Kiseki's Japanese buffet offers good value

Chen Jingwen | soshiok.com | Wed Jun 23 2010

Singapore, June 23, 2010

Kiseki Japanese Buffet

See pictures of Kiseki Japanese buffet

When you don't want to pay top dollar for Japanese food or care for smooth cuts of tuna bursting with umami, this Japanese buffet might satisfy you.

Kiseki Japanese Buffet Restaurant at Heeren's basement could have struck on the winning formula of attracting diners with a decent spectrum of Japanese favourites and affordable prices - judging by the increasing number of diners it has been attracting after the quiet launch.

You can gobble up everything from sashimi, cold seafood, sushi, grilled and fried meats and seafood, tempura, sukiyaki, shabu shabu, desserts plus hot and cold beverages for as low as $19.80++ for adult and $12.80++ for child for a weekday lunch.

Weekend lunch costs $26.80++ while dinner prices are $29.80++ for weekdays and $32.80++ for weekends - Fri, Sat, Sun, eve of PH and PH.

Don't expect top-notch ingredients that you find in an upmarket eatery as this is a casual budget restaurant.

But the concept should appeal to families and those who hanker for a relaxed izakaya-style dining with pals where they can eat and laugh heartily.

Overall, the food quality and cooking standard swung from mediocre to satisfying.

But with more people discovering the good deal, you can expect more freshly cooked food to be plonked at the winding counters along the open-kitchens and less wilted stuff.

Sushi and Sashimi
Below average and average in quality. The salmon and tuna sashimi were more decent than the rest.

Cold Seafood
Mostly frozen seafood like Alaskan crab legs, flower crabs and clams. The prawns were the freshest.

Grilled items
Expect steaks, pork chops, grilled salmon head, grilled saba (mackerel), tsukune or minced chicken balls, mushrooms. Go for the grilled salmon and saba, which goes well with rice or sake.

Tempura
The veggies and prawns should be crispy when you grab them when they've just emerged the strainer of the deep-fryer.

Cooked and steamed dishes
The chawanmushi and Japanese curry, which fared better, passed muster. Fill a bowl with steamed rice, top it with some tempura and ladle the curry over it - delicious! Accompany it with radish pickles, a salad and miso soup, and you get a full meal.

Assembling your own 'set' can be fun.

How about rice with grilled saba, a small cold soba with tempura, sashimi, a raw tuna salad, chawanmushi and a soup of the day. There you have it - a Japanese set meal, which can set you back by $25 or $30 at a mid-range Japanese restaurant.

Or if you're focusing on teppanyaki or robatayaki dishes, you can start with refreshing salads and steamed dishes and end with fried kimchi rice topped with crispy garlic - which you can take as much as you want.

But at Kiseki, you can have much more.

The dessert spread offers about 20 items but we like the sensuous creamy tofu cheesecake and flavourful melon jelly in tiny glass.

There's also a good selection of soft drinks and hot beverages. But you might want to order a sake or shochu to make the experience a little more special.

Kiseki Japanese Buffet Restaurant
The Heeren
B1-01
260 Orchard Road
Tel: 67361216
11.30am - 3pm
6pm - 10.30pm

See pictures of Kiseki Japanese buffet