At a discreet corner of the basement of Forum Mall–so discreet I had to circle the basement twice to find it—Yoshi Restaurant was formerly known as Kaiseki Yoshiyuki. The rebranding is done in an effort to attract a younger crowd.

Appetiser: crab on leek

The chef Yoshiyuki Kashiwabara is awarded an Excellent Chef of Diplomatic Missions by the Japanese Foreign Service, having spent seven years as the personal chef to the ambassadors based in San Francisco and Singapore. Previously, he worked for 14 years at Kyoryori Hosoi in Saitama prefecture. He prepares the ingredients to accentuate their natural flavours in a “Kyo-Ryori” style.

Sashimi: Spanish mackerel, chutoro tuna, and flounder

They take their maguro tuna from the famous Tokyo tuna supplier Yukitaka Yamaguchi, known as the Tuna King (sounds like a super villain, right? Aquaman’s nemesis?) So they have a  maguro tuna menu (8 courses $158++). The wagyu beef menu (8 courses $178) consists of Kagoshima beef. They also have a uni menu(8 courses $188), and omakase (9 courses $328). All of them are available for lunch and dinner.

Their lunch menu starts from $58 to $108 and all the sets come with an appetizer, chawanmushi, sashimi and dessert. 

Sushi: Uni, chutoro, crab, dunno, maguro

For the purpose of my lunch visit, I had the sushi and sashimi platter set ($108): appetiser, chawanmushi, sushi & sashimi moriawase, choice of grilled wagyu Beef OR grilled Fish, and dessert. All my friends and I all chose wagyu because it makes sense to taste their famed wagyu dish and because of variety from the seafood.

In general, the food is quite good especially the tuna. At first I thought they served otoro (fatty belly tuna) because it was so pink and marbled with fat but this was chutoro (the mid-fatty tuna). If chutoro is already this fat, I wonder how the otoro tastes like.

Kagoshima wagyu

For sushi, they use a special brown rice. The set can be improved by having some variety: the items in the sashimi are repeated in the sushi. Also: the mantra of the restaurant may be less-is-more, quality-over-quantity, but for $108, the set with only 5 pieces of sushi is too small. My two female friends and I were still hungry after the set.

The wagyu is pretty nice, but not as fatty or tender as I would like.

If you have noticed, I ate at Japanese restaurants consecutively: Nami at Shangri La, Keyaki at Pan Pacific, and this. Out of these three restaurants, Yoshi is my least favourite. This is not to say that Yoshi is not good; it meets the standard and the food is exquisite. However, Nami and Keyaki have better ambience and their food is priced at a better value.

My friend who was dining with me that day, who was also with me at Yuzu Japanese Restaurant, said that Yuzu is half price of Yoshi’s and it’s not too bad. She prefers Yuzu.

Overall, given the value of the food, food I could get elsewhere, it is unlikely that I would return although the experience is good.  We each paid $136 for our sets.

Yoshi Restaurant
Forum The Shopping Mall #B1-39, 583 Orchard Road, Singapore 238884
12pm – 1.30pm, 7pm – 9.30pm, Closed Sun
tel: +65 8188 0900
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Food: 6.5/10
Price / value: 5.25/10
Ambience / decor: 7/10
Service: 6.5/10

You may be interested in…
–The Gyu Bar, Stevens Road: WAHgyu Yakiniku Udderly Delicious, a Must Go for Beef Lovers
–Kamoshita, Neil Road: Oden Izakaya, Better Than Japan’s Restaurants
–Mizuki Tempura & Sushi, Ngee Ann City: Visited Twice for a Reliable Review
–Shiraishi, Ritz Carlton: Strangely, Tempura is Better Than Edomae Sushi

Written by Dr. A. Nathanael Ho.