Love the Shabu Shabu at Kuriya Great World City. It's all in the quality of the beef, the soup and the sauces. After some cooking, I thought the soup tasted like dobin mushi. Maybe haven't been getting out much, but the few places I've gone to lately for Shabu Shabu have been passable at best, and so I'd really recommend Kuriya. Sashimi is excellent too, but forget about their Sukiyaki. And don't go too late either.. their chef goes home around 10.30pm.

This review is all about The One Where I Wish I Ordered The Set Lunch designed for the month of April ($35). The boyfriend had ordered it, while I settled for the safe (albeit boring) Sashimi Zen set.

In my mind, Kuriya boasts one of the most innovative, well-executed/presented, innovative and value-for-money set lunches. Here they don’t settle for the run-of-the-mill Jap set lunches where it's a predictable mix of items on a tray with the token 2 slices of watermelon. Indeed Kuriya is one of those rare Jap restaurants where place thought and care in the design and presentation of their set lunches. Each item is served separately rather than all at one shot on a tray, and beautifully presented.

First up for appetizer there was the firefly squid, bamboo shoot with Japanese pepper miso, tofu with crab meat & asparagus, egg omelet, braised Sakura shrimp and boiled broad bean with salt. Everything sounded so eclectic but sometimes it becomes even a bit hard to identify which is which when the appetizer platter is served. But this in itself is the best part of the experience - I especially liked how the braised Sakura shrimp (which really looked like a slighter bigger version of hae bee, but sweeter) went so well with the tofu and egg omelet when you eat it together. While everything looked a bit foreign and interesting, bottom line is it made for a great appetizer because it really makes you look forward to more.

Next up was the grilled items - grilled salmon with butterbur miso (really a more creamy version of the miso paste) and the foie gras pie (yeah you heard me right). The foie gras pie basically came looking like a springroll, but it was all hot and toasty when it was served and when you bite into it the buttery flakiness of the pastry was pure delight, and the great thing is that you’re not going to get an overwhelming jelat taste of foie gras.

The next round was the deep friend items - top marks for presentation here - deep fried sea bream rolled with millet gluten and deep fried prawn with 5 colours glutinous rice served with seaweed sauce. While the glutinous rice doesn’t really do anything for me taste-wise, it just made for such a …pretty prawn. Heh. The seaweed sauce provided a weird thick gooey base which didn’t do anything for me to enhance the deep fried items, but didn't’ do anything to dampen (no pun intended) the overall dish either.

Next up was the assorted nigiri sushi - generous servings of fresh fish which somewhat cleansed the palette somewhat after all the grilled/fried items.

We're not done yet - the penultimate dish is the fish noodle in clear soup. Basically clear soup with very springy noodles. Not sure what those white balls are.

Onto the dessert of the day - Kuriya is best known for their fancy parfaits / desserts. Here you’re not going to get your token scoop of vanilla icecream/ peach melba / 2 slices of watermelon or honeydew here. Their desserts are always pretty, thoughtful and makes for a great ending to any meal. We had the chocolate mousse cake with seasonal fresh fruits (although I somewhat preferred my orange pudding with vanilla icecream and seasonal fruits which came with my set). Also comes with a cup of coffee.

Even if you think that $35 is a tad pricey, remember that what you’re getting is an experience overall when you are introduced to their more innovative, refined and delicate fare. That makes it money well spent. Its funny how whenever we read the Kuriya Lunch course menu it becomes a rather vulgar discourse of “wtf is a firefly squid?!” or “wtf is millet gluten?!” but bottom line is - it makes for a great experience and it’s all good. Service is good too, and the restaurant is artfully done up, lush and sleek. The restaurant is also one of the few in Singapore that serves seasonal kaiseki.

Is it just me or do your confidence in a Japanese establishment instantly swells triply when greeted by a Japanese staff? It totally happened to me when I was browsing the menu of Kuriya GWC when I was greeted by a pint-sized, bespectacled nihonjin. my mind instantly took note of the added “authenticity” +1. And I made plans to dine here for my birthday. Which I did.

I understand that on a regular weekday this Kuriya outlet is pretty much a salary-man lunch venue of choice, or rather, a slightly indulgent lunch venue. The kind you go to the very week you got your pay check. But at night, it looked rather posh with all its dark wood and black tiles. A hint of deliciousness wafted through the air, but not enough to linger on your hair or your clothes. +1 for any girl who takes pride in being all dressed up for the dinner.

Service, oh-so-important but alas very lacking in Singapore, was ok. It was OK because we were paying a premium, but premium service we did not receive. It wasn’t BAD service. Staffs were fairly attentive but were still hard to catch when they all happened to be looking THE OTHER way while we waved for service. But I digress.

I am decidedly greedy when it comes to Japanese food so I wanted variety. We ordered the Kuriya sashimi platter, a grilled steak, their then-promo Hokkaido crab hotpot in Miso sauce, pork belly soup (which appeared on its daily special menu thus making itself an instant must-have!) and deserts which I will cover in an appropriate finale.

Their sashimi is heavenly. Robust portions, hearty slices and just the right amount of chill. Presentation means the world to me and this thing is rather beautiful to behold. The fish was just the right softness and crunchiness. When I saw the size of the platter, I knew we ordered too much food, because I would have made this a meal on its own. But no self-respecting epicurean eats less when faced with scrumptious food. So onwards!

The steak was interesting. It tasted a little fusion because the dressing was a delectable mix of garlic, soy sauce and possibly something tangy like Dijon mustard, grilled to perfection. It was served on a generous bed of lettuce and other obscure greens (we didn’t care, we ate everything that looked remotely like food).

Miso seafood claypot with snow crab was a tad disappointing. Firstly, it was served half-cooked then left to simmer over a flame. The flame died prematurely the first time round and I was a little taken aback when my first spoonful was cold. They promptly removed it and replaced with a second and adequately warm serving. When I finally tasted it, I bemoaned my choice of miso. It was so strong, I could not taste the sweet, natural flavour of the crab! Everything was so laden with miso, I might as well have had my tongue coated with the brown stuff. So long, $39. Lesson learnt.

Belly soup: fantabulously sinful! Chunks of what might have passed for bacons floated beckoningly on a clear soup base. Simple soup that tasted of home (albeit a Japanese home).

Deserts? I don’t even remembered what I ordered now. It must have been a green tea tofu cheese cake, and a strawberry something else. Either way, they were both cake-like, but with tofu goodness. Again, beautifully adorned like works of art, we admired it a long while before eating it, feeling almost apologetic to ruin them. But the taste! The taste melted our guilt away. Its silken tofu texture is such a far cry from run-of-the-mill tofu cakes served elsewhere. It wasn’t too sweet and the green-tea taste not too overpowering (another common complaint of my green tea deserts). Ditto for the strawberry.

Will I go back again? Maybe for lunch. The damage for the dinner was $209. Some of my friends cry Cutthroat, but it was my birthday dinner after all. I do agree that with a budget of $200 you could dine elsewhere but for the variety of food and a general high quality, I’d say it was worth it. For now, Aoki beckons.

Ate here for lunch with wifey yesterday.

Ambience was very nice. You walk thru a short passage that sets the mood. I sat next to the large window, which lets in natural light. The place has soft lighting, wooden accents. Quite modern, and tasteful.

Food. We both had the set lunches, which range from $32-$45. I had the Sashimi Zen set, while she had the Chirashi set.

The sets start with a small bowl of salad with soy dressing. The veges were crisp, and had a good range of vegetables (incl rocket, which was not traditional at all, but very welcome!). A nice start, except that I felt there was a little too much dressing.

The sashimi was very fresh and of good quality. The miso soup was outstanding, and my wife (who usually isn't a miso soup fan) liked it too. The chawanmushi that came with the set was very smooth, but a tad bland. Portions were just nice for medium eaters.

The meal ended with dessert, comprising some sort of milk custard with ice cream. It was not too cloying, and rather enjoyable.

Service was good, and the waitresses very attentive (a bit too attentive sometimes, but in a good way).

Overall, a very satisfying meal, with no bad dishes, and a general high standard, in a lovely environment.

Just dined at Kuriya tonite. Had a $90 voucher from UOB which is gonna expire end of the year, so decided to have a good one tonight.

Upon entering Kuriya, every server in the restaurant greets and looks at you. Now that really warming, unlike some of those jap places where they just shout without giving u a glance. The whole restaurant is quite dimly lighted. This makes the ambience quite cosy and romantic but not practical. I couldn't see the menu most of the time and had to bring the menu to the lights. We ordered:

beef shabu shabu $48 (1 pax) - the dish is served in a steamboat, together with other ingredients like cabbages, mushrooms, leeks, etc. The beef is superbly tender. Best to dip it in the peanut sauce provided. One thing to note though is that the soup is not flavoured. that means there's no salt or miso in it. just plain water with a big piece of kelp. the only flavours you get is the original taste of the ingredients and the sauce that u dip into. this is so darn healthy.

sashimi (4 kinds) $32 - salmon, tuna, swordfish, hamachi. 3 pieces each and in good thickness. best of all, its served on a plate of ice and is so so fresh.

fugu sashimi $38 - puffer fish. yup that's right. we had puffer fish sashimi. its our first time eating the puffer and i must say we still prefer the normal swordfish and the likes. Before ordering the puffer we asked if it's safe to eat or not. The waitress told us that if there's any problems with the puffer fish, they'll be the first to get it. I thought to myself that the wait staff here very good life, can get to eat puffer fish. puffer fish skin has a springy texture, something like chewing small strips of sea cucumber. the sashimi are sliced very very thinly and it does not have the kind of fishy smell. there's a special sauce to go along too.

kanpachi kama yaki (horse mackerel cheek) $48- nice big piece of fish cheek grilled to perfection. crispy on the outside and moist and soft on the inside. this one really no horse run.

pretty good service by the wait staff. but the price is not so nice. bill for the above came to $195 (before the vouchers) although we did not order much. A real good place for japanese fine dining.