Restaurant Review: Kyuu by Shunsui - Japanese Grill Concept in Keong Saik

The UTW (“Under Ten Words”): Intimate, classy Japanese grill experience with omakase option.

The must-orders (if any): Kagoshima A4 wagyu roasted beef with red miso fond de veau sauce, crispy grilled chicken with yuzu pepper.

Summary: Taking over where Five Nines (which has since relocated to Cuppage) left off at its Keong Saik premises, Kyuu by Shunsui offers an intimate and classy Japanese charcoal grill experience which left me fairly impressed. Five Nines was always a bit posh in its European aspirations, and Kyuu by Shunsui maintains the ante with some marvellously beautiful plates and presentations. I have not had the benefit of trying their tempting Omakase dinner menu ($129++), and only tried their a la carte menu which is only available after 9pm. There is a compulsory daily appetiser per diner which costs $10, and in my case it was a King Crab Salad. The charcoal grilled dishes deployed the char with ruthless competence – the Kyoto Manganji chilli pepper with sweet soy sauce had a formidable char to its fresh crunchiness, and the crispy grilled chicken with yuzu pepper had a papery crisp to its crinkly soft skin and a similarly prominent char, with a great friend in the addictively delectable yuzu pepper. Elsewhere, the Kagoshima A4 wagyu roasted beef was a revelation, being baby buttock-soft, gloriously chewy and gently blood-juicy, with your choice of red miso fond de veau sauce, wasabi and rock salt to create your own sensation destiny.

I was not entirely persuaded by Five Nines, but Kyuu by Shunsui left me suitably enticed.

King Crab appetiser ($10, the appetiser varies daily).