Bay Sushi, Marina Bay Sands

Ah yes, MBS. Any affordable food to be had here before our Avenue Q show at 2pm? Bay sushi turned up multiple times from my searches - popular and highly recommended for their selection of funky sushi rolls - and their quoted prices here seems just above Sushi Tei which is great!

 Tucked in the opposite end of the food court, it's at B2 directly below the MBFC-side entrance or a short walk left after exiting the Bayfront MRT station. Todai next door was squeezing Gangnam Style for customers - not sure how that turned out.

 Decor was semi-posh - complete with private dining rooms and wine lists. Some wine with my sushi? Mmm ... not quite.

{ Aburi Salmon Belly ($4) }

 We ordered two rolls (more on that later) and 3 plates of nigiri which came first. We're the boring kind - salmon belly and mekajiki please! Twas pretty good - well aburi-ed with something citrus-y as a pairing. To me I felt like the balance was a little off - there was not enough rice (for balance) and the salmon was a cut a little thin. But overall was still pretty good!

{ Salmon Belly ($4) }

 Again I felt similarly about the balance - the onions were ok (though the slight piquance distracts) but I felt the dollop of mayo took the focus away from the salmon instead of providing a compliment.

{ Mekajiki ($4) }

 Nice slab of swordfish - sweet and al dente as we like it! The fermented bean though, again felt like it was distracting the flavour instead of complimenting it.

 Ok, now about the rolls. Good thing  - they have a huge selection of rolls (think Dragon Roll from Sushi Tei but like 20+ kinds!). Bad thing - we have no frickin idea what they all were. PLEASE ADD A DESCRIPTION. Of course you can ask the waiter, but you're not going to be asking them one by one. Also given the number of ingredients in each roll, customers should be able to see the ingredient list just so they don't order something they don't or can't eat. That really rustled my jimmies.

It also doesn't say how many pieces there were - for both the rolls we ordered we were expecting 3 - 4 pieces each (as shown in the photo), turns out both rolls had 8 pieces. We stuffed ourselves silly.

{ Angry Salmon Lv17 Roll ($15) }
Spicy Salmon, Chilli Sauce, Negi, Sesame Seed, rice wrapped with Aburi Salmon

 This popped up more than once when I read up about this place previously so we got it. The ingredient list sounds good on paper, but it was so wet. Wet sushi tastes strange. The first piece I had was overpowering, the sheer amount of sauce - sweet and spicy - completely distracted from any salmon taste whatsoever. Though I grew to like it somewhat after the 3rd and 4th piece, the sauce was just too overbearing and does not really go well with salmon, or sushi for that matter.

{ Jekyll and Hyde Roll ($15) }
Spicy Salmon, Cucumber, rice wrapped with Mekajiki topped with chilli sauce and pickle

 While you can hazard a wild guess as to what an 'Angry Salmon' roll could be, trying to figure this one out is not as easy. We had a waiter explain to us that the outside bit is swordfish and nestled inside is spicy salmon. Now this all sounds like a good and is even pretty a smart idea, and we went for it. It looks really nice too, presented on a single long plate. Taste-wise this was equally if not more confusing than the Enraged Salmon. I think the chilli/spiciness is a bit too overwhelming that you eventually forget what you're eating. We may have made an error of ordering 2 spicy rolls.. it's like a party gone wrong in your mouth, lol.

 Might as have been spicy tuna instead of salmon, but with the amount of sauce it really didn't matter! 

 After lunch we made the following conclusion:
- We much prefer our sushi the simple and traditional way, with all focus on the flavour and freshness of the fish and rice, i.e. no sauce please
- Come here for the rolls only - they are really quite unique (their names are anyway) and there's a variety to choose from
- Don't get more than 1 roll that has some element of spiciness in it

 Even the regular nigiri, I feel like the chef was trying too hard to add things to complement it and make it better. And I don't necessarily agree - I think ultimate simplicity is the highest art form when it comes to sushi [the JIRO way]. If you don't like the taste of fresh raw fish ... this place is perfect for you, as there are so many flavours that distract you from it. But if you're a true lover of sushi ... I would stay away.

Bay Sushi

Marina Bay Sands, #B2-01B
Bayfront station (don't think you need a map)

Discounts : 10% with DBS / POSB credit cards
Main website : http://www.baysushi.com.sg/
HGW Link (88% recommended at time of writing) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Bay_Sushi/
Rating (out of 4) :