Eat At Seven at Suntec City Mall’s Sky Garden is a new dining cluster that brings together some of Japan’s top food specialist concepts and restaurants.
There are currently 8 of them which offer a diverse range of food that caters to all Japanese food lovers here:
Tonkatsu Agedoki (deep-fried pork cutlet)
Tempura Kohaku (tempura on rice)
Tokyo Sundubu (Korean stew, largest Sundubu chain in Japan)
Menya Takeichi (Tokyo’s Number 1 Chicken Ramen)
Maguro-Donya Miura-Misaki-Kou Sushi and Dining (tuna & sashimi wholesaler in Japan)
NikuNoHi (yakiniku, helmed by Chef Kensuke Sakai – youngest Iron Chef Challenger)
Nigiro Café (first cafe concept by Chef Kensuke Sakai)
Enbu (Singapore’s first Warayaki & Charcoal Grill Izakaya)
Hubby and I decided to check out Tempura Kohaku because it had the longest queue there, lol but also because we hadn’t had tempura for a long while. Well, we probably waited for at least half hour to 40 minutes before we could get seats.
There were only 2 kinds of tendon available – either chicken, seafood & vegetables (spicy/non-spicy) or vegetables only (spicy/non-spicy).
We were seated by the counter of the open-concept kitchen so we could see the chefs at work.
Look at that mouth-watering bowl of fried goodness!
I had the Kohaku Tendon (S$15) which came with 1 thick piece of chicken breast, 2 huge prawns, 1 piece of squid, 2 long beans, 1 baby corn, 1 mushroom, 1 crabstick and 1 wedge of pumpkin. Everything was beautifully deep fried to a crisp and then drenched with a special tendon sauce that was savoury and sweet at the same time.
There were so much toppings that we couldn’t even see the rice at the bottom. They used Nanatsuboshi rice imported from Hokkaido which was really fragrant and fluffy.
There wasn’t anything that I didn’t like in this. The chicken breast was so tender and juicy even though it was quite thick. The prawns were fresh and crunchy and the squid was so soft too. All the vegetables were delicious as well. Even though everything was deep-fried, I didn’t think it was overly greasy or cloying because the frying oil they used was fresh and the tempura didn’t ooze oil when bitten into.
There were chilli flakes and tendon sauce provided on every table which I added to my tendon. So shiok! I was happily sprinkling chilli flakes all over my bowl, lol.
Hubby ordered the Kohaku Tendon Spicy Flavour Set (S$19.50). While it was indicated on the menu that the set would include Kohaku Tendon, udon and tsukemono (pickled vegetables), the latter wasn’t an extra side dish. You can just help yourself to the pickled radish that’s on every table and everyone else can also enjoy it regardless if a set has been ordered or not. So for the additional S$4.50, you’re actually just paying for a small bowl of udon noodles.
The pickled radish was nicely balanced and very appetising. Made a great palate cleanser.
This tendon was the same as the earlier one except that the sauce came with a hint of chilli spIce whereas the non-spicy one was sweeter in flavour.
As mentioned, the udon noodles was of a very small serving that could possibly be finished in 2 or 3 mouthfuls. It looked ordinary like any other udon. The soup was light but very flavoursome. Noodles were extremely springy too even though we left it aside for a while.
Hot/Iced green tea (using powder) was S$2 per glass and was refillable. All prices stated are subject to 10% service charge and 7% GST.
Reasonable price. Generous serving. Tasty tempura. Service, however, has room for improvement. Staff could show more initiative and also pay more attention to what’s going on among the diners but it seemed like they were more interested in clearing the almost never-ending long queue of customers at peak lunch time and/or would stand around by the counter not knowing what to do next. Glasses were not refilled. Wrong orders were sent to us and to our neighbours. They didn’t even know what had been served or not been served. It was also hard to catch the attention of someone (told us to ‘hold on’ twice but never came back) even though there wasn’t a lack of service staff.
Nonetheless, this place is a must try if you love tempura. I’m still coming back.
Tempura Kohaku
3 Temasek Boulevard
#03-310/311, Eat At Seven
Suntec City Mall (Tower One)
Singapore 038983
Tel: +65 6333 4386
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kohaku.tempura
Opening hours:
11.30am to 4.00pm, 5.00pm to 10.00pm daily