One of the most traditionally important Unagi restaurants in Japan is Chikuyotei. Founded in 1851 and split into three different entities, the original Chikuyotei, with its main restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo, extended its grounds into Singapore in 1992. They currently have two outlets, one in UE Square and the other in the Intercontinental Hotel.
As an Unagi lover, I have always been wanting to try Chikuyotei. I decided to reserve and head to the Intercontinental branch near Bugis MRT on this particular occasion. Let's see how it went.
Chikuyotei at Intercontinental Hotel Singapore
Address: 80 Middle Rd, #01-01 InterContinental Singapore, Singapore 188966
Web: https://www.chikuyoteisg.com/
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/VvmjSDr9Zc5DqYYu8
The entrance is almost hidden in the depths of the hotel's first floor, especially if you're walking from Bugis Junction. The classic Japanese, simple yet elegant entrance greets you into a formal restaurant setting.
The space is beautiful, with good spacing and ambiance with a calming, natural, wood-based interior design. Some spotlights directly shone into my eyes at the first table we sat in, so we had to shift tables. Overall it's a pleasant and quiet atmosphere, perfect for enjoying a special course dinner. The restaurant wasn't very crowded. Only a few groups of customers besides us this Tuesday evening.
I found multiple Japanese staff in the restaurant, which usually indicates special attention to quality control. So that, to me, is a positive sign. Some servers were wearing Kinomo. Very excited to try the food.
Although Chikuyotei's origin is the Unagi, looking at the menu, the primary offering these days is more of a Kaiseki with a strong emphasis on Unagi ingredients.
I specifically came to the restaurant for the Unagi, so we decided to go for the Unagi course, priced at $198 per person. It's an 8-dish course which includes some of my favorite Unagi dishes, such as the Uzaku (Eel with vinegar) and the Umaki (Eel omelet).
The first dish came as a surprise. I was expecting the Uzaku as the first dish. However, it's like a tamago-tofu with an eel inside. With Uzaku being my favorite unagi appetizer, I was initially disappointed that the first dish had changed. This was until I tasted the dish. It was a delicious and refreshing appetizer, perfect to start the course. In some ways, it's much more unique than the Uzaku, so I liked how this course started.
The second dish was a shark fin soup flavored with sansho. This was unique and delicious as well.
They said this is 'green pepper.' You may feel this dish may be too basic to include in the 8-dish course. I thought so too, but upon counting, this ended up being an extra dish to the dinner.
This veggie is also not just any green pepper. It is a Manganji Togarashi green pepper, a type of vegetable considered a 'Kyo-yasai,' which are heirloom vegetables grown in the Kyoto prefecture of Japan. This basic seasoning of bonito flakes and soy sauce is a perfect way of enjoying the essence of this excellent-tasting, crunchy rare plant.
The sashimi.
Now honestly, the dinner starts to trend downwards from here. The sashimi of the course was decently sized cuts of Chu-toro, Hamachi, and probably some type of Tai on a small dish. I didn't find the quality of the sashimi to be the best, with slight fishiness, especially for the Hamachi.
I would recommend something other than going for sashimi dishes here.
Unagi Shirayaki.
This dish came with the choice of wasabi or salt to enjoy this light dish.
The seasonal dish, the sakuraebi tempura.
The Umaki, or the unagi omelet. It was a decent-tasting Umaki. As an Umaki lover, it was a good Umaki. Nothing special or extraordinary, but a solid good Umaki.
The Unagi-don.
The main dish of the course was somewhat of a disappointment. The sauce seasoning was extremely light. I appreciate the thinking of keeping it a mild taste to enjoy the taste of the Unagi itself and also being able to adjust using the additional sauce. However, the Unagi taste was way too light, somewhat dry, and even had rigid bones.
Adding sauce is possible, but the additional sauce is never the same as the original sauce cooked over charcoal.
The bones were so rigid they got stuck in my partner's throat. We tried to bring tea to help her, but the service around this experience wasn't optimal either. I won't elaborate further, but the service can be improved as well.
Desert was an Anmitsu.
That was the end of the course.
Overall it started very well, but gradually lost excitement as the dinner proceeded. The main dish ended up being the lo-light of the experience, which is very unfortunate considering the price of this course.
The guru rating
For the Unagi course
5 / 10
You may be surprised at the low score I rated for this high-end unagi restaurant. When considering Unagi's price and quality, it's not only something I would not recommend; I'm certainly not repeating myself, either.
The unagi quality and sashimi quality are certainly unacceptable for the prices I paid. There were certain dishes I did like in the course, but the main dish being a letdown indeed reduced the Guru Rating significantly. It's difficult to recommend someone looking for an authentic Unagi experience if the Unagi wasn't up to par. The service standards of the staff did little to help the cause.
If it was half the price? It's still difficult for me to recommend, as there are much better unagi restaurants at much more reasonable prices to recommend in Singapore.
I wonder if the cost of the venue and the cost of the Japanese staff are too much and compromise the food quality.
The original expectations for this restaurant were indeed very high, and the result was highly disappointing in contrast to those inflated expectations. Just to be clear, inflated expectations do not affect the scoring of the Guru Rating system, as this doesn't take into account the expectations that preceded the experience. The low rating is purely based on my experience, whether I would recommend this to a friend looking for a truly Japanese experience.
You can find more on the Japan Guru rating system here.
that looks good
!