Syohachi Yakiniku

Syohachi Yakiniku
5 Wallich Street
#01-13 Guoco Tower

https://www.facebook.com/SyohachiYakinikuSG/

All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Yakiniku Buffet Specialist

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 9
Service: 8
Value for Money: 8
Spent about SGD $54 per person.

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Opened in October 2020 in the Tanjong Pagar area of Singapore, Syohachi Yakiniku is a Japanese yakiniku / grilled meat buffet restaurant, reowned for their premium free-flow beef. Their premium beef cuts are sourced through an exclusive partnership with the award-winning Hidakami Ranch located in Sendai city, Miyagi prefecture, Tohoku region of Japan, and Syohachi Yakiniku practises nose-to-tail sustainable dining with prices that are more affordable than elsewhere.

Ambience at Syohachi Yakiniku is casual and comfortable. Surprising for a barbecue restaurant with ample open grills, the place is relatively odour-free, without any cooking smell. Comfortable cushioned booths and seats alongside wide wooden tables with the exhaust-free flame grills are neatly arranged both indoors and outdoors, positioned such that there is a sense of privacy and exclusivity to each table. Warm lights cast a soft glow at night, while ample natural sunlight illuminates the place during the day.

Service at Syohachi Yakiniku is professional and efficient. Staff are adept at fulfilling orders quickly, cleaning away empty / finished plates proactively, and also actively observing and topping up drinks as needed. The standard certainly seems much improved from the initial opening days. Ordering via the online platform is easy and hassle-free. Note there are different tiers of buffet here, each with its own price range, dining time limit, and access to different quality of ingredients. The most affordable buffet option naturally has the shortest dining time limit, with unlimited servings of only the most basic ingredients on the menu.

Food at Syohachi Yakiniku is delicious and of excellent quality. As a Japanese barbecue buffet, portions are unlimited, though you are constrained by the buffet tier you've selected. We opted for the middle tier during lunch, which costs SGD $50 per person nett (before GST), and includes unlimited servings of their premium Angus beef cuts, premium seafood, chicken, pork, and vegetables, but no Wagyu beef cuts and only a single serving of sashimi. This was a wallet-friendly and reasonable option, and the dining experience was enjoyable and memorable. I've since returned to dine again!

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Syohachi Yakiniku Exterior

Syohachi Yakiniku Interior

Seating Outdoors

Seating Indoors

Grill

Table Setting

The thing to note when ordering is that serving sizes is counted in pieces, where 1 portion = 1 piece. Thus, we usually order 2, 4, or 8 pieces at a go. When seated, you'll be served a Raw Starting Sampler Platter which features a variety of vegetables, meat, and seafood. Portions are nicely sized to prevent wastage, and staff are fairly efficient at fulfilling orders.

Raw Starting Sampler Platter

Raw Starting Sampler Platter

Raw Starting Sampler Platter

Raw Herbs Butter Abalone Mushrooms, Raw Grilled Needle Mushrooms, Raw Grilled Pineapple

Raw Marinated Chicken & Pork

Raw Original Salt-Marinated Chicken Thigh With Lime

Raw Italian Basil Marinated Lamb Chop

Raw Special Sauce Squid

Raw Original Salt-Marinated Clams

Raw Herbs Butter Mussel

Raw Herbs Butter Scallop

Raw Grilled Mackerel Fish With Salt & Lime Juice

Raw Original Salt-Marinated Premium Beef Short Plate

Raw Prime Beef Rib

Raw Prime Beef Rib

Raw Prime Beef Rib

Raw Prime Beef Rib

Raw Prime Beef Rib, Diced Bite-Sized Beef

Ordered a side Sashimi Platter - Salmon Loin, Tuna Loin, Scallop. The fresh fish and seafood sashimi is decent enough, not a speciality, but will certainly satisfy those looking for sashimi. The salmon fish loin sashimi is tender and succulent with a light chew, and bright sweet savoury flavour. The tuna fish loin sashimi is chewy and succulent with a meaty bite, and robust savoury sweet flavour. The scallop sashimi is bouncy and succulent with a juicy texture, and mild sweet ocean flavour. Worth ordering!

Sashimi Platter - Salmon Loin, Tuna Loin, Scallop

The Salads help relieve the palate from the copious portions of meat, refreshing you for the next round. Of particular note is the Salad Cucumber With Special House Sauce, which had a delightful juicy crunch to the fresh sliced cucumbers, and a vegetal sweet nutty earthy flavour. The Salad Spinach With Sesame Sauce was decent with the crunchy spinach having mild vegetal sweet flavour, though the addictive sesame sauce and its nutty sweet notes was much stronger and could be toned down. The Salad Marinated Seaweed or Chuka Wakame was better than elsewhere, crunchy and slippery with bright vegetal earthy sweet savoury notes. Good!

Salad Cucumber With Special House Sauce

Salad Spinach With Sesame Sauce

Salad Marinated Seaweed

Salad Japanese Crab Roe

Salad Tomato

There's also a selection of vegetables for grilling. Those I enjoyed included the Grilled White Onion with its juicy crunch and smoky vegetal earthy sweet flavour, and the Herbs Butter Abalone Mushrooms which held up well with a tender juicy texture and bold vegetal earthy savoury salty herbal flavour. But the best was the Grilled Pineapple, juicy and smoky fruity sweet in taste, super addictive; we ordered 3 rounds of it!

Grilled Garlic

Grilled White Onion

Herbs Butter Abalone Mushrooms

Herbs Butter Shiitake Mushrooms

Grilled Needle Mushrooms

Grilled Eggplant

Grilled Pineapple

The seafood is fresh and succulent, of good quality. Those I enjoyed included the Special Sauce Squid with its bouncy chew and robust sweet salty savoury flavour, and the delicious Herbs Butter Scallop with its tender succulent chew and bold sweet savoury salty herbal buttery flavour, yum. The Original Salt-Marinated Tiger Prawn was a stand-out as well, with its juicy meaty crunch and enticing sweet salty savoury smoky notes.

Marinated Baby Octopus

Original Salt-Marinated Tiger Prawn

Original Salt-Marinated Clams

Special Sauce Squid

Herbs Butter Mussel

Herbs Butter Oyster

Herbs Butter Scallop

Grilled Mackerel Fish With Salt & Lime Juice

The chicken is fresh and nicely cut in medium-sized pieces. Those I enjoyed included the Original Salt-Marinated Chicken Thigh With Lime with its tender moist chew and bright sweet savoury sour tangy zesty flavour, and the Italian Basil Marinated Chicken Thigh with its tender moist chew and lovely vegetal meaty earthy herbal sweet savoury flavour.

Original Salt-Marinated Chicken Thigh With Lime

Italian Basil Marinated Chicken Thigh

Yuzu Zest & Peppers Marinated Chicken Thigh

The pork is fresh with a good ratio of fat to lean meat. Those I enjoyed included the Original Salt-Marinated Pork Belly with its tender fatty juicy chew and straightforward smoky meaty savoury salty flavour, and the Yuzu Zest & Peppers Marinated Pork Belly with its tender fatty juicy chew and robust meaty fruity salty savoury sweet spice flavour.

Original Salt-Marinated Pork Belly

Ginger Sauce Marinated Pork Belly

Yuzu Zest & Peppers Marinated Pork Belly

The lamb was enjoyable. The Italian Basil Marinated Lamb Chop has a fatty tender juicy chew to the lamb meat, and it cuts away easily from the bone. The marinade of Italian basil lends a herbal earthy flavour to the savoury salty notes of the lamb, complementing it well. Good!

Italian Basil Marinated Lamb Chop

The beef is fresh and of good quality, served in a few different cuts. Of the 3 "original" types of cuts we tried, my favourite is the Original Salt-Marinated Prime Beef Rib with its incredibly soft tender succulent texture and robust meaty savoury salty smoky flavour. The Original Salt-Marinated Premium Beef Short Plate has the same flavour, but the texture is more firm and chewy. Finally, the Original Salt-Marinated Diced Bite-Sized Beef has the same flavour, but is somehow softer with a tender bouncy bite, nice. Highly recommended!

Original Salt-Marinated Prime Beef Rib

Original Salt-Marinated Premium Beef Short Plate

Original Salt-Marinated Diced Bite-Sized Beef

These cuts of beef come with a sauce / marinade, which supposedly enhances the taste. Personally, I think the only 2 that achieves this to a sufficient degree (the rest are rather mild), is the Steak Sauce Premium Beef Short Plate and Steak Sauce Prime Beef Rib, where the steak sauce marinade lends a bolder meaty salty savoury taste.

Steak Sauce Premium Beef Short Plate

Special Sauce Prime Beef Rib

Steak Sauce Prime Beef Rib

Wasabi Marinated Prime Beef Rib

Fruit Sauce Prime Beef Rib

The ready-to-eat dishes had hits and misses. Surprised by how good the Tori Karaage was, crunchy and moist with savoury salty sweet spice flavour, these popcorn chicken nuggets were delicious. Also loved the Udon With Half Boiled Egg, the pairing of soft chewy udon noodles with grainy sweet flavour, with slippery smooth kombu kelp seaweed with vegetal earthy salty sweet flavour, the wobbly soft runny onsen egg with eggy sweet notes, all served in a calming warm dashi broth with earthy savoury sweet flavour.