Two Fridays ago the colleagues and I went out for a celebratory dinner
after the completion of a major project. A colleague suggested this
place, which he said was the best Japanese ala carte buffet he has ever
eaten in Singapore, so all of us decided to take his recommendation.
Located at a very ulu part of Bukit Timah and right smack in the middle of an elite residential area, it's hard to locate this place by bus/mrt.
It's quite a small place so reservations are recommended. There were 6 of us so we had a cozy room to ourselves.
Wafu steak - Juicy and succulent, not too chewy and just the right texture.
Shin Yuu Signature Chawanmushi - All of us were satisfied with this. The texture of the egg was well done, though I found the roe slightly too fishy.
I love to start off the meal with sashimi. Sashimi Moriawase - Salmon, tuna, yellowtail, swordfish, king fish, tako, and a huge blob of plasticine-looking wasabi. At the price of the dinner buffet ($48++), I expected a certain quality of the food here, and I was very pleased. The sashimi were fresh and had a sweet taste of the sea. I love the flavour and the texture of them and as I write this now and recall, I can almost, almost just taste it at the tip of my tongue again. It was really good. Also, my first time trying king fish - very sweet and succulent!
What I would call Shyo Bah - you know, the kind you eat at hawker center with Char Siew Rice? I don't take fatty pork so no comments on this.
One of my favourite items of the night, though a few colleagues would beg to differ as it was a tad too salty and it resembled orh-lua (Hokkien for fried oyster omelette).This Shin Yuu Special Ebi Miso Mayo Yaki (basically, fried omelette with mayo, miso and prawns) was flavourful and the egg was done fried yet runny at some parts, very delicious. They could've cut down on the salt though.
Complimentary premium items - The Shin Yuu Special Aburi Sushi with Mentaiko Topping was charred to perfection, and for me, anything with the salmon cod roe is bound to good. I felt that the satisfaction of the Tuna Belly Sushi was lost, it just tasted like minced meat sushi. I don't really fancy duck meat so I didn't try the Smoked Duck Breast.
Raw oysters at a Japanese buffet? You bet. Another kind complementary item. It was fresh but not as big and juicy as what some other places offer, but I'm not complaining because this was definitely more than expected.
I can't remember whether this was complementary or on the menu. The Grilled King Crab Legs were awesome as well, the meat sweet and tender, leaves you wanting for more.
Shin Yuu Special Dory topped with Cheese - A calorie-laden item with the dory smothered with cheese. The flavours didn't really complement each other. Using cheese over fried dory fish is not very remarkable. I can do this at home too!
The amount of food on the table was quite scary. In total, we had 3 Mixed Sashimi Platters. The 2nd and 3rd serving came with...drum roll...omg tuna belly!! It was oh, so, good. We couldn't believe they offered this at a buffet! It wasn't on the menu though, it just came when we ordered the mixed platter. Ms Sashimi Queen (she's bestowed with this title because she truly eats a lot of sashimi) and I thoroughly enjoyed the sashimi there.
At 3/4 into the meal, a waiter popped his head into the room and asked, do we want a complementary salmon or yellowtail cheek? I exclaimed, "Oh yes of course!". The flesh around the head is the most tender and I enjoy picking my chopsticks at it and dissecting every bone at that area.
The Hotate Mentaiko was puny, though the mentaiko partly made up for it. Decent but not overly inspiring.