Shin Yuu Japanese Restaurant @ Greenwood Ave

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.

relish by wildrocket @ Cluny Court

Last Saturday a bunch of us went to Relish @ Cluny Court to celebrate the tennis stars' birthdays. "Tennis stars" because they used to be, gasp!, national players?! I think. Anyway. It was a rainy morning but we still managed to get ourselves out of bed and met there at, 1.15pm. More like lunch. All of us had heard of this place before, but never been here. We had our virgin experience together.

While trying to locate this place at Cluny Court, I came across several interesting cafes on the first floor - another potential brunch place, a cupcake cafe, Awfully Chocolate, Marble Slab Creamery, and what we would later find out, 3-Inch Sin! And Cold Storage. Next to this mini shopping centre is Botanic Gardens. This place has everything you need on a weekend! 

Thankfully we had a reservation, because the place was packed with families, couples, friends, expats... 

Blue Cheese Beef Burger with Rucola, Poached Pear & Walnut Butter ($19) -

Beef burger with pears?! Walnut butter? Blue cheese?? An experimental recipe that would go awry, or be awesome? 

Verdict: Simply, awesome. Two thumbs up! We had it medium done. The pears added a refreshing and delightful taste to the burger and left my taste buds wanting for more, and same goes for the walnut butter, which tasted more like peanut butter. Beef burger with pears and peanut-butter, hm, sounds like an unmixable mix, but they surprisingly well together. I couldn't really taste the blue cheese unless I scoop it out, but Pineapple, whom I shared this with, insisted the taste was very strong. Either my taste buds doesn't work well or I'm not adverse to blue cheese. 

 The Englishman had a Pauwel Kwak (a kind of Belgian Beer) to go along with his Steak Sandwich, and it came in an interesting-looking beer glass and wooden stand. Very authentic, I must say. The Peach Beer and Honeydew Beer sounded interesting as well but sadly, no one ordered them.

Eggs Royale   - 

It wasn't on the menu but Ms Soprano requested for the ham to be changed to smoked salmon instead, with an additional charge.

Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs and Cream Cheese Bagel - 

The eggs was good, but the smoked salmon was too fishy and the bagel too hard. Wrong choice, unfortunately. Pineapple shot daggers at me because I kinda forced her to share this with me. 

 Crabmeat Linguine 

This tasted pretty good for the first few twirls, but it could be too much for your palate if you were having this on your own. Food taste best when shared IMO :)
Because it wasn't my main and the grass is always greener on the other side, I stole quite a few forkfuls from TY, teehee.
Real crabmeat with generous servings. After a while it tasted like Chili Crab Pasta - East meets West. Which starts to taste strange after you have half of the dish..

 For desserts (which we placed candles at the side and on top of the dessert cup), we had the Signature Cheesecake ($9), which surprised me when it came in a cup (no photos) with ice cream, strawberries, cream cheese, and crumble. It wasn't fantastic, but it might be because I'm not a fan of cheesecake and sour stuff (strawberries). 


Now this was good - Lava cake with ice cream. Look at the volcano of molten chocolate oozing out! Yummy.

It was a good meal - the restaurant was packed but it wasn't too noisy, which some restaurants could be when they have that amount of people. The ambience was laid-back and the atmosphere casual, sunlight streaming in from the side window after a rainy morning, company of friends who enjoy a good meal with you, what's not to like?


How much was spent per pax: $26 - $33 (I can't remember!)
Would I come back here?: Definitely!

501 Bukit timah road
#02-01 Cluny court
Tel: 6763 1547