Tag: kushiyaki

If You Love Tori-Q And Satay, You’ll Love This Kushiyaki Bar That Serves Grilled Skewers

‘Kushiyaki’ is a term that many people in Singapore are not familiar with.

Don’t worry, we will explain. Kushiyaki essentially refers to skewered food that is grilled.

Grilling brings out the natural flavours of the food. It caramelises the sugars in vegetables and marinated meat tend to take on a distinctive roast aroma and flavour.

Enter Kimoto Gastro Bar. This hole-in-the-wall restaurant bar located at The Sail@Marina Bay serves up a wide range of skewered meat and vegetables, tempura, rice bowls, and an extensive menu of saké to go with the food.

This quaint bar may be small but their food is big on flavour.

Stick After Stick Of Deliciousness

Now, this is the fun part. The food!

The Buta Bara (Iberico Pork Belly) is a must-try. The iberico pork belly is brushed with a special sauce before being grilled to caramelised perfection. We promise that this will disappear from the table faster than you can say “Buta Bara”.

New on the menu is this Kimoto original, the Unagi Riceball. Generous amounts of grilled fatty unagi is wrapped in a toasted riceball and is served with their special sauce, bonito flakes and a dollop of tobiko mayo.

This delectable creation is crispy and packed with flavour. We love how umami the unagi is when paired with the special sauce. However, it is quite a hassle to try and get rid of the toasted rice from your teeth afterwards.

It is still a really good riceball though, so do give it a try!

Another Kimoto original, the Crispy Fried Squid is an addictive bar bite that is fried to perfection, yet tender and moist on the inside. This is a hot favourite on the menu so order fast or it might just run out!

The Uzura Tamago (Quail Egg) is a mini ramen egg. The yolks are not fully cooked so it’s still a bit runny and the umami is concentrated. Each bite of the quail egg is akin to setting off an umami bomb.

Grilled and simply seasoned with salt is the Zucchini kushiyaki ($4.50). It looks underwhelming but don’t let that fool you. We never knew zucchini could be this good.

When you finish your food, don’t just leave the skewers lying around. Kimoto provides these cups for you to leave your finished skewers. Handy!

For those of you who are craving something a little more familiar, Kimoto has that covered.

The Tempura Moriawase comes with battered prawns, shitake mushroom, brinjal, sweet potato, carrot, and interestingly, chicken breast!

The chicken breast is tenderised before being coated in tempura batter and fried. The result is a flat, tender piece of chicken breast that just melts in your mouth.

Kimoto also has a rather extensive saké menu, because no decent japanese bar serves food without alcohol. Prices for the saké go from $70 to $1688. Yes, $1688. If you’re not sure about the drink pairing, feel free to ask the friendly staff for recommendations!

All in all, Kimoto Gastro Bar is a great spot to unwind with friends, with great food, great saké and reasonable prices for quality food.

Kimoto Gastro Bar
Address: 6 Marina Boulevard #01-15 The Sail@Marina Bay Singapore 018987
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 6pm – 10pm; Sat – Sun: Closed
Contact no.: 6222 7588
Website

Also read 21Moonstone Lets You Revisit Your Youth With Arcade Games, Cheap Booze, And Old School Snacks

(Header Image Source: Kimoto Gastro Bar)

This Bar Is Serving Yakitori With A Mala Twist That’s Sure To Make You Chikin Out

Have you ever tried mala yakitori? Probably not. Because CHIKIN is the first place in Singapore to serve up Szechuan-style yakitori!

Besides bar bites, CHIKIN has also curated an extensive selection of sake and created an exciting cocktail menu that will make you want to keep coming back until you’ve tried everything.

Pop art vibes

When you first step into CHIKIN, you’ll be greeted by neon signs and walls covered in pop icons, especially everyone’s favourite mouthless kitty. There’s even a wall covered with tuna cans.

Sit at the bar to soak in the bustling atmosphere of the open bar and kitchen, or head to the second floor for a more relaxed and quieter lounge area.

The third floor, vibing hard with the same pop art furnishings, opens up to a cosy attic that also comes with karaoke machine, so you can sing a few tunes with your friends. The room is open from 8pm onwards, although you need to make a reservation for it. The space can also be rented out for an intimate event.

Sticks and chikin parts

CHIKIN is not your typical yakitori joint. Instead of using the typical tare sauce to season their meats, they use a mala – a Szechuan peppercorn – sauce for a spicier kick.

Other kushiyaki like vegetables and other meats are also available. Must-tries include their Quail Egg, Iberico Pork Collar With Leek and Shiitake Mushrooms.

If you like various body parts, you can try the Beef Tongue or Foie Gras skewers.

The yakitori and kushiyaki sticks are all grilled over Binchotan flames to order, before being transferred onto a super cute plate designed to look like a square in a Japanese action comic.

Skewers are priced individually, starting from $3 a stick. Alternatively, grab a tasting platter at $30 for 10 sticks or 15 sticks for $40.

If you need your carbs, load up on their rice. Chikin makes a delicious Plentiful Ikura Garlic Rice and Unagi Garlic Fried Rice With Fish Roe to pair with your yakitori. The rice is seasoned with their homemade garlic and tare sauce, which means you cannot get the same taste anywhere else!

Other popular bar bites like Umami Fries, Chikin Karaage and even a Chikin Collagen Onsen Soup are also available.

Tip: Add some homemade miso into your food, which is mixed with their Szechuan peppercorns if you just cannot get enough of mala.

Cocktails for everyone

No matter how diverse your tastes are, we’re sure there is something for everyone on the cocktail menu.

The cocktails are created by Sam Wong, who has won various bartending awards in and around Singapore, and is quite well known in the bartending scene for his creative cocktails.

You might even have tasted his creations at Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall and Nutmeg and Clove. For CHIKIN, Wong recreated a range of classic cocktails with a twist, inspired by Japanese flavors.

A large part of the cocktail menu is made up of whisky and sake infusions, although there are also gin and cognac infusions. The cocktails are usually left aside for a few days to infuse with the alcohol, before they are served. The result is a more blended, smooth concoction.

Sweet-tooths will love the Sake Sangria, a fruity infusion of sake and gin. Those who do not like the taste of alcohol can give the Boba Kori a go, as it is similar to a bubble-tea-slash-slushie drink which masks the taste of gin (unfortunately, there isn’t actually boba inside).

Whisky fans are in for a treat, with an Oolong-inspired Oold Fashioned on the menu. The Sumoki Raisin is a smoky whisky and sherry infusion that leaves behind a strong aftertaste, and comes topped with raisins that were left to soak in the whisky infusion for three days – they are sure to pack a punch!

If the Sumoki Raisin doesn’t give you enough of a kick, then CHIKIN challenges you to the ultimate cocktail spice challenge – the Szechuan Bloody Mary.

The vodka cocktail is mixed with Szechuan peppercorn, tomato, chilli oil, and comes in 5 different spicy levels: Novice, Hungover, Expert, Hao Lian, and WTF.

How daredevil are you?

CHIKIN
Address: 6 Bukit Pasoh Rd, Singapore 089820
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri: 5pm – 12am; Sat: 6pm – 12am
Contact no.: 6634 2916
Website

Also read No Holds Bar-ed – 5 Bars That Let You Take On Karaoke, Arcade Games And More