The Place Located in Customs House right beside Fullerton Bay Hotel, Kinki Restaurant + Bar is one of the few Japanese restaurants in Singapore which does not exude the vibe of a traditional Japanese restaurant. Think graffiti interior of Kinki restaurant with a strong street vibe, boasting views of Singapore’s marina and Marina Bay Sands The view is already a winner before we had our food. Located one level above Kinki restaurant is its rooftop bar, where you get to enjoy drinks and light bites in an alfresco setting.

The Food We checked out the newly launched Kinki’s Bottomless Brunch, an a la carte buffet style which is only available on Saturdays from 12pm to 3pm. At S$52++ per person, there are up to 43 items to choose from the menu, which are specially selected from its current a la carte menu. To stay true to the Japanese bar concept, you can opt to top up an additional charge of S$35++ per person per type of liquor – unlimited sake, shochu or Prosecco, or S$25++ per person per type of beer. Free flow soft drinks, tea, still and sparkling water are available with an additional S$5++ per person.

***Update: The Bottomless Brunch will be at S$58++ per person from 5th August 2017, with a larger spread including new additions Spicy Tuna Maki and Negi Hama Maki.

The Echigotsurukame Shofukujin Junmai sake is a highlight with its soft and balanced palate with a medium to distinguished umami that makes it a perfect pair to a variety of dishes. Free flow beer includes bottled Carlsberg, Asahi Super Dry and Kronenbourg 1664.

With such a competitive buffet price for a moderately mid-range Japanese restaurant, I was sceptical about the spread initially. There are seven food sections: sushi, sashimi, maki, cold, hot, mains and desserts. I will recommend starting with the cold items such as sushi and sashimi before proceeding to the hot ones. Some of my favourites from the sushi and maki sections are the Hotate Aburi, a pan-seared Hokkaido scallop sushi, Aburi Salmon roll and the Hot Dynamite which is a maki of fried salmon and yellowtail roll, scallion and cayenne pepper.

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You can’t get away a Japanese buffet without having a bottomless supply of sashimi. I like that the ones here here sliced thickly, so you can pretty much appreciate the freshness of the sashimi with every bite. The tuna, Hamachi and salmon we had were all outstanding.

Other dishes we tried include the Agedashi tofu, Edamame and Tempura.

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For the mains section, the catch is that each diner only gets to choose one item once. My top pick is the Wagyu Foie Gras Donburi, also one of the signatures on the usual a la carte menu here. This is the regular serving size, which comes with generous portions of thinly sliced wagyu beef and pan seared foie gras, served over Japanese steamed rice. The wagyu beef is the clear winner here for me as compared to the foie gras, with its all-too-tender melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Desserts include the likes of Yuzu, Matcha and Black Sesame ice-cream.

Rants The Bottomeless Brunch is only available on Saturday lunch. We can understand the commercial reasons why, but that also means you don’t get much choice in terms of day of the week and time to suit your schedule.

Will I return again? Quality buffet is the way to go for us. In terms of value, it is relatively incredible with the Kinki’s Bottomless Brunch. We noticed that the Wagyu Foie Gras Donburi is priced at S$40 and the Hotate Aburi at S$13 on the normal a la carte menu, so you can pretty much work out the maths. Do yourself a favour and keep this in mind should you be craving for a value for money and good Japanese buffet the next time.

Make your reservation instantly at Kinki restaurant here.

Kinki’s Bottomless Brunch
70 Collyer Quay #02-02, Customs House, Singapore 049323
Tel: +65 6533 3471
Every Saturday: 12pm to 3pm

Usual Opening Hours
Kinki Restaurant
Lunch: Mondays to Saturdays, 12pm to 3pm (Last order at 2.30pm), closed on PH
Dinner: Mondays to Saturdays and PH, 6pm to 11pm (Last order 10.30pm)

Kinki Rooftop Bar
Mondays to Thursdays, 5pm to 12am (Last order at 11.30pm)
Fridays to Saturdays and PH, 5pm to 2am (Last order at 1.30am)
Closed on Sundays

Ranted by The Ranter