The amuse bouche: some jelly-like noodles which might have been made of yam, since the texture was very similar to konnyaku, with a soy ginger flavour. They were pretty chewy, and I quite enjoyed them. No idea what the white seeds sprinkled on top were.
All the set lunches came with a salad with a soy-sesame dressing. This was quite pretty, but nothing much to crow about - just a salad after all!
Above-mentioned foodie friend ordered the Nigiri Sushi Jyo Sen ($30), which had 7 types of sushi, kappa maki and tekka maki and miso soup. They had another nigiri sushi set that came with 9 pieces and chawanmushi, but that cost $50 which I personally thought was not quite worth the extra $20 (then again I didn't analyse what the extra 2 pieces would have been). The servings looked fairly substantial and I would have been quite keen to have ordered this, had I not been more interested in other things on the menu.
I ordered the chirashi sushi, described in the menu as a Mazechirashi - sushi rice served with mixed sashimi, miso soup, pickles and dessert ($35).
After uncovering all the tamago and cucumber, the seafood bits were more visible. It was throughly enjoyable because the seafood was so fresh, and it didn't matter that these were the ugly off-cuts that were not presentable for sushi or sashimi pieces!
All the set lunches came with a salad with a soy-sesame dressing. This was quite pretty, but nothing much to crow about - just a salad after all!
Above-mentioned foodie friend ordered the Nigiri Sushi Jyo Sen ($30), which had 7 types of sushi, kappa maki and tekka maki and miso soup. They had another nigiri sushi set that came with 9 pieces and chawanmushi, but that cost $50 which I personally thought was not quite worth the extra $20 (then again I didn't analyse what the extra 2 pieces would have been). The servings looked fairly substantial and I would have been quite keen to have ordered this, had I not been more interested in other things on the menu.
I ordered the chirashi sushi, described in the menu as a Mazechirashi - sushi rice served with mixed sashimi, miso soup, pickles and dessert ($35).
The pickles looked very pretty - radish, ginseng and no idea what else dyed blue!
The stuff in the main bowl was astounding though - there were bits of otoro (fatty tuna), ikura (salmon roe), ebi (prawn), shima aji (jack), awabi (abalone), uni (sea urchin) and if there were other bits of yummy fish/shellfish (on hindsight I think there was also tako, or octopus as well), they were unidentifiable but absolutely delicious as well. This was all mixed with sweet omelette and cucumber. The wasabi also had yuzu in it.
After uncovering all the tamago and cucumber, the seafood bits were more visible. It was throughly enjoyable because the seafood was so fresh, and it didn't matter that these were the ugly off-cuts that were not presentable for sushi or sashimi pieces!
The miso soup was extremely flavourful - more so than the normal tofu version - since prawn stock had been used. 
We were so absolutely greedy and happy that we decided to order another lunch set to share. So greedy friend and I went for the Shokado bento ($38) consisting of sashimi, nimono (steamed vegetables) and tempura, served with rice and miso soup.
The sashimi was drop dead gorgeous - with otoro, maguro, an unidentifiable shellfish on the right, ama ebi, hotate and hamachi and another fish and another shellfish - it was an amazing feast for the eyes as well as the belly.
The tempura was fairly average - crispy, non-oily, but ultimately, just tempura after all! There were veggie and prawn bits.
The broiled fish in light soy - no idea what it was, but it was similar to sardines or sanma - came with a piece of daikon. This was also non-exciting compared to the sashimi - that's not to say it wasn't good, but it didn't really have the wow factor of the sashimi. The fish was sweet and fresh.
The rice was flavoured with mushrooms, so it was a fairly light subtle flavour. I would have preferred normal steamed white rice, although this wasn't too bad.
Dessert was yuzu ice cream, umeshu jelly and a salty caramel/peanut mochi, which came with a fresh hot cup of tea to end the meal with. If I knew enough about tea, I suppose it would have been nice to have known how this slightly more brownish tea was different from the ocha that was served earlier, but it didn't really matter to me. It was the perfect ending to a perfect meal.
At $35 for the Mazechirashi, this was definitely comparable to the chirashi sushi at Sushi Yoshida - the last time I was there was mid-2009 and they had a wonderful chirashi sushi set lunch then for $38. I've heard they've raised their prices since, but am not sure by how much. But parking's definitely easier at Shaw Centre than Devonshire Rd. In terms of value for money, I think Matsuo Sushi still wins hands down for a normal everyday Japanese lunch - they're a less upmarket joint, but $20 all in for a chirashi sushi set, including chawanmushi, is pretty hard to beat.
We were so absolutely greedy and happy that we decided to order another lunch set to share. So greedy friend and I went for the Shokado bento ($38) consisting of sashimi, nimono (steamed vegetables) and tempura, served with rice and miso soup.
The sashimi was drop dead gorgeous - with otoro, maguro, an unidentifiable shellfish on the right, ama ebi, hotate and hamachi and another fish and another shellfish - it was an amazing feast for the eyes as well as the belly.
The tempura was fairly average - crispy, non-oily, but ultimately, just tempura after all! There were veggie and prawn bits.
The broiled fish in light soy - no idea what it was, but it was similar to sardines or sanma - came with a piece of daikon. This was also non-exciting compared to the sashimi - that's not to say it wasn't good, but it didn't really have the wow factor of the sashimi. The fish was sweet and fresh.
The rice was flavoured with mushrooms, so it was a fairly light subtle flavour. I would have preferred normal steamed white rice, although this wasn't too bad.
Dessert was yuzu ice cream, umeshu jelly and a salty caramel/peanut mochi, which came with a fresh hot cup of tea to end the meal with. If I knew enough about tea, I suppose it would have been nice to have known how this slightly more brownish tea was different from the ocha that was served earlier, but it didn't really matter to me. It was the perfect ending to a perfect meal.
At $35 for the Mazechirashi, this was definitely comparable to the chirashi sushi at Sushi Yoshida - the last time I was there was mid-2009 and they had a wonderful chirashi sushi set lunch then for $38. I've heard they've raised their prices since, but am not sure by how much. But parking's definitely easier at Shaw Centre than Devonshire Rd. In terms of value for money, I think Matsuo Sushi still wins hands down for a normal everyday Japanese lunch - they're a less upmarket joint, but $20 all in for a chirashi sushi set, including chawanmushi, is pretty hard to beat.
Aoki
1 Scotts Road #02-17
Shaw Centre
Tel: 6333 8015
Open Mondays to Saturdays for lunch (12.00 to 3.00pm) and dinner (6.30 to 11.00pm)
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