There was a hype amongst foodies in Singapore when Ginkyo by Kinki opened an outlet in Holland Village. Different from Kinki Restaurant + Bar, Ginkyo eludes a more casual vibe offering modern fusion Japanese cuisine
Located at One Holland Village Mall, Ginkyo is located at an exclusive corner on the 3rd floor with a distinctive look. Inspired by the Japanese Ginkgo Festival, the tone of the bistro is warm and welcoming like the autumn foliage during the festival
The same warm tones are elevated with the golden hue from the yellow globe lightings and glowing backwall behind the bar counter. The entire space is not too big with capacity for at least 50 diners at one time. Tables were quickly filled up and almost all diner had to make an appointment to get a seat
They offer a pretty interesting menu of authentic Japanese dishes as well as elevated dishes with the use of premium ingredients but cooked in a modern twist. Since we were in a Japanese bar and bistro, I ordered a super high cocktail which was made of Kakubin Japanese whiskey, soda water and chrysanthemum. The end result is a mild alcohol with a refreshing taste which was perfect for the evening
First dish served was the premium sashimi platter which has 2 pieces of each variety of fish. There was tuna, salmon, Hamachi, scallop and seabream. The fish were served in thick slices and very fresh with a nice texture bite. I liked that the sashimi was served with fresh grated wasabi which added to the flavour of the fishes
For sides, we ordered the ice plant salad which was mixed with cucumbers, shiso-infused soy and spicy miso garlic. The salad was mostly made of cucumber with only a few pieces of ice plant. As a starter dish, the cucumber were crunchy and refreshing with a balanced savoury and spicy flavour from the sauce
One item caught my eye from the menu and it was the kimchi onigiri arancini. An Arancini is a traditional Sicilian street food made of risotto that's rolled into a ball, stuffed, breaded, and gently fried while the onigiri is a popular rice ball snack in Japan. The rice balls came served with a side of salad cream sauce and topped with chopped kimchi vegetables. The outside was fried till golden crispy and inside was warm and soft with bits of kimchi mixed into the rice. This is a great dish as a bar snack but can be filling as a starter
For maki rolls, we were attracted by this fusion roll which had seared foie gras, unagi, breaded prawn, cream cheese, cucumber and chives. We have eaten many sushi with these ingredients but not all together. Surprisingly, the flavours matched quite well with an explosion of textures and taste. The size of each roll made it difficult to place the whole thing into the mouth at one go so it was slightly messy to eat
This other small starter dish was the foie gras and scallops crispies which is a tower of seared foie gras on top of Hokkaido scallops with anago sauce on crispy rice. The result is a mouth full of creamy texture and crunchiness from the rice. The scallops in this case quite overpowered by the foie gras
For mains, we choose some popular ones like the unagi clay pot which took some time to cook. The rice has a nice charred flavour like the Chinese styled clay pot rice but was alot more moist and soft due to the Japanese short rice being used. The unagi was chargrilled with teriyaki sauce so it matched the flavour of the rice nicely. It was a very heartwarming dish
As we loved fried fish, we also ordered the squirrel fish which is the deep fried catch of the day with paprika garlic miso sauce and served with deep fried mantou. The mantou was nicely fried and did not really match with the sauce of the fish in this dish so we ate the buns by itself. The fish was nicely fried with meaty flesh but the overall result was a slightly dry fish with too little sauce
Another highly recommended dish is the okonomi-rosti which is made of shredded potatoes okonomiyaki, cabbage, scallops, bacon, bonito flakes and Mentaiko sauce. This was indeed the best dish for the evening as the potatoes were melted nicely into the hot plate and the cabbage was soft and flavourful when combined with the bacon and bonito flakes. The Mentaiko sauce added a nice tangy creamy flavour into the dish
Overall, the dishes at Ginkyo is quite different from the usual Japanese bistro and can be quite a refreshing change. The price is higher than other Japanese joints but the dishes are not exactly at the level of fine dining Japanese cuisine. The entire restaurant did get too dark for us to see the food properly so we depending a lot
Address: 7 Holland Vlg Wy, #03-01-04 One, Singapore 275748
Operating hours: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm ( 10.30 pm for Fri and Sat)
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