yakiniku-oh

On a Monday evening, my friend promised to bring me to "the best and his favorite" yakitori place in Singapore. Along Orchard Road, we met. As I got lost along the way, he met me at the nearest OG before we adjourned to the stall. The place brought up many memories of me attending church in that area in secondary school. However, to my chagrin, I could not remember the place well and got lost.

When we reached, I was surprised to realise that the stall sold korean bbq meat as well, and that they prepared the yakitori in the kitchen before serving, as I had thought that they would grill it in front of you. I was also surprised to see that it was relatively modern, as I had expected it to be a traditional Japanese restaurant. It looked like one of those copy-and-paste Japanese shops with cute fonts and run-of-the-mill advertisements.

My friend recommended the yakitori pork belly and pork fats being the best items on the menu. He asked me if I wanted to order beef and I agreed. I also added a prawn to the order as I love the taste of grilled prawns.

We also ordered other dishes to share such as the omu-soba, takoyaki, and gyoza, which was apparently one of the most popular and recommended items on the menu as well.

The food took a while to come and we had a nice chat meanwhile.

The first item to arrive was the gyoza. It was meaty and tasty with vegetables, but not too filling. It went well with the light soya dipping sauce it was served with. It was easy to see why it was a favorite menu item.

Then came the yakitori sticks. I took a bite of the pork fat one and was instantly surprised by how soft and decadent it was. The pork fat was chewy and delicious, and every bite felt very sinful with the amount of oil that oozed out. Then, my friend upped the ante by teaching me the proper seasoning method.

We dipped it in the sesame sauce, before proceeding to put chili flakes and then salt upon it. The taste of the sauce, the slight spice for that kick, and salty after-taste was amazing.

For the other skewers, the beef meat also had a tender and soft texture, which complemented the beef fat well. The prawn was not as flavorful as I expected but nonetheless yummy. The pork belly however, was disappointing, as it was not fatty enough, and the meat tasted slightly dry.

The takoyaki was delicious as well, but could have done with more octopus filling. The first few bites had me wondering if it was made purely from flour. The omu-soba was my favorite though. With soft pieces of egg and crunchy cabbage, and tasty noodles, this dish was extremely enjoyable for me. The noodles had a kind of fried-savory texture, which I throughly enjoyed.

After a satisfying dinner, we adjourned to Maccha House for dessert.