08 October, 2007

Buffet for Sashimi Lovers?

I have heard about this place from my colleague and such a coincident that one of my friends was nice enough to suggest Ikoi as the venue for my birthday treat (yes I know, I have been procrastinating about it). Apparently, this place is so well known that bookings have to be made 1-2 weeks in advance – talk about Kiasu Singaporeans! Located at the ground floor of Hotel Miramar, the outside of the entrance looks impressive, but a step into the restaurant revealed a cramped seating arrangement – definitely not a decent place to have your meals if you are the sort who wish to have conversation over dinner.

It did not help also that we were assigned to counter seats, as there were inadequate space for all the dishes we had ordered. Service was pretty inefficient that night as the place was packed with tons of hungry and noisy souls, and waiting time for certain dishes were slow as I suspect orders were consolidated before the food were prepared.

It was said Ikoi is the place for people who craves for Sashimi, as the serving they dished out was indeed generous.

However, I was not blown away by it. In fact I was left so unimpressed with the quality that I did not even ordered a second helping. Other dishes that left me indifferent were the Tempura and Shisamo.

Even though it was served hot, the batter for the Tempura was rough – not the best you would expect from a Japanese restaurant.

The Shisamo was dried up when it was served, and this I am pretty sure that they were prepared earlier and re-grilled when orders come in - the inside was also cold and the outside full of smoky flavour. The Yakitori was also slightly chewy for consumption.

To be fair, they have a decent number of dishes to order from but none really make an impression except for the Stewed Salmon Head that I ordered by accident.

Saba Shioyaki

Chicken Karaage

Agedashi Tofu

Foodies would know that the flesh from the Salmon Head close to its belly is of course the most tender and delicious.

Occasionally, they would also dished out complimentary dishes like the Kaminabe and Salmon Sashimi – items that we did not request for.

Salmon Sashimi

Seafood Soup

However, only one out of many items that was of standard is just not good enough.

Rating

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 2.5/5
Price: 4/5
Total: 12.5/20

Hotel Miramar
401 Havelock Road
Singapore 169631




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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tried the buffet at Ikoi last year, agree that the food is really very mediocre. For Japanese buffets, I think that the buffet at Keyaki, Pan Pacific Hotel would dish out better standards even though I only tried their ala-carte before and it was good. But of course, prices are correspondingly higher :P

ty

His Food Blog said...

Hey~ wasn't really impressed with Ikoi. I hope Hanabi @ Bt Timah is better. Can't wait to try my hands on it.

Anonymous said...

Was it ex..??

His Food Blog said...

Hi there. It was $30+++ which adds up to around $35 per pax. I wouldn't consider that as expensive, but I certainly feel that the food can be better.

Anonymous said...

U might want to try the Japanese buffet at Takaya Bistro, somewhere along Upper Thomson. A bit far (for me), but a friend of mine brought me there for lunch on a Sat. Price is reasonable, $19.80+ and they serve sashimi & tempura as well. Not too bad for a very decent price..haha! Don't except top-notch quality like Keyaki's but u get to eat ur fill =P

His Food Blog said...

Hi there!

Upper Thomson sounds a bit far for me as well, but nevertheless I will keep a look out the next time I am near the vicinity.

However to be honest, I am not a really HUGE fan of buffets - as a foodie I would rather much go for quality than quantity. I just happen to drop by Hanabi and Ikoi because my friends bought me dinner at these places.

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