The Place Located along Bukit Pasoh road near Outram MRT station, Chikin Bar is a relatively new yakitori & cocktails restaurant-bar concept by the folks behind Sum Yi Tai. The space at Chikin is housed in a three-storey conserved building, where the bar resides at level one, followed by a restaurant space at level two and a private karaoke room at the third level.

The Food The yakitori and kushiyaki take centrestage of the menu at Chikin, where you can definitely find all sorts of chicken parts on sticks right here. The interesting bit at Chikin is that the skewers take on Szechuan “Ma La” flavours, so do embrace yourself for some really hot and spicy action. The drinks menu are very extensive, with interesting Japanese inspired cocktails like Japanese Mojito and My Sakura, which are all priced at S$19 nett. All the prices on the menu are nett prices.

We started with the Chikin Karaage (S$9) and the Simple Burdock Chips (S$9). The former was predictably addictive as usual, while the burdock chips were simply crispy, light and delicious that I couldn’t stop at all.

Next up were a whole slew of yakitoris which were generally competent. My favourite parts are the Tebasaki (Mid joint wings – S$4), Momo (Chicken thigh – S$3) and the Bonjiri (Chicken tail – S$3). There is an option for less spicy as well, which I would recommend if “Ma La” flavour is not exactly your calling.

For kushiyaki, we recommend the Meltique Beef with leek (S$6) and the Iberico Pork Collar with leek (S$6). Both meats were grilled to a nice tender texture with spicy “Ma La” favours.

For something more substantial, we enjoyed the Unagi garlic fried rice with fish roe (S$12) which had an aromatic flavour and went well along with the skewers we had.

Comparatively, the Ikura Tomato Rice (S$12) was nothing but an overdose of ikura. The tomato rice was quite plain, and for the same price, go for the Unagi garlic fried rice with fish roe instead.

Rants Not for the serious gatherings, Chikin will not appeal well for the business crowd too – unless you are hitting the bar for the after work drinks, of course.

Will I Return Again? The Szechuan inspired skewers will bring us back as these are the real highlights of the menu. Skip the mains dishes and go for more of the feisty sticks of meats and the Burdock chips.

Make your reservation instantly at Chikin here.

This was an invited tasting, though all opinions expressed are our own.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 3.5/5
Hole in the pocket: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3/5
Overall Experience: 3.5/5

Chikin
6 Bukit Pasoh Road
Singapore 089820
Tel: +65 6221 3670

Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday: 5pm to 1am
Closed on Sunday

Ranted by The Ranter