I have been wanting to try Japanese Buffet for very long. After doing my research, most people seemed to agree that Ikoi Japanese Restaurant at Hotel Miramar, Irodori Japanese restaurant at River View Hotel and Senki Japanese Restaurant at Killiney road are amongst the best Japanese Buffets in Singapore.

As my friends have been to Ikoi and Irodori Japanese restaurant before, we ended up at Senki Japanese Restaurant for the buffet dinner.

With over 100 items on the Japanese buffet menu, it’s probably a good idea to skip lunch if you are going there for dinner. Most importantly, come with a group of friends so that you can order more things to share.

Under normal circumstances, it is a sin to order so much food. But since we were already at Senki restaurant for their Japanese buffet, we would be fools if we didn’t eat to our hearts’ content. I could imagine the number of rounds that I have to run the next day just to burn off the calories — oh whatever, the diet can wait.

Amongst the Sushi/maki available on Senki’s menu, we tried the Floss Karashi and Mango California. The former was surpsingly good, the tasty chicken floss had a slightly spicy sauce. While the latter was not too bad, it came with the appetising mango topping on top of the typical California maki.

We were proceeding on a rather slow pace. Mindful of the fact that there were many items that we wanted to try, we only had a hand roll each. Senki Japanese Restaurant has quite a selection of different hand rolls: California, ebi tempura, salmon skin, chopped tuna, tamago, tuna, salmon.

My friends’ eyes were glittering when the Sashimi platter arrived. This is probably the highlight of the Japanese buffet since you can eat as much sashimi as you want. Tuna, sword fish, salmon, yellow tail sashimi were devoured in an instant. We kept asking for salmon sashimi throughout the night – free flow sashimi is joy.

From the appetisers, we had chawanmushi, and goma tofu. We continued to fill our stomachs with the grilled dishes: sticks of Yakitori which were so-so, the seemingly healthy grilled shiitake, the Saba Shioyaki, and the delicious Jagaimo Mentai cheese yaki (potato with fish roe and cheese).

Deep-fried food always tastes good. Needless to say, we had an assortment of tempura (prawn and vegetables). Another favourite was the Agedashi Tofu, fried beancurd that was crispy outside and soft inside.

Forget about Senki Restaurant’s tonkatsu, it is not worth the calories. If you like deep-fried food, go for the Tori Karaage – juicy chunks of fried chicken that were good and sinful.

I cannot remember how many items we tried out of the 138 selection on Senki’s Buffet menu, but we definitely ordered at least a few dishes from each category.

For those of you who are keen on the Japanese buffet, the different selections include: appetiser, salad, sashimi, maki, nigiri sushi, hand roll, Itamemono (pan fried dishes), Owan Mono (soup), Agemono (deep fried dishes), Yakimono (grilled dishes), Menrui (noodle), and Gohan (rice).

Between bites, we stoned for a few moments, and stared at the empty plates on the table. We ate, and ate, and ordered some more. We chatted, and took toilet breaks to rest our stomach for even more food. It felt as though we were feasting for three days long.

The Japanese Buffet at Senki Japanese Restaurant is $30++ for lunch, and $33++ for dinner. Prices are the same for weekday and weekend. For eve/public holidays, it is $39++ for the buffet dinner.

Which is your favourite place for Japanese Buffet in Singapore?

Singapore Food Restaurant Review
Senki Japanese Restaurant
109 Killiney Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6734 5565

I’m head over heels like love with brunch. It’s more like the feeling of being able to slowly enjoy a long extended breakfast plus lunch, while watching time slips by. The idea of an all-day brunch place appeals to me – it’s damn sexy.

Of late, I’m always too busy over the weekends that there wasn’t a chance to have my favorite brunch, and so when I found out that KPO Cafe serves all day brunch during my first visit, I casually suggested to my friend, “let’s have brunch for dinner.” Okay, maybe casually is an understatement; it was a desperate attempt to plot and make her believe that instead of having steak and salad, it’s the norm to have eggs and pancakes for dinner.

Now, I think I’m really a crazy person (having ice cream for dinner) when it comes to food; I mean who in the right mind will want to have brunch during dinner ? Not many. I have pitched the idea to some of my friends, but most of them think that I’m joking. Surprisingly, it’s either my scheme works or my friend is just as crazy as me – we had brunch for dinner.

How can any brunch be without Eggs Benedict? It is like what har hau is to dim sum, or how chili crabs will be without the deep-fried mantou. After my first encounter with eggs benedict, I’m hooked. The thick creamy hollandaise sauce that is drizzled on top of the beautifully poached egg – it’s a truly magnificent sight to behold.

KPO’s Egg Benedict ($13) uses bacon streaks instead of ham or salmon, and together with the poached eggs, they sat prettily on a slice of thick white toast. For $13, I was expecting a lot more, and sadly it did not deliver. Oh, there’s only one poached eggs? I turned to my friend with a we-have-to-share-kind-of-look. On second thoughts, it was actually not that bad, the streaky bacon was a hit with poached eggs, I would however prefer to have muffin or baguette, instead of white toast. Anyway, the hollandaise sauce was pretty awesome too – honey, it’s all about the butter.

Do you want to pancake with me?

And yes, if there’s one thing which I absolutely adored (besides eggs benedict) – it will be Pancakes ($6). Like I said before, eating pancakes required some knowledge, to cut the long story short; just dunked the fluffy pancakes into the bowl of syrup, let it soaked and immerse in the essence of the wonderful liquid, and I guarantee: you will be happy boys and girls.

I know, the pancakes here look rather sad, they are certainly not like what I had before, but what to do? When you are a hungry man craving for brunch in the middle of town, there’s not much options. Well to be fair, it’s not expensive to have two pancakes for six dollars, it’s more like the consistency of the pancake; one is over-toast, and the other one pales in comparison.

Anyway, this time round, the first question that they asked was not credit card or cash. Instead, they went one step further, they brought me the bill (when I did not ask for it) immediately after the eggs benedict arrived on my table. And so if you are one who will be disturbed by such “tiny acts”, I suggest you head to somewhere else instead. As for me? I like the place enough to go back the following weekend after my first visit. All right, maybe I’m intoxicated by the happiness of finally having eggs benedict after such a long time that I’m not making sense now. If you like brunch, go here, here or here.

KPO @ Killney post office
1 Killiney road
Killney Post Office
Tel: 6733 3648

I always dread to have dinner in Orchard, well the place is great for shopping, people-watching, movies, but food? It is always an issue whenever my friends want to meet there and if you ask me, there’s hardly any place that I like in Orchard.

It was a coincidence that both Lingzie and Kenny were in town, so there was a minor crisis in deciding the place for dinner. Initially I wanted to bring them to my favourite place in Orchard, but we ended up at KPO Cafe.

Most people will have thought that KPO stands for Killiney Post office since the cafe is located on the premises of Killiney post office. But the name actually comes about because it’s at the intersection of Killney, Penang, and Orchard road.

We started dinner with the Pizza Yorkshire ($25). The 10 inch thin crust pizza was thoroughly enjoyable; sweet thin slices Yorkshire pork and well-baked crust with mozzarella cheese matched perfectly with the natural crust.

Even though the Grilled juicy mini beef patties were tiny, I love the way they are done – topped with melted Emmental cheese and served in home-made baguette. The Patty Melt ($12) is one of those things that you wish it would come in bigger portions. And oh yes, the home-made chips were great too! But for the kind of price, it’s more like a snack to go along with drinks rather than a main course for dinner.

The KPO Pork Ribs ($23) was the other signature dish of the cafe. A full slab of ribs marinated with the tantalizing sauce, we have to agree that the marination was very done-well. But having tried better pork ribs elsewhere, KPO’s rendition lacked the ultimate melt-in-the-mouth sensation. Still, it was pretty good.

* * *

I have no doubt that KPO, situated right in the middle of town and yet seemingly away from the hustle of the city, will be a success. The location is already a hit, with the chic environment, it is definitely the place-to-be-seen-at. While it’s a great watering-hole, with the food being pretty decent, but they really need to improve on the service.

I got a shock when the first question they asked, was not what I’ll like to order, but whether I’m paying by credit card or cash. No matter how nice the ambience was, or how excellent the food tasted – that was a total turnoff. But oh well, at least there’s no service charge & GST. Anyway, with the good location plus the chill-out atmosphere, I went back again the following Saturday.

KPO @ Killney post office
1 Killiney road
Killney Post Office
Tel: 6733 3648

Hands up if you don’t like kaya toast! From the freshly baked white bread toasted to perfection, the sweet and fragrant home-made kaya and the slightly melted butter, it was a combination of everything so simple.  The truth to be told, this was one my first time trying Killiney’s toast, and I have not tried Ya Kun’s one yet. I know, i know.

Logically speaking, we can just buy their bread, the kaya, and the butter to make ourselves at home. But, somehow it is impossible to replicate the same slice of toast when we d-i-y. So I will like to think that it is their skills and the toaster that makes the difference. Killiney’s famous bread toast ($0.80 per piece).

For those who prefer to have more substantial portion for breakfast, the French loaf toast ($1.80) might be a better option. More kaya, more kaya!

I was surprised by the revelation of eating French toast with kaya ($1.60 per piece). I have never, ever tried eating French toast with kaya before, and I did not even harboured the thought that it could be done. Oh-my! This is one which you either love it, or hate it.

Unfortunately both of us do not drink coffee, and we chose the ice barley over hot tea due to the weather conditions. All along I thought that Killiney is famous for their kaya toast and kopi. But they also served food like curry chicken, mee siam, and mee rubus.

Killiney Kopitiam
67 Killiney road
Tel: 67349648