Rainbow Roll Sushi

Among the plethora of Japanese and Korean restaurants on the second floor of K Village, Rainbow Roll Sushi gets instant credit for retaining its identity, despite being located in the depths of the community mall. And that applies to both the décor and the food. Emphasizing a more Californian style, Rainbow Roll is very modern and loft-like, with birch wood and large windows. No tatami or hand-painted banners here. And while there are some solid meat options available, the focus is on sushi of a heavy, creative type, with lots of chunky signature rolls that hit the spot when they’re not too over-the-top. We’re fans of the maguro roll which is tightly-packed, topped with tuna and has plenty of body thanks to a chunk of eggplant at the centre. Actually, balance is impressive in most of their sushi rolls. For example, in their spider roll, the deep-fried crab is complemented with the addition of finely julienned radish, whose bite is a counterpoint to the grease. It’s a tiny shame, then, that the roll can sometimes be less-than-perfectly rolled, causing it to fall apart before you’ve had chance to to enjoy both elements together. The Nickson roll comes topped with one of the most generous helpings of braised sweet eel we’ve seen on a sushi roll—and cooked to firm, velvety perfection, too. Our only complaint is that there needs to be more tempura flakes (a nice touch) paired with the thick matchsticks of cream cheese in the centre of the roll. The non-sushi dishes can be more hit or miss: the braised three-layered pork  is fatty and delicious, but the sliced Australian beef with rosemary dressing is a bit dry and not worth the money. Still, the overall dining experience at Rainbow Roll, paired with the solid food, is very pleasant. The service is competent and on our last visit, they played a CD of hand-picked songs from our youth—no popsanova crap. That alone is worth a star.