When you head to Rollian Sushi, stick with menu items that are in their name - maki rolls - as the chicken karaage ($10) was probably the worst rendition I’ve ever tasted: there was absolutely no seasoning (the chicken not marinated and the batter tasteless); and it was so soft that it tasted more like a chicken beignet that karaage. It wasn’t until a second reheating in the toaster oven that enough of the oil escaped to create the crispiness you’d expect from the dish.

Their aburi maguro ($7 for two pieces) were literally pieces of tuna blowtorched for a few seconds - there’s no kewpie mayonnaise or much of a garnish. To be fair, my husband noted he preferred the tuna plain, but the dry papery texture of the fish was a turnoff for me. To make matters worse, we had also ordered the aburi salmon, but what arrived were three plain salmon sushi. While I appreciate Rollian trying to make up for it by giving us an extra piece, it’s not the same. Moreover, since their aburi sushi is simply blowtorching fish and then sprinkling on Old Bay seasoning and scallions, how difficult would it have been to just do the same with the salmon?

The meal improved once we tucked into the maki. Their kalbi roll ($12) is an interesting idea and incorporates a lovely combination of flavours – finally something that has seasoning! The chewy grilled short ribs aren’t necessarily the easiest thing to bite through without causing the rice, avocado, cucumber and masago to fall apart. These are best enjoyed in one massive stuff-in-your-face bite.

Given the deep-fried shrimp in the dynamite roll ($11.50) was slightly warm, it leads me to believe these are made fresh. It’s traditionally prepared, combined with California roll ingredients (avocado, cucumber, imitation crab, and masago). This would have been even better without all the tempura bits mixed with the fish roe on top, which made it too mushy and took away from the shrimp’s flavours.

In retrospect, we should have skipped the dynamite roll as the spicy trio ($27) already includes a “spicy” dynamite roll that didn’t have a lick of heat. The spicy salmon and tuna also lacked chili flavour, and the filling was the pulverized fish with lots of tempura bits combination that I detest. Furthermore, the bowl of miso soup that comes with the spicy trio set was also missing.

The bright side of the meal was their rice was fresh and flattened to a nice thinness. Plus, everything looks beautiful with pops of colours and uniformly cut ingredients. Alas, if only there was the taste to match the pretty presentation. I’ll be rolling on from Rollian Sushi.  

Having had delivery at least weekly since the start of the lockdown, my first encounter with a messed-up order is with The Sushi Bar. Seafood was what we were craving so we settled on four maki and two grilled fish items. Unfortunately, the more substantial hot items didn’t arrive; what a let down when you’re looking forward to grilled black cod and hamachi kama.

At least the rolls were decent. Sushi Bar’s spicy tuna ($7) was stuffed with big chunks of fish, rather than a pulverized paste. If the sauce were spicier and the cucumber cut julienned thinner, it would have been even better as the maki tasted a bit like cream cheese tuna with a prominent cucumber finish. The salmon tartare ($7) was closer to a traditional spicy roll, where the fish is chopped up and mixed tempura flakes and spicy mayo. I did like the bits of green onion incorporated into the mixture, which gave it a nice hit of freshness.

Of all the maki served that evening, the green dragon roll ($15) was the tastiest. It’s essentially a dynamite roll layered with salmon and topped with rice puffs, salmon roe, and green onion. While it looks like there were a lot of garnishes, everything worked together nicely in terms of textures and tastes.

Had I thought to recall my previous experiences with The Sushi Bar, I would have skipped the plain dynamite roll ($9). The shrimp is pre-cooked from earlier in the day so it’s too soft and cold for my liking. With the green dragon roll, at least it’s topped with other ingredients to hide the lacklustre centre.

Whomever packs up the purchases really needs to work on the condiment/cutlery to food ratio. Our order arrived with a full container of wasabi and ginger, but only half a container of soy sauce, an amount sufficient for one person. Luckily, we had a couple of packages left from another restaurant so that we could skimp together enough for the meal.

Surely, soy sauce would have been the cheapest thing to provide. If anything, they could save money by not providing four pairs of chopsticks with an order of four rolls, especially after a customer requests no cutlery.

Perhaps if the experience started off better, I could have overlooked the lack of soy sauce and wasted chopsticks. But, when you were really looking forward to black cod and grilled fish and it doesn’t arrive, everything after that feels disappointing