Food Review: Kiyoshi Japanese Restaurant At Amoy Street | Japanese Family-style Restaurant In CBD

Posted on July 16, 2020 by theRantingPanda in Food

The Place It is rare for new restaurants to open in the last few months and to choose a location in the CBD is in my opinion, a bold move. Meet Kiyoshi Japanese Restaurant, which opened since April along Amoy Street right before circuit breaker kicks in. Kiyoshi is a causal Japanese restaurant and the space is cosy, well-partitioned so you are not physically close to other diners.

The Food The menu is very extensive and offers various types of Japanese cuisine – Sushi, Sashimi, Donburi, Ramen, Udon, Yakitori, amongst others. For a start, I had the Mushroom Salad with Wafu Dressing (S$10.80). Generous serving of mushroom here and definitely something refreshing at the beginning of the meal.

On to the grilled dishes, I had both the Grilled Salmon Mentai Yaki (S$15.80) and the Salmon Kabuta Shioyaki (S$11.80) which is basically grilled salmon head. Both dishes should delight salmon lovers, though I find that the salmon is slightly over-cooked for both dishes and the texture is not as tender as I expected.

There is a wide range of Yakitori sticks on the menu, where I had the Ebi Mentai Yaki (S$4), Shishamo (S$1.80) and Tsukune (S$3). The quality of the sticks here is decent for a restaurant which does not specialise in Yakitori, and my favourite of the lot is the Ebi Mentai Yaki.

Sushi options are aplenty and I managed to try a couple of the Nigiri Sushi – Salmon Mentai (S$4.80 for 2 pieces), Kanpachi (Amberjack) Mentai (S$5.80 for 2 pieces), Maguro (Tuna) Mentai (S$7.80 for 2 pieces), Hotate Mentai (Raw Scallop, S$5.80 for 2 pieces), Ebi (Shrimp) Mentai (S$4.80 for 2 pieces) and the Ika (Cuttlefish) Mentai (S$4.80 for 2 pieces).

A special roll I had was the Unagi Cheese Roll (S$13.80), which comes with Tamago, Cucumber and Cream Cheese Roll topped with Seared Eel. It is not as cheesy as it sounds, though the unagi and cheese combination doesn’t quite work for me.

For heavier carbs, there are ramen and udon dishes. The Gegikjara Ramen (S$18.80) I had is quite spicy, my first thought of this Korean-inspired ramen. The broth is prepared from spicy bean paste and filled with ingredients like prawn, squid, pork and vegetables. Novel dish, though not quite a typical Japanese ramen.

Alternatively, the TEM Chirashi Udon (S$16.80) fares better than the Gegikjara ramen for me. This is cold thin udon served with assorted tempura (scallop, mushroom, avocado and capsicum), and the visual presentation is lovely. You get a crispy texture of the tempura bites, contrasted starkly with the cold udon. This is one of the more memorable dish for me at Kiyoshi.

The last dish I had was the seasonal Oden (Japanese Fish Cake Stew) served with Inaniwa Udon (S$22.80). This comforting dish can’t go very wrong, where the broth is clear and the portion of the ingredients are fairly generous.

Rants This is not a Japanese restaurant which specialises in sushi, ramen or yakitori. It offers a wide range of Japanese cuisine, which can be a boon or bane.

Will I Return Again? A causal Japanese restaurant in Amoy Street, which is refreshing given that most other restaurants in the vicinity are of other types of cuisine. It is quite suitable for families or your team lunch in the day as the dining environment is quite pleasant.

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

Make your reservations instantly at Kiyoshi Japanese Restaurant here.

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