FEATURED DEALS
2.8
out of 5
Singapore
Telephone: (65) 6887-3788
Website: http://www.miramar.com.sg/fnb.asp
Category:
Restaurants » Japanese
Ikoi Japanese Restaurant offers a great variety and a wide selection from a la carte menu. Renowned for its fantastic value-for-money daily buffet.
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Recently been there to give it a try after all the supposed hype I have heard in the past. However, sad to say, it was quite disappointing. When I got there, there so so many empty seats. And yet the staff were busy calling the guests to confirm their reservations, with no one paying any attention to us . That was one down, two to go.
Next, instead of giving us a table, we were given counter seats, which was a bit kinda cramped as compared to the other Japanese restaurants I have been before. That was Strike two,one last one to go.
Nervertheless, we settled down and started ordering the food. And like what Polarbear had said in his review, the portions of some of the food were really a tad too little and the service was slow as well. Even though the food was tasty, it was not enough to pacify me. And that was it, Strike Three!!! I would rather choose to go back to Minori anytime than this, where the variety is more and the service is much more better as well.
So all in all, this should be the first and last time that I would be coming to this Japanese restaurant to eat.
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Hmmm not that nice afterall... Kinda of ex.. My friends and I went there to eat.. we were given a room, as we have alot of ppl.. Kinda of fast when serving food to us.. but the food is not up to our expectation. Duh.. Plus it was kinda of expensive.. Ard $39 per person.. But I can say that the food portion is big.. And the steamboat that they gave us foc was nice.. the soup was nicely done.. But I think I will not go back there again. I rather go upstair to eat Orient Ocean, dim sum.. The dim sum is nice and cheap..
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I have heard about this place from my colleague and such a coincident that one of my friends was nice enough to suggest Ikoi as the venue for my birthday treat (yes I know, I have been procrastinating about it). Apparently, this place is so well known that bookings have to be made 1-2 weeks in advance – talk about Kiasu Singaporeans! Located at the ground floor of Hotel Miramar, the outside of the entrance looks impressive, but a step into the restaurant revealed a cramped seating arrangement – definitely not a decent place to have your meals if you are the sort who wish to have conversation over dinner.
It did not help also that we were assigned to counter seats, as there were inadequate space for all the dishes we had ordered. Service was pretty inefficient that night as the place was packed with tons of hungry and noisy souls, and waiting time for certain dishes were slow as I suspect orders were consolidated before the food were prepared.
It was said Ikoi is the place for people who craves for Sashimi, as the serving they dished out was indeed generous.
However, I was not blown away by it. In fact I was left so unimpressed with the quality that I did not even ordered a second helping. Other dishes that left me indifferent were the Tempura and Shisamo.
Even though it was served hot, the batter for the Tempura was rough – not the best you would expect from a Japanese restaurant.
The Shisamo was dried up when it was served, and this I am pretty sure that they were prepared earlier and re-grilled when orders come in - the inside was also cold and the outside full of smoky flavour. The Yakitori was also slightly chewy for consumption.
To be fair, they have a decent number of dishes to order from but none really make an impression except for the Stewed Salmon Head that I ordered by accident.
Foodies would know that the flesh from the Salmon Head close to its belly is of course the most tender and delicious.
Occasionally, they would also dished out complimentary dishes like the Kaminabe and Salmon Sashimi – items that we did not request for.
However, only one out of many items that was of standard is just not good enough.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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It is always not too good to have too high expectations of a place because the expectations the bigger the disappointment will be. Having saying that, it happens to this place. I have heard a lot of people telling me this place has one of the best Japanese buffet in town and it is worth the money, and it has been one of the places that I wanted to go and give it a try. The chance came when my partner invited me to join her colleagues for dinner there. So a big group of us went, not to say that one of her colleagues is a big fan of that place.
The restaurant is hidden in the first level of the hotel, if not for the Japanese style of door way, it is a blink and miss place. Once walked inside, I was surprise by how small the whole place is. It looks like those Japanese old cottages. There is a few traditional tables where you have to take off your shoes and sit. A number of small tables with small sets and the rest of the seats are bar counter seats. For a big group of people like us, we have to squeeze as well. If you are big sized like me, you will definitely knock to the person sitting next to you. Advice is to go in a group less than 10 people.
Next, is the food. The menu is cramped with words, no pictures. So if you expect to order by pictures, you will be sorely disappointed. At times, I just go by my guts to order as well. There is a lot of food to offer from sushi to sashimi to bento to soba etc. Lots of them in wide and different variety as well. They also served a few items as starters first, like smoked salmon. A mini seafood paper steamboat where the soup base is too salty. A miso soup that came in a tea pot and have to squeeze in lime juice as well, quite refreshing for that.
In a big group, there is confusion over ordering of food as the waitress just came with the food and we also not sure if we had ordered the food. Since it is a buffet, we just eat whatever is placed on our table. In other words, it can be a mess!
Sashimi’s lover would loved this place! Their variety is a lot and they came in big portions, not to mention that the slices came in very thick slices. Hmm… but not very fresh. Too bad I m not really a big fan of it. They got limited sushi chooses but I am not too impressed with their sushi as well. I have tasted better ones elsewhere. The rest of the food can be quite forgettable. Their tempera, again a lot of variety, from prawns to mushrooms, was quite ok nothing to wow off.
One funny thing did happen when I was ordering chicken cutlet, they asked me how many cuts I want. I thought in terms of how many full cutlets they mean. In the end, it turn out their cuts means how many slices I want. A bit … …
Their service can be quite slow and there was periods of time that we got no food and when we tried to order, their waitress always seem busy with other things or other people. As their tables are quite small, they also slow to clear the plates as well. Think they could have done with more help.
Seems that the place is quite popular as it was packed by 8pm and even the counter seats are packed like sardines. Like they say it is always better to make reservation for the place.
At a cost of $33 plus plus plus, in the end it was $38.80 per person. Personally, I think it is not worth the money and I would rather spend the money on other sushi places. Not to say because of my high expectations of the place, I was sorely disappointed and dun think I will be back to this place unless someone is giving me a treat. Hmm… so Sushi Teh any one?
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Having heard from quite a number of people that the Japanese buffet here is good, I finally tried it!
But probably having heard so much about it, I hold pretty high expectaton on it.
The restaurant is a pretty small one & to hold the group of 12 of us was even a problem due to space constraint. So, do note that it's not a good place for large group gatherings.
The menu was a simple one which looked quite wordy at first glance. Although no pictures of the food items was available, they did provide English descriptions for some of the dishes. Otherwise, you'll probably need a regular patron to advise you on the dishes to order.
The service was a little slow, probably because the restaurant was quite packed with diners then. We splitted up into 2 groups when we placed our order but the food served was combined and this made it quite confusing for us & we ended up eating the wrong food. But anyway, since it's a buffet, we just ate whatever that's placed infront of us & ordered more if it's not enough. Haha...
The restaurant offers quite a good variety of sashimi. However, the quality of the sashimi was disappointing. It didn't taste as fresh and we could even taste that the fish had been frozen & thawed before it was served. My friend, who is a regular patron, noticed the drop in standard of the sashimi too.
Other than the sashimi, we tried their tempura too. Well, the batter was a little too heavy & it was quite oily. Unlike the tempura I had elsewhere which is light, crispy & not oily. So to say, their tempura was a disappointment.
After taxes, it came up to $38.80 for each person. I'm looking for better Japanese buffet elsewhere!
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How can anyone not review on the freshest and best value for money sashimi buffet! Ikoi is my friends, cousins and my personal favorite japanese resturant! Erm... although its our favorite, so far I've been there only twice. Cos its about $35/pax which to my wallet is quite pricely. Still its a value for money buffet.
If you're not a sashimi fan, I suggest you try other buffet. But this is a MUST try for the big fans out there! They have all kind of sashimi freshly sliced and served. Even their sushi is made of sashimi! Their menu is just list and has no photos. So check with the friendly waitress first when you order.
The buffet also comes with some standard dish, which is not in the menu. These items will be served no matter you order or not. There's this crunchy vege stick with special salad dressing, a soup served in those paper steamboat and one more I can't remember what. But everything is nice!
If you're planning to give this place a try, please remember to call to make reservation. It's a MUST! Else you'll be never get to eat their yummy and fresh sashimi! Just typing this now makes me want to go back there now! *Drools*
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