YOSHI Restaurant: Seasonal Kyoto-Style Omakase With Wagyu Beef & Uni At Orchard

Nestled in Forum the Shopping Mall, YOSHI Restaurant (a rebrand of what used to be Kaiseki Yoshiyuki) is a Japanese restaurant with a Kyoto Kaiseki concept.

The 14-seater restaurant was dimly-lit with soft and inviting warm light. Like most other Japanese omakase restaurants, YOSHI Restaurant is clean and simple with a samurai-inspired decor.

YOSHI Restaurant offers a themed menu, where they focus on one specific ingredient and build the dishes around it. I picked their Beef Menu (S$178++).

The first dish on our set menu was the seasonal starter featuring a portion of uni atop of a baby eggplant, pickled chrysanthemum and a little bit of wasabi, placed in a bowl of vinegar jelly.

The uni simply melted in my mouth. I took another bite of the rich and creamy uni and paired it with all the other ingredients in the bowl. What caught me by surprise was the baby eggplant, which was so soft and smooth that I almost thought I was having tofu for a second.

The pickled chrysanthemum and vinegar jelly were great palate cleansers, while the wasabi gave the dish a refreshing kick.

The next dish was three types of seasonal appetisers: komochi ayu (pregnant sweetfish), horse mackerel packed with pickled chrysanthemum and cucumber, and kaki shiraae (gluten and persimmon with soy tofu dressing).

If you haven’t noticed, the use of chrysanthemum in the first two dishes shows the season of the year — chrysanthemum typically blooms in fall in Japan, hence they’ve incorporated it in their dishes to match the current season.

The horse mackerel wasn’t really to my liking, because of its fishy taste that I’m not a big fan of. However, the pickled chrysanthemum and cucumber helped toned down the fishiness and made it more appetising.

The komochi ayu was quite a treat even though the skin and the texture of the pregnant sweetfish was a little tougher than usual. It was first grilled and then simmered in hojicha, adding a subtle roasted tea flavour to it. The extra sansho added on top also gave the savoury fish a subtle peppery kick.

My favourite appetiser out of these three was actually the kaki shiraae. The appetiser itself was light and sweet, making it a good palate cleanser after the mackerel and sweetfish.

After the appetisers, we were served a light dashi soup with kinmedai fish. The soup was light with a hint of sweetness to it from the simmered onions, and the flaky fish had a nice bite to it.

As we moved on to our next course, I had uni wrapped in Wagyu beef, hay-smoked yellowtail and tuna sashimi.

The hay-smoked yellowtail and tuna sashimi were to die for. The tuna sashimi was basically a dream come true, it was so soft I didn’t even have to chew much. As for the yellowtail, I could really taste the smokiness, and this was definitely not a common omakase dish.

I really liked the charred Wagyu beef slices, it gave the dish a heavier and meatier flavour and went well with the uni.

For the main dish in the Beef Set, I had a light dashi soup with Kagoshima Wagyu beef slices. The soup came out piping hot, and Chef Yoshi immediately cooked the beef slices in the boiling soup. Before serving it, Chef Yoshi sprayed water on the lid of the bowl.

Back in the day, each samurai would get a personal chef who would spray water on the pot lids before serving the dish to them. This is to ensure that no one has touched the dish before it reaches the samurai, preventing anyone from putting poison in the food.

The simmering process infused the soup with the savoury beef flavour. The Wagyu beef slices were very tender and juicy, even after cooking in the soup for quite a while.

If you still have space in your tummy, YOSHI Restaurant can fill up your belly with their dons. I ended my meal with their Wagyu beef don with onsen egg. This would be great for those who simply can’t get enough of the Wagyu beef.

Don’t worry, their dons come in smaller portions so you can try this dish even if you’re quite full.

If you want to experience authentic Kyoto-style kaiseki, head down to YOSHI Restaurant and give their omakase a try. Chef Yoshi doesn’t disappoint!

Expected Damage:Beef Menu (S$178++) per pax