfully crispy outside, tender inside.
Kushi Mori was nothing great. A bunch of grilled stuff including shiitakes, chicken pieces and shishamo. Shiitakes were grilled to a totally dehydrated state, it tasted as if we were eating styrofoam. Chicken was ordinary, losing to Tori-Q. The shishamo was grilled plainly, but the fish itself was tasty.
Since the rest were more or less done, i decided to end my meal with carbo. Torikatsu Curry rice was too mild for my liking. I couldn't even rate it 1/5 on my spiciness scale. The Torikatsu however, just like the tonkatsu was exceptionally good. Juicy inside as well.
Tori Karaage (not pronounced as Ker-rah-ch) was fantastic as well. Subtly spiced seasoning with juicy chicken underneath the crispy but not oily exterior. I like how they use fresh oil for the fried stuff.
Niku Ramen. Nothing great to say. Normal Shoyu base soup. Some wakame, sweetly seasoned sliced beef and mediocre ramen. This was to end off my dinner.

Other dishes worth trying but not highlighted included a very nicely done Tonjiru. Fried thin pork belly slices were then served in miso soup, creating a very fragrant miso soup with fragrant slices of pork belly in it. Good companion to the meal.

Chiizu Hanpen is a cute little round fishcake wrapped with mild cream cheese and lightly fried. Unique mix of sea and land and makes you feel like a child when eating it.

Unagi Yakimeshi is japanese fried rice with chopped up BBQ eel. Has wok-hei, which impressed me. The unagi pieces were too few but the rice was done really well.

Buffet items number to 112, and all are ala-carte style so most dishes are prepared freshly. Servings are very bite sized too, so order more if you know you like it. One more point is that waitresses tend to pretend you aren't there on your second round onwards. So that's a little inconvenience. Just wave madly and they will yield.

Food: Good Japanese cuisine for a buffet priced competitively for a ala-carte buffet. Great choice to introduce someone to japanese cuisine.

Cost: 6/10 buffets, why are they so expensive?

Location: 7/10 One at Odeon towers, one at Bukit Timah King's Arcade near HCI

Ambience: Dimmed lighting and japanese influenced decoration.

Address: #01-04, 331 North Bridge Road, Odeon Towers
Singapore 188720

Tel: 63386626 Do make bookings. The buffet is good enough to rope in the crowds.