Sumire Yakitori House: Casual Japanese Restaurant made affordable

Sumire first opened in Tokyo in 2009 and currently, it has 70 stores in Japan and more stores in countries like Singapore, UK and USA. What does Sumire mean? The word “Smile” in Japan is actually pronounced as “Su-Mi-Le” and the President of Sumire fine-tuned the name to Sumire as he wants to promote that “smiles are priceless”.

Sumire Interior

From the name, you can guess that they serve Yakitoris and their Yakitori’s actually start at an affordable price of $2.20! One thing I love about their menu is that their yakitoris do not have a fixed seasoning, which means you can choose to have your sticks with any sauce of your choices like teriyaki mayo, cheese, leek sesame oil, sesame oil, sesame chilli and even raw egg.

1. Yakitori

If you’re feeling adventurous, the Sumiere Yakitori Platter consists of Torohatsu (chicken heart) and King Liver (chicken live), and more normal parts like Momo (chicken thighs), Negima (chicken with leek), Tomato Bacon, and Pork Belly. A personal favourite amongst the rest was the bacon one, because who doesn’t love bacon?
However, if you prefer being able to choose the yakitoris you want, they do sell them individually too (menu prices down below).

Price: $29.80 (12pc)
Taste: 3.5/5
Heat: 0/5

You probably had this at Tori Q or other Japanese places but the Big Tsukune (chicken meatball) here was so tender, I just wish I had more of that sweet sauce with it.

Price: $4.90 (2pc)
Taste: 3.5/5
Heat: 0/5

The Hinatoro (chicken shoulder) was one of the yakitoris you can choose the sauces to season it with – salt, sauce or leek sesame oil. The chicken shoulder tasted similar to a chicken thigh, but it’d still be really cool to tell your friends you ate the shoulders of a chicken.

Price: $4.90
Taste: 3.5/5
Heat: 0/5

Make out with a beef and try the Aging Beef Tongue! Although already unique on its own, it was seasoned with a lot of salt and pepper which made it taste better than it sounds.

Price: $7.80
Taste: 3.5/5
Heat: 0/5

2. Sushi

A strongly recommended dish was the Aburi Salmon Mentai Mayo Roll, where they flame-sear the salmon and is glazed with spicy cod roe mayo. Wrapped in the sushi is crab meat and this would just be a delight for the salmon lovers.

Sumire Aburi Salmon Mentai Mayo Roll

Price: $8.90 (4pc), $16.80 (8pc)
Taste: 3.5/5
Heat: 0/5

The grilled eel on the Nixon Roll didn’t have a very fishy taste which I appreciated and wrapped in that roll of sushi is cream cheese. I know it sounds a little odd but eel and cream cheese actually worked so well, with that sweet sauce drizzled all over, this was the winning dish for me!

Price: $9.90 (4pc), $18.80 (8pc)
Taste: 3.5/5
Heat: 0/5

3. Appetiser

A best seller here and I totally understood why after taking a bite into the Tamago Mentai Cheese. Never imagined that tamago and cheese would go so well – as usual, the Japanese perfect everything. However, I still recommend this for sharing as it was quite salty, so it might be too much to have all at once.

Price: $8.80 (4pc)
Taste: 4/5
Heat: 0/5

4. Wagyu

Everyone’s eyes lit up after taking a mouthful of the Wagyu Aburi-Sukiyaki. This thin slice of wagyu will be cooked in front of you using a flame, seared according to how well you want it to be done. Following that, dip your wagyu into the dipping bowl with pasteurised raw egg yolk and Japanese rice. The egg yolk just complemented the beef so well and the rice balanced the saltiness of the beef. I am not a fan of raw food but made an exception to mine being medium done and if I had to describe that mouthful again with one word, it would be ‘wow’.

Sumire Wagyu Aburi Sukiyaki

Price: $12.80 (2pc), $18.80 (3pc)
Taste: 4.5/5
Heat: 0/5

5. Agemono

Once again, another dish I would turn vegetarian for – the Bakudan Korokke (potato croquette) was a crowd favourite. No, this is not just a giantic potato croquette, but enclosed underneath that crunchy exterior is a whole ramen egg waiting to be oozed out. I would come back here just to have this dish, definitely a must-try.

Sumire Bakudan Korokke

Price: $8.90
Taste: 5/5
Heat: 0/5

The crispy skin and seasoning on the Tori Karaage stood out from so many others I’ve tried from those ramen set meals. They come in Original, Spicy and Oroshi Ponzu, but I honestly recommend you to just try the original one to taste the authentic version of it.

Price: $7.80
Taste: 5/5
Heat: 0/5

6. Desserts

Made for the second stomach we refuse to admit we have, Sumire too serves both hot and cold desserts.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly never heard of a Homemade Tofu Cheese Pudding, let alone it having 3 flavours – original, yuzu and mixed nuts (pistachio and nuts). Though a little heavy due to the cheese, this is something unique that you have to give a go. My favourite was the yuzu one as the yuzu gave the pudding more flavours.

Sumire Homemade Tofu Cheese Pudding

Price: $3.80 (1 flavour), $9.80 (3 flavours)
Taste: 3.5/5

Sadly, the matcha ice cream ran out so we had our Mini Taiyaki Ice Cream with vanilla instead. The fish waffle was a little hard on the outside, but the red bean paste inside was mouth-watering.

Price: $4.80
Taste: 3.5/5

This Sesame Ice Cream won’t take up much of your stomach space but will definitely leave an impression on you. Specially flown in from Japan, it’s probably the perfect way to end your meal if you’re a black sesame fan like me.

Price: $3.50
Taste: 4.5/5

7. Sushi Cake

It was my first time ever hearing of this Sumire Sushi Cake and it is genius! For those who aren’t a sweet tooth, get yourself a savoury cake this year for your birthday. The pink Japanese rice doesn’t use colouring but actually uses fish powder to achieve that pink, and the fish powder also makes the rice slightly sweet. The bottom white layer is a more savoury version of Japanese rice with ginger and tofu mixed inside. On top, of course, is designed with flower shaped salmon sashimi. This cake may look simple but have an array of flavours. The cutest part? They will cut your slices into actual triangular cake slices!