Maguroya, Lau Pa Sat

As the story spins from a certain lifestyle oriented niche on the web that christens itself as some kind of fat husband, this tuna themed joint (Stall 79, Lau Pa Sat, 18 Raffles Quay) facing Robinson Road came about from a certain sustainable seafood expert Alistair; also a supplier of the fish who has decided to cut loose the middle men from the maguro supply chain after himself so that he is able to sell them directly to consumers at a more affordable price while providing bang for the buck quality. Smart man he is.

That was the good piece of story that brought me down for lunch.

One certainly doesn't get the most amazing or pretty looking cuts from Maguroya, but that's not the point of eating here. The name of the game is affordability and freshness and I think their otoro don was really pretty decent with soft buttery slices of tuna belly over vinegared rice. Speaking of which, these guys were more heavy handed with the vinegar than what is normally experienced.

Which actually works when we're eating them with their thick and crispy skinned kabuto yaki; the oven baked head of tuna with its sealed in oils trapped in nooks and crannies of slippery and glistening parts, often gelatinous and soft. That extra vinegar-y rice helped cut through, strangely as a starch, all that rich oil. From the largest fish head I've ever had the fortune to disassemble. With eyes the size of golf balls. This would have easily fed 3-4 even though it's described to be for 2 persons.

All the rice sets came with fruit and a cloudy and robust fish soup from boiled tuna bones that they call maguteh. Which was at the same tasty and really quite different from the generally clearer ba kut teh, its Chinese and porcine etymological parent.