Kinsei Japanese Restaurant


I dined at Kinsei for the very first time back in December 2011, around the time when it had first opened I think. We had lunch there and sat at the sushi bar area. There were some interesting sushi on the conveyor belt, but the price was high and portion size was small/average. The taste was most ordinary. As there wasn't much to choose from on the conveyor belt, we ordered a chirashi sushi (sashimi on rice). This was quite disappointing as there was very little fish and it wasn't all too fresh. Totally not worth the $19! We left Kinsei, having paid close to $50 and still hungry.

Chirashi Sushi - ordered on 30-Dec-2011
However, when I saw a Scoopon deal in June 2012 for Kinsei Japanese Restaurant, I decided to give this place another try. The deal included edamame to share, choice of 2 entrees, choice of 2 mains and two glasses of wine (red or white) for the price of $35. I thought, $35 for lunch for 2 people, sounds like pretty good value! So it's actually not too bad.

So, I visited Kinsei with a girlfriend yesterday for lunch. We were seated in the outside area (as that was the a la carte section). Inside, there was a sushi conveyor belt and a teppanyaki area.  It was a bit sunny when we went, so we were under sunlight for pretty much our whole meal. As the weather wasn't too hot, the sun was not too bad and there was a bit of cloud cover towards the later of the day. The natural light was good for food photo taking!

We replaced the wine with soft drinks! Both glasses were large and filled to the rim.
Lemonade & Lemon Lime Bitters
Edamame
Gyoza
Scallops
Our two entrees of Gyoza & Scallops
There was nothing exciting about the edamame, it was cold and not salted. But when the entrees arrived, we were 'ooing and ahhing' because it looked delicious! The gyozas were large and juicy and the scallops were plump and sweet!

For mains, my friend ordered Aburi Salmon on Rice and I decided to try the Chirashi Sushi (again!). And was I happy that I ordered the Chirashi Sushi! Compared to the one I ordered back in December, there was great improvement this time!

Aburi Salmon on Rice
Chirashi Sushi - ordered July 2012
The Chirashi Sushi was absolutely delicious. All the sashimi was fresh and there was a wide variety. The normal menu price of this is $21.50 (the price has gone up compared to the previous time I came, but as you can see, the quality/quantity and variety has improved immensely).

I was very pleased with all the food and the service was friendly. The only thing I noticed about Kinsei Japanese Restaurant is that the staff were speaking Chinese/Mandarin, so could this be a sign that the chefs are not Japanese?

Update: Visit on Sunday 5th August 2012

This was the third visit to Kinsei. This time round, the food was still good, but the experience was only average. We sat at the sushi bar. The bench/table was not clean, there were some oily stains etc. There were no small dishes for soya sauce. There were always some small flies flying around (I suspect there was some food that had gone off behind the sushi bar counter). I constantly had to shoo the flies away! We ordered a sashimi salad, chicken karage, gyozas, aburi scallop nigiri, one bowl of rice and a pot of green tea. Total bill came to $47.50

All the food was tasty, but because I had to shoo away the flies all the time, it made the meal less enjoyable. I think sitting outside is better than sitting at the sushi conveyor belt section.

Sashimi Salad

Chicken Karage



Kinsei Japanese Restaurant Website

Kinsei Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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