Kinki Restaurant + Bar, Customs House: “Mod-Japanese food that’s seemingly simple yet incredibly easy to like”

Kinki’s not the kind of place you stumble into. For one, its inconspicuous entrance of a lift already makes it more difficult than not to find. Kinki is that restaurant you visit after you’ve caught a glimpse of your friend’s Instagram story flexing the perfect dinner view by the bay, and casually dropped a, “Omg, where is this?” into their DMs.

And a perfect dinner view, it most definitely is. The spectacular, unblocked view of Singapore’s glittering city scape against an orange-tinted sunset grips me. I remember how my best friend and I would take away bee hoon from Suntec City’s White restaurant, sit by the steps along the Singapore River, and talk deep into the night. Oh, how different life is when you’re not a broke, struggling undergraduate.

The line between the ones who are here to savour delicately sliced sashimi and the group that flocks down to drink their weight in booze is separated by the walls that differentiate Level 2 from 3. Party on top, serious dinner business below.

Tonight, I pay a visit as a virgin Kinki customer, and also on the premise that my editor-in-chief sent me here. Equal parts work and play, just what the doctor prescribed.

What I tried

A Tuna Tartare Tortilla (S$34) starts us off—bluefin tuna marinated and aged in shoyu, tempura mushrooms, buffalo cheese, tomatoes, avocado, mitsuba (Japanese parsley), micro-greens, and yuzu dressing. It’s a list of ingredients I’d never thought I’d eat altogether in one bite, but I guess they don’t call Kinki ‘Japanese food with a twist’ for nothing.

Surprisingly light and delightfully inoffensive, there’s something about the tortilla and its toppings working in tandem to keep the dish poppingly addictive. Though I’d have to give fair warning—maguro fans might find this blend slightly sacrilegious, so if you’re the type to appreciate tuna for the sake of it, I say dive straight for the kill.

At first glance, the Spicy Buffalo Katsu (S$28) is in desperate need of a makeover—its presentation about as uninspiring as the inside of a politician’s wardrobe.

Lucky for it, however, the katsu’s superior marbling, Worcestershire sauce marinade, Japanese chilli oil, and shichimi togarashi mix swoop in for redemption. Still, I wish that they’d turn up the heat by just a couple of notches for a thorough kick.

The Unagi Claypot (S$32) fiercely rallies my affection; a dish so seemingly simple yet so incredibly easy to like. It is a testament that less, is sometimes indeed, more. When you’ve got spankingly fresh unagi and a solid recipe, pretentiousness flies out the window.

I am told that the dish originated as chef’s rare treat for his staff on special occasions such as Kinki’s anniversary or Christmas, but was put on the menu after relentless encouragement from them. A sweet backstory that makes the already gratifying dish all the more saccharine.

It’s not often that you find lamb on a Japanese menu, so the table was really split down in half on the Crusty Lamb Rack (S$45). Aged in koji for a day, the lamb then had its fat rendered before it’s coated in panko and mentaiko, and baked.

My mind couldn’t help but flutter to Brie de Meaux upon biting in—both so utterly rich and shamelessly racy. Though I’m hardly a fan of ginger nor lamb, the dish was made palatable with the help of thinly sliced dehydrated ginger slices that cut through a bit of the lamb’s gaminess.

If deconstructed dishes are a thing, then the Cowabunga (S$36) is essentially a constructed Wagyu beef bowl. From a symphony of seared A4 Wagyu Beef Slices, cream cheese, cucumber, tobiko, potato floss, homemade spicy mayo, and soy reduction birthed an interesting iteration of the traditional maki roll.

Tender, flavourful, thinly-sliced strips of A4 Wagyu beef that hugged the perimeters of my snuggly-rolled maki—I really cannot complain. Perhaps except for the fact that I was obliged to share it, for civil reasons, obviously.

By this time of the night, I’m all ready to call it a day, but the Homemade Cheese Tart with Raspberry Compote (S$12) stands between the finish line and me. I make no claims of being a dessert connoisseur; in fact, I often flee at the sight of any sweet fare that isn’t milk tea.

The Cheese Tart—which really is a cheesecake—looks alarmingly dense, but an airy, rippled texture awaits within. Given the huge portion, and not because I’m the slowest eater at the table whatsoever, I struggle to stomach everything on the plate. If you must, order this to share.

Kinki also offers bottled cocktails, including their signature mix Mr Blue Sky, starting from S$22 per bottle.

Final thoughts

This succinct six-course dinner comes as a welcome relief amidst our typically exploding food writer bellies. A menu that is to the point, yet scrumptious in its own right is something I can respect.

Kinki might not quite have hit the spot with every single dish, but it sure has a damn good riverscape of Singapore’s Central Business District. Grab some unagi, cocktails, and someone to share the view with. Because with great booze and a glittering sky on a cloudless night, brilliantly average fare is sometimes forgivable.

Expected Damage: S$51++ – S$172++ per pax