Sorry to burst the bubble, folks. But I did not have too great a dining experience at Kushigin and this is especially so as I had dined at Kazu previously. Kazu also serves yakitori and is located in the same building, 2 floors above, so the comparisons are inevitable.

Had a great but rather expensive meal at Kazu a week earlier, but decided to try Kushigin after reading the reviews and seeing that the prices of an average meal is generally cheaper than Kazu's. Had the thought that "Hey, if Kushigin can be as good as Kazu but at half its prices, I can have a more affordable place to satisfy my yakitori cravings!" But I guess sometimes, there's a reason why certain places are priced so, every extra penny paid makes a difference.

The meal got off to a bad start when we had to wait ages for the waitress to take our orders. We had to signal for the waitress' attention a couple of times and every time the waitress replied "gimme a minute". So we gave 10 minutes or more and after the second waitress replied "gimme 5 minutes", we were rather frustrated and were very tempted to walk out of the restaurant. The dictum "a hungry man is an angry man" could not be more true. The waitresses were too busy busing the tables, topping up drinks, chatting with regulars to take our orders. I feel that's a glaring flaw in the system. You should always be prompt in taking orders, that'll appease the (starving) customers as they can then have their drinks, chat and wait for their food orders, in the comfort of the knowledge that their food is being prepared.

To be fair, after the initial order stonewalling, service got more prompt. Food came after a fair amount of waiting time. There were still times when you have to remind the waiter twice or thrice before he remembers to top up your tea. But this is so common in Singapore restaurants (yes, it's tragic), that we're kinda numb to it and not particularly bothered by it.

To be honest, I'll still give this place a second shot if I find the food fantastic. But note, it has to be FANTASTIC. It's a high order, I know, but how else would it be worth the pain?

Tried the Today Specials of soft shell crab tempura and grilled Japanese sweet corn. They were OK only. The imported Japanese sweet corn is pretty much normal, tastes like the usual sweet corn to me and not as sweet as expected as we had previously tried unbelievably sweet ones in Hokkaido. But to be fair, it's the same as how the sashimi flown in especially from Tsukiji, will not always taste as fresh/great as dining in Tsukiji itself.

Then had a variety of the kushiyaki skewers - asparagus maki, chicken meatball, chicken gizzard, shisamo, garlic pork, hotate, chicken with mentaiko, special meatball and foie gras. Again, all were OK only and not particularly memorable, except recall an overly salty aftertaste for most of the items. Maybe the foie gras is better than Kazu’s as instead of skewered and salted like Kazu’s, theirs is served on a plate with side salad and drizzled with oil and balsamic vinegar (I think) and I feel this makes it less “ger lak”.

Had an OK Okonomiyaki. Enjoyed the Daikon Salad and the Chawanmushi the most. But part of the reason could be because the Daikon Salad came first and we devoured it out of sheer hunger.

Spent $101.60 in all, including 1 soft drink. It's way cheaper per pax than what I spent at Kazu previously, but I did order different stuff there. But at the end of the day, find Kushigin's food passable only and hence not worth the headache of sitting through painstakingly slow service.