Date Places

Fantastic beef bowls at great prices. I was having a tough week so ya boi decided to go all out and order the Truffle Foie Gras Gyudon with double meat. Just the name alone sounds fancy af and you’d think it’d break the bank at $40-50 for a fancy beef bowl.

Nah, it’s like 20-ish bucks and worth every bite. It’s a huge portion and they don’t scrimp on the fancy stuff either, the foie gras was a respectable chunk and it had actual truffle shavings in it. Not just ‘truffle-flavored’ where they just whisper the word “truffle” at a bottle of oil halfway across the room before spritzing your food with it.

I had my meal as a set with the miso soup and chawanmushi. I don’t know what they put in it, but jeez it’s the best one I’ve had in a while.

Plus the double rice is free, just sayin’.

Considering the wide breadth of Russian cuisine, you wouldn’t name your restaurant after dumplings if you weren’t confident they were good. They were certainly the highlight of my meal there, definitely lives up to its name and more!

Best steak I’ve eaten in a long time, seared to perfection with a deep and well-developed crust while retaining a soft and juicy interior. The vegetables - Broccolini and mushrooms were pretty good and balanced out the richness of the steaks.

The interior ShuKuu managed to wonderfully capture the vibe of a dingy japanese bar in a seedy back alley after a long day of work. The jovial festive atmosphere, the old japanese commercials plastered around, the intentionally damaged walls with frayed ropes and chipped paint to give that worn and weathered look, it’s not hard to tell this place was put together by someone who fell in love with the izakaya aesthetic and culture there.

Char Siew Pork Jowl
Extremely tasty though the small portion size makes it a little less value for money than the other menu items

Potato Mentai Rosti
A rather unique fusion take on a classic potato dish, it departs from the traditional western cohesive potato pancake to a looser tudousi-like (chinese shredded potatoes) texture while boasting a smoky and complex flavor combination,

Agedashi
A classic dish done well, not much to say.

Stingray wing
Perhaps my favorite of the bar bites offered by ShuuKuu, each bite packed a smoky, umami-laden punch. While not substantial in the conventional sense, being thin strips of stingray wing, it is an excellent appetizer or drinking companion.

Quite possibly the best Italian Food I’ve had in a while. It was my first time in KINEX and of all the nearby restaurants and foodstalls packed into the basement floor, nothing else smelled quite as good or delivered on its obligation to provide quality food as this shop.

My partner and I had the Pescatora with squid ink chitarra and La Barca Funghi E Tartufo for mains. And dayum, did it leave an impression. The pasta sauce was so smooth and well incorporated with the pasta. And the pizza, the sauce to bread ratio was perfect, it was crispy outside while soft and fluffy inside.

While the dessert and appetizer offerings did not leave as strong of an impression as the mains, they were definitely solid contenders. The Arancini Siciliani was certainly a unique dish rarely seen elsewhere in Singapore. And the Tiramisu was a textbook example of a well-made dessert. Defo a place to return to once things go back to normal

A nice cozy shop tucked in a little corner of town, my partner and I got the 3-course lunch set there. They gave an entire small wheel of Truffle Camembert cheese as part of the appetizer for a $30 lunch set, if that ain’t great value I don’t know what is. We also had the Chicken Ballotine and Beef Linguine, which were tasty with an asian twist that I can’t exactly place. But it tastes like really good Zhi Char.

While my partner and I went there expecting kind of a conventional western meal, we were pleasantly surprised at the fusion Singaporean twist the dishes had. Certainly worth considering if you're looking for something a little adventurous, but less-so if you're bent on an authentic western experience. Overall an excellent fusion meal with good value for money!

For a place that is supposedly a steak and ribs restaurant, it does a mean dessert. Baked apple dishes often have the problem of undercoooking their apples or making them too sour.

The cobbler was crunchy, sweet and juicy, it had none of the common pitfalls encountered by apple based desserts. Well done Meat n' Chill, very cool.

Ordered Items:
- Thicc Burger
- Mentaiko Foie Gras Pasta
- Pancake Trio

Taste:
In general, food was well prepared and portion sizes were reasonable. Burger was especially juicy, although the cheese and sauce (or lack thereof) lacked acidity to balance out the flavors, the ample amounts of cheese and juicy patty (it's crazy how much moisture it retained despite it's deep and crispy sear) more than made up for that made for a positively "😩👌💦" burger experience.

The pasta was delicious with a wonderfully complex and rich emulsified sauce, though overall it was a little bit on the fatty side due to the foie gras pushing it into gelat territory, I'd recommend something lighter if you're choosing to eat pasta there.

Pancakes were thick and fluffy with a lightly crisp evenly browned exterior, not much to say, they were well made. Condiments and fruits made for a nice addition of heterogeneity to the dish.

I've placed scale bars in each photo so you can decide for yourself if you'll be full when you walk out.

Value:
Burger was on the pricey side for a sandwich at $20 ($23 courting the truffle fries upgrade).
Pasta $23 was quite worth considering they placed a sizable chunk of foie gras + the really thick & complex sauce.
Pancakes; I mean it's pancakes with fruit, syrup and butter. $16 is a little on the steep side, but you pay for the quality and presentation too.
Bearing in mind this is a relatively posh area prices will tend to be more than your usual neighborhoods, so these prices aren't unexpected.