Well, it’s that time of the year again when you celebrate that fact that you’re 1 year closer to dying.

Yaaaaaaaaaay.

Haha, anyway. My family decided that we should go try out Shiu Yakiniku, a Japanese a la carte buffet BBQ at The Village, that ‘prawning’ place just opposite Jurong Bird Park. I believe they advertised on TV awhile back and my Mom finally remembered which restaurant it was. Now that we’re here, we got right down to business.

As you can see from the menu above, it actually consists mostly of already prepared or cooked items with only a small selection of raw meats for the BBQ.

I guess it’s time for more pictures!

And, yes, I know the quality isn’t fantastic, so, appreciate your patience… especially for those that I forgot to take before digging into them XD

Tori Karaage. Meh, Nothing Special.

Chicken breast on the left, with pork collar, chicken leg and lamb on the right.

Pork sausage and rib-eye

Pork Belly

Cooked tao gei! (bean sprouts). Quite nice, but too damn oily.

California maki and egg roll sushi. The california maki lacks avocado unfortunately, though not unexpected. It’s much cheaper to make them without avocados.

Various raw fish sushi. Looks alright, though they could have been fresher.

Fried silverfish. Decent.

A rather unappetising picture of the smokeless BBQ plate with some prawns and lamb being cooked. It’s basically a gas stove.

My desert, coconut ice and mint ice cream. These are the only 2 flavours by the way. The coconut ice cream is very nice and it works really well together with the mint ice cream when combined.

So. How was it?

I have to say. I’m not convinced.

First, the meats, which are mostly a disappointing, especially so if you’ve been spoilt by the soft, juicy, well marbled meats that many buffet establishments now offer. Most of the meats come out pretty tough once cooked. You can mitigate the problem by making sure you don’t cook it for too long, but it’s a fine line between reasonably soft and tough. I’m no expert, but I’m also convinced that the way they cut the meat isn’t helping either. The stand out dish for BBQ are the prawns; They were large, fresh and succulent.

Wagyu beef was available as a separately payable a la carte option, so don’t be taken in my the pictures used in marketing.

What was enjoyable, surprisingly, were the cooked dishes. The vegetables and tempura were well done (apart from extreme oiliness, the cooked bean sprouts were also good), the fried rice was decent and… oh… the salmon head was fantastic. The cold dishes were quite nice as well. The agedashi tofu is cooked using the wrong flour though (again, not unexpected), while the soups weren’t outstanding. The serving size of the chawanmushi was decent, though it tasted as though they cooked it in plain water instead of dashi stock.

Drinks like iced tea, lemon juice and hot/cold green and korean tea are free flow, while other drinks like coke can be ordered as extras.

The Korean chili sauce was quite nice and I especially liked the ‘Japanese sauce’, which tastes a little like Shio Koji sauce.

Service was o-k. Don’t expect them to be all cheery and happy, but they respond to orders pretty well and are timely when it comes to clearing used plates. You may need to get them to refill your drinks occasionally.

Conclusion

Like I said, not convinced.

Apart from the excellent prawns, the overrall BBQ experience was mediocre. Yes, your food doesn’t stick on the hotplate. Yes, the heat’s good and constant. Yes, there’s practically no smoke, but the meats were tough and were too lean for my liking. Also, yes, you have some really nice cooked dishes like the salmon head, but, at $40-ish per adult after service charge and all that, I’m not sure I’d want to come back here again.

Shiu Yakiniku www.shiuyakiniku.com

18-Course BBQ Set Meal Promotion from $98++ for 4 Pax

BBQ Buffet Promotion
Monday to Thursday: Adult 31.90++, Child $16.90++
Friday to Sunday, Eve of Public Holidays and Public Holidays:
Adult $34.90++, Child $18.90++

Lunch BBQ Buffet Promotion
Adult &19.90++, Child $12.90++

The Village (opp. Jurong Bird Park)
241 Jln Ahmad Ibrahim
#01-03/04
Singapore 629143

Mon-Fri: 11.30am – 3pm
Sat, Sun & PH: 11.30 – 4.30pm
Dinner: 5.30 – 10.30pm

Contact: [email protected]
6266 6366, 6265 1004, 9113 9105

Public Transport: Services 194 (until 6.30pm) & 251 from Boon Lay MRT Station.