feizhu's Reviews
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Served steaming hot with a lid, the Age Dashi Tofu carried itself relatively well with its smooth textured interior yet not too thick and slightly crispy skin. The sauce was light on the palate but overall the dish, while good, failed to impress me. I've had better for sure.
Now this is where Keyaki shines, for this visit at least. The Ebi Tempura was definitely one of the best that I've tried so far. Gone are the memories of bland batter and tasteless dips from Sun with Moon Japanese Dining. Keyaki's batter was light and flavourful - not the MSG induced kind of flavouring though and good enough to eat on its own! The prawns were huge and fresh and I could taste the sweetness of the prawns, barely though. The accompanying sauce was robust and added a lingering salty dimension to the tempura.
Teppanyaki is purportedly the forte of Keyaki and after my last visit there, I'm most inclined to agree. The garlic fried rice was fragrant and fluffy, with each individual grain of rice throughly fried. Coupled with lots of fried garlic pieces and egg, it made for an enjoyable side. The asparagus were a little too overcooked though.
The Prime Beef Tenderloin Steak is certainly drool worthy. Succulent, flavourful and fragrant. Only gripe I had was that it came medium well instead of medium rare which I had requested for. Nevertheless, very little quality was lost and the beef certainly made my day.
The Ebi Bacon Maki was nice without being too overwhelming on the flavours. The bacon wasn't too salty (read: Hua Ting) nor was it overly fatty and the prawns were fresh, though not as succulent as I would have liked it to be. Overall a rather dry dish.
The Tori Tsukune or Grilled Minced Chicken Balls were a little too soft, lacking that quintessential firmness and bite that I usually associate with meat balls. Decent though.
The Yaki Tori or Grilled Chicken Cubes on a skewer reminded me uncannily of kebab. Drizzled with loads of sweet teriyaki sauce, the chicken were well grilled but did come across as a wee bit too dry. The vegetables were a little too charred for my liking.
Not much can be said about the Ebi Tem Maki as it wasn't remarkably good nor bad. The rice's composition was good and didn't come across as too sourish while the prawns were crispy.
Dinner for 2 cost just slightly over $160, which threatened to run me dry. But then again, the food quality is evident, with the exception of the Robatayaki. Service is impeccable and reservations are highly recommend if you are going during the weekends.
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Located within the private residential estate of Telok Kurau, locating it certainly wasn't a walk in the park, at least for me, a hopeless driver. But if you drive past it, you certainly won't miss the huge catchy signboard with a picture of a slug in it. First impressions, it really looked like a nice place to chill and hang out over some grub and drinks in nothing more than a t shirt, shorts and slippers. Sort of a homely kind of feeling which gets you settled in real fast.
Well for starters, we had the much touted (in the menu) Wasuga Wings, which were supposedly marinated and grilled for 48hrs. The 48hrs thing sounds rather dubious and I honestly hope that it isn't true as the wings gave no hint whatsoever to the long grilling hours. Texture and taste wise was pretty normal, just that I could taste the rather strong marination in the wings. It wasn't particularly juicy either. However I must commend the delightful tomato puree - chilled with a mild tomato taste. I dare say the tomato puree was the sole saving grace for this dish.
With a name like The Steak, it doesn't seem to suggest much and it certainly didn't taste like much either. This ribeye cut was done a little too rare with a tad too much fat around the edge, coming across as a little too chewy and rubbery. But still a decent cut of meat with fairly decent cooking skills. The final verdict? A slightly above average dish.
A signature dish of the place, Pasta with roasted Pumpkin & juicy Prawns was great during the initial few mouthfuls, after which it started getting a little too heavy, especially with the sweetness of the pumpkin. Just think a sweet version of the carbonara.
I'm no expert on Pear Williams (what a name) so please do correct me if I'm wrong. I personally found the sauteed pear a tad too soft and soggy with the taste of white wine almost nonexistent, with the exception of a few areas. Now this leads to another problem - heterogeneous preparation. Good Pear Williams should have all their pears homogeneously sauteed. The hand churned vanilla gelato was quite a pleaser though. Not too sweet and very full bodied. A note on the excessive cinnamon powder sprinkling at the top though.
$45 can get you quite a bit of stuff and in this case, it was the cost of our dinner. Expensive? Not really, but then again, it doesn't fall into the realms of cheap. I would probably classify it as averagely priced with good service but average food. Would I go again? I don't think so, not with so many good restaurants out there for the same price and the distance from Telok Kurau to my home.
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Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!hmm I thought of trying this place... now thanks to your review I'm having second thoughts...
28 Sep 2007 at 9:36 am
The photos of their event spread looks tempting... but hmm... maybe not
28 Sep 2007 at 10:27 am
Its not terrible or what. Still can try =)
28 Sep 2007 at 4:25 pm
Centrally located in the heart of town, on the third floor of Raffles City Shopping Centre, Inagiku is settled in the far obscure corners of the mall, providing a tranquil respite from the mad crowds that throng the area, especially during meal times. A simple yet hush hush interior greets you as you make your way through the seemingly small entrance and into the confined carpeted area filled with expensive wooden furniture. Personal conversations here can be quite impersonal, given that the tables aren't exactly very far apart from each other.
The Hotate (Japanese for scallops) really redefined the boundaries of size in my tiny world of scallop consumption. It was huge and I mean big as a saucer kind of huge. Okay I exaggerate but I've honestly never seen a scallop of such a size. Superbly fresh without the rawness of fresh seafood and sweet with a pleasantly smooth texture, the Hotate was nothing short of excellent, which explains the price tag of $26 for 2 pieces of it. Oh and then we have the rice which was not too sticky and wet yet lightly sour with a little bite.
Tamago - This is actually a very common dish and is present in most, if not all of the Japanese eateries/chains in Singapore. What this means is that most of the time we are subjected to a varying standard depending on the place we choose to eat. I personally sweared off Tamago for a while due to the multitude of bad experiences I had from various places. Inagiku's rendition renewed my faith in this dish. Aesthetics wise, it was already a winner with rice stuffed neatly into a slit in the egg and topped with huge fish roes that reminded me of little colourful pearls. The egg itself wasn't too sweet and the roe added a dimension of taste to the dish. A simple dish at its finesse.
I'm sorry but my picture really doesn't do justice to the Tempura Moriawase, but then again, it didn't look the bit impressive when it was served, all jumbled up and scattered around the platter. Please do not be mislead by its disheveled appearance though as Inagiku is very well known for its Tempura and rightly so. The batter was light as air and seemed to melt upon contact with my tongue. Amongst all, the Ebi Tempura stood out with its fresh and succulent meat beneath the excellent batter.
With the repertoire of stellar dishes being served up, I had expected the Kurobuta Tonkatsu to be nothing short of excellent. But it was not to be. I was sorely disappointed with what tasted like a piece of meat being cooked in second hand oil. Sure, being Kurobuta pork, the meat was tender but the oil taste from the batter was rather overwhelming.
I personally consider the Lobster with Inagiku Original Golden Sauce the epitome of my dining experience, or the Pièce de résistance if you wish, at Inagiku. As with the Tempura Moriawase, my photos certainly do not do it justice (time to get a new cam). The lobster was quite a size, weighing in at more than three quarters of a kg (for the price, it better be!). Ocean fresh and sweet with the flesh nicely grilled till slightly burnt and complemented by the excellent Inagiku golden sauce, which tasted very rich in flavour and a little creamy. Add the fact that the lobster was topped with molds of roe and you have a must have try dish. Watch the price though.
Honestly, would you pay close to $400(without discount) for such a meal? You can clobber me and I'll still say no. However, I can take scant comfort in the fact that it cost me $192 after a 50% discount, a price which is definitely more affordable but not something I'll be willing to pay unless I strike it rich of course.
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Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Lobster with Inagiku Original Golden Sauce looks very yummy! I want to try!
28 Sep 2007 at 4:44 pm
Its really excellent. Should try if you don't mind the price. =)
29 Sep 2007 at 1:40 am
Located at the posh and exclusive Regent Hotel, it appears unassuming and rather boring from the outside, nothing to suggest its grandeur or exclusivity. Walk through the small passageway and be ushered into a tiny space (of almost claustrophobic proportions) which doubles up as a bar counter seating area and a small private enclave. (Un)fortunately, we got a table in the private area which was fine by us as it was really cosy, but a tad stifling if you ask me. The bar counter seats would have been better though, as you get to see your food being prepared by the chefs.
I was quite impressed by the Sakura ebi cappellini with konbu and home made scampi oil. The cappellini was cooked to perfection with the right about of bite and the tiny but fresh sakura ebi, together with the scampi oil, provided the necessary saltiness and fragrance. Just a short introduction about sakura ebi. It is a tiny shrimp found exclusively in the waters of Suruga Bay in Japan, which explains its price. Overall an excellent dish, but I must say that it reminded me uncannily of maggi mee, albeit a finer version.
Wagyu beef and white truffle sabayon - now that combination is enough to make me dribble all over my shirt. Sadly, it didn't turn out the way I hoped it would. For one, the wagyu beef was minced up and made into a patty, which is a sheer waste for such an expensive beef. I honestly couldn't taste any difference between the wagyu patty and a normal beef patty. The white truffle sabayon didn't impress me much either, coming across as rather tasteless. The bread was nice and evenly toasted though.
Top marks goes to the side of thick cut fries though, which were nicely stacked up and a tad hard on the outside yet moist, steaming and smooth on the inside.
On a side note, the burger was really small and reminded me of a toy burger. Such was the size of it and its colour homogeneity.
Baked chocolate molten cake with Java vanilla ice cream - The chocolate cake was very spongy yet compact and came across as light on the palate. It could do with more molten chocolate in the core and a more concentrated one at that. I personally found the Java vanilla ice cream quite good as it had a tinge of the Java bean. Nice and smooth as well.
The lunch bill for 3 pax came up to about $157, which is ridiculously expensive for the portions of food that we ate. Food quality was definitely quite good, but I don't think it was good enough to deserve its ranking. Honestly we went to Iggy's hungry and left hungry. The free flow of Olive bread didn't help. But its an experience nevertheless, an experience I wouldn't want to relive, unless of course I'm insanely rich.
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A cold dish always gets the appetite going. Consisting of a slice of chicken, half an egg with roe, deep fried eel and strands of jellyfish, it was just short of terrible in the presentation department. There was no proper placement of the food and no colours to bring out the dish. No garnishes, nothing. That aside, the chicken was cold and rather normal, but nothing to shout about. The deep fried eel was crispy and sweet, which was a rather good way to start things off. A pity about the minimal portions though. The jellyfish was springy and tasted strangely like eating a softer version of beef tripe. Not that its bad, but its just slightly different. Last but not least, the egg. I had problems with this one although I'm a big fan of eggs. It looked every bit a hard boiled egg, just that the egg white was softer and more jelly like. The egg yolk, on the other hand, was a gooey semi solid mass which reeked strongly of raw egg. Top it up with loads of fish roe and you get something that's unbelievably raw and has the occasional pops (I just love biting into the fish roe). I believe (I'm just speculating, don't quote me) that the egg was boiled at a temperature of about 60-70 degrees Celsius for a moderate period of time to achieve such a texture.
The heavyweight dish of the set menu. The Braised Superior Shark's Fin in Brown Sauce alone costs $45 in the ala carte menu! I'm not sure if there's any difference though because I haven't tried ordering it ala carte yet. But it was good. The fins were of moderately good quality and were rather plentiful. The brown sauce was light on the palate and not too starchy. The accompanying plate of beansprouts (with fried Yunnan ham I believe) tasted best when eaten with the soup and not alone.
A rather humble dish, but the Braised Spare Ribs "Wuxi" style's beauty lies in it's simplicity. A single rib served with a stalk of vegetable and a bread stick man tou. The meat came cleanly off the bone without much resistance and was tender. The gravy played a key role in this dish without it coming across as too strong but instead played on its subtlety, allowing the meat to slowly soak up the essence and diffuse through with every bite.
The Deep Fried Cod Fish with Sweet & Sour Sauce and Pinenut wasn't too fantastic. Sure the batter was nicely done and tasty, but it masked the sweetness of the cod fish, which was really a pity. It would have probably tasted the same if other types of fish were used.
The Shanghai Fried Rice wasn't spectacular at all, even though it was one of the recommended dishes. The rice tasted strongly of pepper and nothing else. The ingredients didn't provide any visual appeal nor did they add any taste into this dish. So basically its bland plus bland, which still gives you bland, save for the strong dosage of pepper.
The Shanghai Pork & Crabmeat Dumplings aka Xiao Long Bao got me really excited as I had heard much about them. My expectations proved to be this dish's undoing as I didn't find it good, much less fantastic. For one, the skin was a little too thick and it just didn't have that explode in your mouth kind of feeling. Decent, but I've had better.
Mango Sago - A pretty much standard dessert everywhere you go. This one was a little different in that they added milk into it, making it a little more coagulated and sweet. A small but nice twist to the this very common dish and a great way to end dinner on a high note.
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Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!what about the price range?
01 May 2008 at 11:21 pm