For a full run-down of my dining experience at Kilo at Pact, please visit:
http://foodiepink.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/kilo-at-pact-orchard-central/

For a full reviews and pics, visit my blog at www.ms-skinnyfat.com
 
Tucked away in a hidden corner in the quiet Orchard Central mall is Kilo at PACT, a bistro-restaurant that serves Japanese-Vietnamese bites that would appeal to the healthy palate. Other than eating in the raw concrete space, take the time to experience the full retail and hair/beauty services with K.I.N and PACT +LIM. A one stop shop for a day of chilling out in town in style and peace.
 
Let's start off with what i like. The Japanese food here is pretty decent. Don't go there expecting a full range of Japanese meals, there are only a couple of donburi, rice bowls and sushi rolls. Ladies would love it here because of the clean tasting ingredients, mostly raw-ish. The portions are also friendlier to the waistline though i can never finish more than half a sushiro. The dishes aren't traditionally Japanese but quality Japanese ingredients are used. 
 
The Beef Short Ribs Bowl ($18) is one of my favorites. Think juicy and tender grilled beef short ribs on top of a myriad of colored raw veg like sweet corn, radish, sugar peas and wasabi sprouts. Every bite is fresh and refreshing and even if you don't like carbs, i bet you'd finish the nice sticky Japanese rice. The overall taste is very light, nothing like the typical beef bowl that is drenched in gravy.
 
I also love the Sushiros and my choice would be the Salmon Avocado Sushiro ($15). Chunky fresh buttery salmon wrapped with a generous serving of creamy avocado, Japanese cucumber and shredded carrot, prawns and Tamago. The Niigata rice that the roll is crafted from is also of the right acidity and also i love the additional crunch from the side of soy flax seed chips that is served with the huge roll. Healthy alternative to chips that satisfy the junk food craving!
  
From the Vietnamese section, the items that i've tried failed to impress. Read more here.

Had dinner on a Saturday night.  The service was great.  The food was a total disappointment.

I have no idea what all the good reviews are about here but maybe the reviewers were too busy shopping for man-bags to really notice the food and/or heard that the original Kilo was The Place, so this branch Must Be Good.

So: we ordered a few things.  The "ceviche" was not ceviche and tasted like something I could have thrown together from our fridge at home.  Some raw fish, some overpowering jullianned red onions, standard Fair Price cherry tomatos and some salad mix, etc. In fact, it tasted just like the fridge -- the sashimi tossed in the salad had that chilled semi-metallic taste that you get at low-end sushi restaurants.  The dressing had no flavor.  Sorry guys.

We ordered the duck and pomelo -- similar no-flavor dressing, no mint anywhere, and the rocket had the same fridge taste.  The duck was gamey and tough.  *There was nothing redeemable about this dish* -- it was a great sounding idea and called to mind the kinds of pomelo salads you get in central Thai food -- but what we got was a few chunks of bitter and under ripe pomelo with some poorly cooked duck breast.  Was there anything Vietnamese going on here?  What was that thing?

We ordered the "eggplant donburi."  This was not a donburi -- donburis are by definition rice with stuff on top.  There was no rice.  But, aside from my language snobbiness -- this was an AWESOME dish.  It saved the entire meal, and reminded me why the orignal Kilo is just so good.  Smokey baby eggplants with a great dollop of mascarpone -- it was amazing, and I would actually come back (maybe) just for this dish and a draft Sapporo.  Maybe.

This is getting to long so I will spare the rest except to say that putting a high-end cafe in a retail shop/hair salon always/always/always spells disaster.  The ambiance was mediocre.

Main point: like many of the trendy new crop of restos in town that are trying to channel Osaka, Melbourne, or San Fran, this place is long on style and short on execution.  Hope it improves.  Great idea to try to bring some good Vietnamese flavors to Singapore -- always surprised how few Vietnamese places there are around given our proximity relative to places like Sydney that have a much better Vietnamese food scene.  Again -- hope it gets better.

PS: the brand logo looks shamefully similar to Monocle magazine's logo.