Fish Mart Sakuraya Fresh Seafood

Fish Mart Sakuraya is a Japanese restaurant in the basement of Anchorpoint, the shopping mall opposite IKEA Alexandra. It is hidden from a casual visitor to the mall as it is tucked away at the end of B1. But it seems to be popular with nearby residents and office workers who shared the restaurant with us during lunch time on a weekday.

With so many Japanese eateries around these days, we must admit that we’ve walked past Fish Mart Sakuraya several times and never really thought of going in until we were recently approached to review this Japanese grocer/restaurant that has actually been around Singapore for over 20 years!

This unassuming place turned out to be more than just another Japanese restaurant. Aside from the casual dining area, there is also a mini-mart stocked with fresh seafood, produce and ingredients from Japan. But, the real lobang is that you can actually buy sake at supermarket prices and have it together with your sushi with no added corkage charge! That makes this place one of the most affordable Izakayas in town!

The fresh fish and seafood you see lining the chillers at Sakuraya are flown in from Japan twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays from Fukouka. You can find a good range of white-fleshed fish like your Kanpachi and Hamachi, shellfish, maguro (tuna) and of course everyone’s favourite salmon. Whole fish are sectioned into different parts so you can also pick up fish heads, collars and bones as well as fillets to cook your dishes at home.

Unlike many other places, you get to pick your fish from the chiller to construct your own sashimi platter. The chefs will slice and plate it without any extra charge. You can even request for your seafood to be salt-grilled or fried without extra charge too! You just need to pay SGD5 if you want it braised or blow-torched.