Kichi

Have you ever been to a restaurant, only to find that you are the only customer ? Would you leave, thinking that the place is not worth a visit since it is so unpopular, or would you rather stay and trust your own instincts ? Such was the situation we found ourselves in as we entered this very restaurant the other day for lunch. Fortunately for us, we had the benefit of prior experience to guide us, for we had previously been to another restaurant belonging to the same group, Tatsu, and we had a most enjoyable experience then; so at the end, we decided to stay. Situated on the 6th floor of a building, with the entrance of the building located off Cameron Road in a small alley, this place was indeed rather "hidden", and we were not surprised that few people even know of its existence; we only read about this place for the first time from a magazine fairly recently. Place was decorated in simple, traditional Japanese style with ample spacing between tables. The set lunch menu offered quite a lot of choices (more than 30), mostly at very reasonable prices. After going through the menu, we finally ordered a "Kichi" special bento set and an assorted sushi set. As photography was apparently not allowed here, we simply sat back and relax this time, while the chef busied themselves with the cooking inside the open kitchen. As all these were happening, other customers (mostly Japanese) started to arrive at the doorstep, and before long our lunch was served to us.

The assorted sushi set came with appetizer, soup, 10 pieces of sushi plus an egg roll, a small bowl of cold udon, and a coffee. The appetizer was a form of mixed stew with lotus root and other vegetables, marinated in a dashi-based broth, and was nicely done; the miso soup was freshly prepared and had depth in flavour, definitely not those run-of-the-mill stuff usually served in other local Japanese restaurants; the cold udon was nice and tangy and served in a sweet soy broth; egg roll was of the right texture and fine, although a bit lacking in flavour; and sushi were all reasonably fresh by lunch-time standards - the salmon belly and minced tuna sushi were particularly good. Coffee was ok. Overall speaking, although this set offered little surprises, still all the items were of reasonably high standard, and at ~$100 per set, it was definitely good value for money in our opinion

If the sushi set was good, then the Kichi special bento set was even better. Miso soup was the same as the other set and of high standard. Egg rolls were ok. The appetizers were the marinated burdock with carrots and the cold Japanese style pasta, both of which were refreshing and tasty. The cold tofu was also nicely done, served chilled with bonito flakes and a sweet soy sauce. But the true highlight of the set must be the grilled Japanese mackerel, which was cooked just right with cripsy skin and tender, juicy meat, being served with freshly grated daikon, and of course, well-cooked Japanese rice - a simply irresistable combination ! (Actually for this set, you could also choose fermented yellow beans and fried vegetables, instead of the tofu and fish.) Dessert was sesame ice cream which was fine. At ~$70 per set, the standard of the set was very high indeed.

My only negative comment for this place was for the service, which was quite lacking at times. Apparently some of the wait staff were just trainees and they were not adequately supervised. No one seemed to bother to refill our tea, and the bill arrived only after repeated prompting. Wish they could improve on this bit ... ...

Overall speaking a most enjoyable meal. We noticed that most of the items on the menu were not terribly expensive; perhaps this would give us the excuse to come back again to try the other items.