A new restaurant has made its way to Liang Court! Kensai Kitchen, established in Izumo, Shimane, Japan has opened here in Singapore.
I was very happy and lucky to be invited to its grand opening media preview last week.
Kensai Kitchen prides itself for the Japanese home cooking dining experience. They offer a all-you-can-eat buffet of around 15 items and a free flow drinks bar offering coffee, tea, juices and water.
'Kensai' translates as 健菜 in Japanese. With the first word meaning healthy and the second being vegetables. So, for the vege-lovers, you will be happy to know that the restaurant uses fresh vegetables in its dishes. For instance, you will find carrots, cucumbers in the Japanese potato salad. Actually the way I make my Japanese salad at home is very similar too!
As the event started, all the invited diners happily crowd the buffet table, enjoying and trying out the dishes.
The interior of the restaurant has a modern Japanese touch. Made mostly out of wood. The furniture set up also include hanging door-like panels, probably inspired by traditional Japanese sliding doors.
While the buffet space is not very big, but there is still sufficient space to go around and it helps that the drinks/miso soup are at another end.
For the tasting session at the media event, my favourite dishes from the buffet included the following:
Kyayaku Gohan
It was a well done one-pot Japanese rice dish of rice and vegetables. I really like how they seasoned and cooked the rice. The vegetable were really yummy. The rice was not too salty (so you can still eat it with the buffet dishes!) yet flavourful on its own.
For me, it is important that Japanese restaurant prepare good rice, both seasoned rice and white rice.
Miso Soup
I always like enjoy my Japanese meal with miso soup. So I was really happy to see miso soup in their buffet line up. The soup was light and indeed had a homely feel to it.
Saba Misoni
This is mackerel braised in miso-based sauce. How can one not enjoy fish in Japanese meal. :p
Perhaps due to teething issues, common for new restaurants, the salmon teriyaki dish and dashimaki egg were overcooked the day I visited.
#B1-03/04/05 Liang Court
177 River Valley Road
Singapore 179030
Tel: 63375105
Opening hours:
Weekday Lunch 11:30 - 15:00 Dinner 17:30 - 23:00
Weekend Lunch 11:30 - 17:00 Dinner 17:30 - 23:00
Facebook Page (here)
Opening Special
(updated Jan 2014, please check with restaurant to confirm promotion)
For a limited time only, Kensai Kitchen is extending an opening offer for weekday lunch period:
$17.90++ (usual $19.90++) for adults
$12.90++ (usual $14.90++) for children
Thank you Kensai Kitchen for the kind invitation. This is not a sponsored post and all views expressed are my own. All food and beverages were complimentary of Kensai Kitchen.