For people with a big appetite, you’ll be wow-ed by the selection of dishes offered by Kumo Japanese Dining. Located at Alexandra Central Mall, this restaurant serves a la carte buffet for both lunch and dinner.
Of course, if you are not a big eater and would prefer to order individual dishes, Kumo Japanese Dining caters to your needs too.
With a seating capacity of only 21 diners, you have to come early to reserve a seat if you want to enjoy a meal here.
For $39.80++, you can order a range of over 90 different dishes, ranging from sashimi to deep-fried and grilled dishes. For our buffet experience, we tried at least one from each category.
We started by getting the all-time favourite Sashimi, and the plate included thick slices of salmon, tuna, yellow tail, sword fish, and octopus.
We could tell that the sashimi served was fresh the moment we took a bite of it. There was a pleasant hint of fishiness, and the thick slices had a firm bite.
The star of the dish was actually the salmon, because we loved how it had a buttery smooth texture and each thick slice was soft and succulent.
We also tried the Nigiri, which was equally fresh and served with just the right ratio of fragrant sushi rice.
I personally prefer Nigiri over Sashimi because rice is a staple food to me, and also because the rice added texture to the soft fish meat.
I liked how the rice was sticky enough to prevent the nigiri from falling apart, but not too sticky that it had a gooey texture.
Don’t forget to dip your nigiri and sashimi slices into the soy sauce, and maybe even add some wasabi to enjoy the satisfying nose-tingling burn.
The Dobin Mushi ($15) wasn’t included in the buffet menu, but if you’re looking for a warm dish, this seafood broth is something you can consider.
You can squeeze some lime juice into the broth to further enhance the flavour of the seafood broth with some tanginess.
To me, I felt the soup tasted quite ordinary. Yes, the broth was light and clean, but apart from that, it tasted like a traditional Japanese seafood broth.
Most of the tempura that we’re used to are heavily seasoned with salt and flavouring. This however tasted “healthy”, and by that, I mean it tasted bland.
We had the Mixed Tempura which include shrimp, mushroom, sweet potato, egg plant, pumpkin, and okra.
We ended up dipping the Mixed Tempura into the sauce multiple times in order to season it. On the bright side, I could taste the distinct flavours of the ingredients beneath the deep fried batter.
We also tried the Agedashi Tofu, which was lightly powdered with cornstarch and deep fried till crispy. The crispy crust and the smooth tofu produced distinct flavours and textures which complemented each other.
I am glad this was a buffet, because that meant that I could order more of the Smoked Duck! Each slice of duck was glazed with a fine layer of sweet sauce and grilled with black pepper. Although the duck meat was a little chewy for my liking, I enjoyed how there was a fine balance between sweet and savoury flavours in this dish.
For a taste of the ocean, we tried the Saba Shioyaki (mackerel).
Each bite was soft and moist, with a strong fishy taste. Psst, that’s because it contained high levels of Omega-3 oil!
How can we not order Cha Soba when we are at a Japanese restaurant? A small portion of buckwheat noodle was placed in a bowl containing tsuyu sauce, the dipping sauce. No doubt about it, this was a decent bowl of soba.
With the usual crab meat and minced meat found inside the Chawanmushi, it was pretty ordinary. That being said, the smooth texture and mildly sweet and salty taste were still satisfying nonetheless.
We felt that Kumo Japanese Dining should reduce its extensive spread, and focus on perfecting a few main dishes. While their Sashimi and Nigiri were excellent, the flavour of the other dishes was rather ordinary.
If you’re a fan of raw fish, Kumo Japanese Dining is the place for you!
Expected Damage: $39.80++ per pax
