We Made Panda Sushis!

In a very delicious nutshell, Maki-San is like "Subway", but sushi-version. It is the only place in Southeast Asia that allows you to choose what kind of ingredients go into your maki roll! They have 80 types of ingredients, things that Japanese sushi chefs would never think of putting into a regular sushi but you can, here at Maki-San. If you haven't tried it, give it a shot! It's really fun. The first time I went to Maki-San was in 2013, at its flagship store in Cathay. Since then, they have expanded to two more outlets - The Arcade and its latest in i12 Katong.

Besides D.I.Y maki-sushi, Maki-San is also a Japanese-inspired salad joint for detox day. These fresh and fun mains can be complemented by a selection of tempura sides and beverages. Rounding off this unique dining experience are colourful interiors and kawaii packaging. 

To launch Maki-San's new outlet at i12 Katong, we had an interactive and funny panda sushi making session with the sushi chef. He had practised multiple times to attain the Grandmaster title of panda sushis (idea courtesy of Food Panda), and then he demonstrated it to us live. His panda sushis indeed look like pandas. I never knew how difficult it was to make until I started on it myself... he made it look so easy!

"I have no idea what I am doing"

It feels like a major throwback into a kindergarten art class, except this is obviously much harder. There are so many steps to remember! Luckily, the chef was walking around to supervise us like a responsible art teacher, and reminded us the steps. We constantly had to moisten our hands to prevent the rice from sticking to the gloves, but honestly, what I lack was skills. More practice required indeed!

Everyone worked at it really hard! The key is probably to go slow and ensure everything is in place properly before moving onto the next step. I learnt this in hindsight so my panda sushi turned out to be rather... warped-looking...

This is too panda-looking to be mine.

This is the product of my hard work... panda maki! the 'ears' turned out to be rather slanted because while I was rollin' rollin' it, the 'ears' also rolled away from where they were supposed to be. Oh well! Here goes my first sushi craftwork. Many thanks to the sushi chef who helped me to rescue it when he was slicing the maki roll, he has the magical touch that made everything looked good.

Thereafter, we got to make our real maki rolls as well with our own combination of ingredients at the sushi bar! It was really exciting because we got behind the bar and put whatever we wanted into the maki. I created an Amie Summer Maki which mixed mushrooms, peaches, mandarin oranges, salmon slices, tamago with a generous drizzle of the Yuzu Honey Vinaigrette. Well, everyone politely said it was 'interesting'. You know what that means. (But I love it!!! That's how everyone feel towards their own cooking creations, I guess.)