IKO Restaurant & Bar Tasting Session 2022
65 Neil Road
Opening Hours:
Mon - Thu: 12pm - 3pm, 5:30pm - 11:30pm,
Fri - Sat: 12pm - 3pm, 5:30pm - 1am,
Closed Sun
https://www.iko.com.sg/
This was an invited media review. I did not pay for the meal during the free hosted tasting session, but I did pay the standard price during subsequent visits.
Attended with representatives from Little Tiny Sun, Jennifer Yeo Lifestyle, msginginly, Her Pen And Fork, With Rachelle, and Epicurious Caniggia.
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| Hokkaido Scallop & Pearl (SGD $22) |
Quirky Mod-Jap Bar Bites
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 9
Service: 9
Value for Money: 7
Budget about SGD $100++ per person.
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Opening in April 2021, IKO Restaurant & Bar is a chill gastrobar offering modern contemporary Japanese Fusion tapas and bar bites. Decked in dark shades interspersed by bright neon highlights, the 55-seat IKO Restaurant & Bar is casual and relaxing, offering a respite from the busy bustle around. We'd last visited as regular paying customers in 2021, and this revisit was to sample the new menu, created by a brand new kitchen team at the helm, led by Chef-Owner Dylan Ong, the talented founder of The Masses (an acclaimed French Fusion restaurant).
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| IKO Restaurant & Bar Exterior |
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| IKO Restaurant & Bar Interior |
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| Us |
Ambience at IKO Restaurant & Bar is buzzy, casual, cozy, and intimate. The harsh glow from colourful neon lights cast vibrant hues against the concrete walls, framed by black and grey steel, obscuring the view of your beautifully plated food. The raw industrial look is contrasted by simple modern furnishings flanked by backlit mirrors, and a long open kitchen. Formerly, the glowing neon IKO Restaurant & Bar logo was the showpiece on the ceiling, this has now been covered by a large artwork of a tattooed lady. The bar has also been decorated with touches of pop-culture Japanese elements.
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| Quirky Posters |
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| Quirky Posters |
Service at IKO Restaurant & Bar is attentive and practised at service recovery, and attempts to ensure diners are comfortable. A little thoughtfulness for those waiting to get in (reservations are recommended), and a welcoming attitude makes for a pleasant start. Staff display decent efficiency at taking and fulfilling orders, and at cleaning up. Formerly, there was little opportunity for demonstration of menu knowledge, but now, staff display intimate familarity with the menu, describing each and every dish as it's served, as well as how best to enjoy it.
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| Seating |
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| Seating |
Food at IKO Restaurant & Bar is Modern Japanese Fusion cuisine. The kitchen delivers consistent quality of dishes, combining flavours in exciting and delicious ways. Formerly featuring luxurious ingredients done traditionally, the new Chef-Owner Dylan Ong showcases his creativity through modern contemporary Japanese Fusion sharing plates instead. Each dish is beautifully plated, packed with creative and bold flavours, per his signature style. The poor lighting reduces opportunity to marvel at the dishes. I also like the revised, wider list of sake options. Portions are sized for communal group dining. Prices remain at a premium, budget about SGD $100 per person.
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| Bar Counter |
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| Bottle Rack |
The Sake Naraman Junmai Origarami (SGD $88) is a limited edition, seasonal sake, classified as 'very rare'. It's brewed with Gohyakumangoku rice polished to 55%, by the Yumegokoro Brewing Company in Kitakata city, Fukushima prefecture, Tohoku region of Japan. It has a slightly cloudy semi-transparent white colour, with aromas and tastes of spring water, musk melon, steamed white rice, and pear. The body is medium-dry, smooth, refreshing, and balanced, with grainy earthy fruity sweet sour mineral flavour, with a sharp dry finish.
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| Sake Naraman Junmai Origarami (SGD $88) |
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| Sake Naraman Junmai Origarami |
A riff off the Calbee brand potato chips, the house Iko-Bee Potato Chips (SGD $15) snack features home-made potato chips, sliced thin and small then flash fried till crisp, with a light starchy sweet savoury flavour. Seasoning powders of sour cream and bottarga (cured salted grey mullet fish roe) accompany, pour these into the pack and shake it like it's hot. Lends bright sour salty savoury sweet notes, yum. Rather addictive bar snack. Good!
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| Iko-Bee Potato Chips (SGD $15) |
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| Iko-Bee Potato Chips |
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| Iko-Bee Potato Chips |
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| Iko-Bee Potato Chips |
The Oysters With Wasabi Lychee Granita (SGD $21 for 3 pieces) snack features a trio of large, plump, juicy succulent fresh oysters in the shell, with briny salty sweet clean-tasting flavour. Dressed with a generous topping of granita (semi-frozen ice) infused with wasabi, lychee juice, and sake rice wine, giving this a pleasant fruity sweet spicy earthy flavour. Utterly delicious. Highly recommended!
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| Oysters With Wasabi Lychee Granita (SGD $21 for 3 pieces) |
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| Oysters With Wasabi Lychee Granita |
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| Oysters With Wasabi Lychee Granita |
The Lil Basket (SGD $20 for 3 pieces) is Chef Dylan Ong's interpretation of a Kueh Pie Tee snack. A beetroot infused pastry shell 'basket', crisp with vegetal sweet notes, is filled with fresh deshelled snow crab meat, succulent and clean-tasting with bright sweet savoury flavour. Dressed with a sticky lime gel, a creamy avocado mousse, and edible flower petals, the one-bite morsel bursts with floral vegetal earthy sour zesty sweet savoury salty spice flavours. Luxurious and bold in taste, a personal favourite. Although, I wish the strong dressing could be toned down a tad to allow more of the natural snow crab flavour to shine. Highly recommended!
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| Lil Basket (SGD $20 for 3 pieces) |
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| Lil Basket |
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| Lil Basket |
A novel, whimsical snack creation, the Fish Ice Cream - Shake, Negitoro (SGD $18 for 2 pieces) are presented as mini ice cream cones. The cone itself is made from seaweed infused batter, crisp with a vegetal earthy grainy sweet flavour. The shake / salmon version features minced salmon fish loin, cubed smoked salmon fish, crème fraîche, and ikura / salmon fish roe; with creamy juicy crunchy tender texture and bold meaty earthy sweet savoury salty briny milky flavour. The negitoro / minced tuna version features minced bluefin tuna fish loin, menegi / young green onion shoots, and a cured egg yolk; with oozy moist crunchy tender texture and bold meaty earthy sweet savoury salty herbal eggy flavour. Worth ordering!
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| Fish Ice Cream - Shake, Negitoro (SGD $18 for 2 pieces) |
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| Fish Ice Cream - Shake, Negitoro |
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| Fish Ice Cream - Shake, Negitoro |
Befitting of Le Diner En Blanc, the White On White (SGD $24) is a luxurious appetizer of succulent sliced Hokkaido scallops, crisp fresh fennel, crisp pickled fennel, juicy pomelo chunks, and crunchy baby radish, dressed in a dashi yuzu sauce. With bright fruity vegetal sweet savoury earthy flavours, the complex combination of tastes and textures is best shared as it can weigh on the palate. This didn't quite appeal to me though, as it got rather one-note after awhile. Could be improved.
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| White On White (SGD $24) |
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| White On White |
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| White On White |
Positioned as an appetizer but more befitting of a main dish, the Confit Salmon (SGD $26) was among our favourite dishes of this visit. A tender juicy flaky roulade of salmon, coated in kombu seaweed, black pepper, and spring onions, carries a pleasant meaty savoury sweet salty earthy spice flavour. Served over a bed of smoked cream and green pea mousse, creamy and grainy with vegetal sweet milky earthy flavour. On the side are chunks of juicy caramelised red apple slices and jammy apple puree, both with bright fruity sweet flavour. Completed with fresh chives, and globules of ikura / salmon fish roe, with vegetal briny salty sweet flavour. Loved every bite of this. Highly recommended!
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| Confit Salmon (SGD $26) |
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| Confit Salmon |
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| Confit Salmon |
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| Confit Salmon |
The Soy Chawanmushi (SGD $18) was a collective favourite that won our hearts (and stomachs). The large serving of wobby soft egg custard is infused with prawn oil, dill oil, dashi verjus, and soy sauce, garnished with deep-sea red botan prawns, prawn tempura, and burned string cheese. Each mouthful was an addictive burst of eggy sweet salty vegetal earthy herbal flavours, with the succulent bouncy juicy shrimp lending natural sweet savoury flavour. Yummy, but the large serving is best shared. Highly recommended!
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| Soy Chawanmushi (SGD $18) |
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| Soy Chawanmushi |
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| Soy Chawanmushi |
Inspired by Japanese curry dishes, the A Japanese Curry Piquillo State Of Mind (SGD $20) features minced beef brisket, braised for 16 hours with diced carrots, potatoes, and white onions, in a red wine curry gravy, then stuffed into a hollowed piquillo pepper. It looks visually pretty with a sprig of lilac flowers as decor, and holds robust meaty earthy savoury salty vegetal sour sweet spice flavour. Personally, this didn't quite appeal to me in taste. Could be improved.
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| A Japanese Curry Piquillo State Of Mind (SGD $20) |
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| A Japanese Curry Piquillo State Of Mind |
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| A Japanese Curry Piquillo State Of Mind |
Loved the Hokkaido Scallop & Pearl (SGD $22), which rounded off the appetizers. Served in a scallop shell, toasted to keep warm, is a base of creamy jerusalem artichoke with mild vegetal sweet earthy salty flavour, over which is placed thick cut slices of fresh Hokkaido scallop, bouncy and tender with bright sweet savoury flavour. Alongside is a crumbly pastry ball with bready buttery sweet flavour, stuffed with shredded soy braised kurobuta pork belly (en croute style) that is tender and juicy with deep meaty salty savoury herbal flavour. Highly recommended!
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| Hokkaido Scallop & Pearl (SGD $22) |
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| Hokkaido Scallop & Pearl |
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| Hokkaido Scallop & Pearl |
A large, luxurious claypot sharing meal, the A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Donabe (SGD $78) feeds up to 5 people. The claypot is filled with a base of truffle oil infused fluffy white rice, bouncy trio of mushrooms (shiitake, brown beech, king oyster), crunchy kombu seaweed, soft braised daikon radish, crisp chives, and edible flowers. This holds robust grainy vegetal earthy salty sweet savoury flavour. On top is laid a sliced flank of A5 wagyu beef, perfectly grilled till tender juicy succulent, with bold meaty savoury salty smoky flavour. There's also chunks of porc noir de bigorre pork, tender juicy crunchy with meaty oily savoury salty flavour. It's garnished with chrysanthemum flowers and luxurious slices of black truffle, perfuming the dish with floral earthy aroma. Stir the whole thing together and enjoy. To accompany is a duo of pickled vegetables (cucumber and purple cabbage), juicy and crisp with bright vegetal sour sweet flavour that contrasts nicely. Good!
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| A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Donabe (SGD $78) |
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| A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Donabe |
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| Pickles |
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| Pickles |
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| Stirring |
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| Single Portioned A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Donabe With Pickles |
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| Single Portioned A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Donabe With Pickles |
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| Single Portioned A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Donabe With Pickles |
Creatively named, That High Sess Somen (SGD $48) is served chilled. It features a base of silky thin chewy somen wheat flour noodles, in a rich clam broth, carrying bright sweet savoury briny salty flavour. The luxurious garnish includes chunky flaky deshelled fresh Hokkaido snow crab, tender diced chutoro / bluefin tuna fish medium fatty belly, creamy bafun uni / horse **** sea urchin, juicy ikura / salmon fish roe, juicy kaviari caviar, crisp chives, and edible flowers, combining for a bright meaty sweet savoury oily briny salty earthy flavour. Truely high 'ses'. Good!
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| That High Sess Somen (SGD $48) |
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| That High Sess Somen |
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| That High Sess Somen |
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| That High Sess Somen |
For dessert, we had the Yuzu Semifreddo (SGD $15). This deconstructed semifreddo features a crunchy caramel honeycomb, gelatinous yuzu curd, creamy Hokkaido milk ice cream drizzled with miso caramel, airy mint sponge cake, and wedges of juicy grapefruit and orange. A complex blend of tastes, floral sweet fruity sour earthy herbal milky flavours, each component contributing to the whole. Refreshing and enticing, we polished this off. Highly recommended!
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| Yuzu Semifreddo (SGD $15) |
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| Yuzu Semifreddo |
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| Yuzu Semifreddo |
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| Yuzu Semifreddo |
Loved the dining experience at the new IKO Restaurant & Bar, with its bold flavoured Japanese Fusion dishes, attentive service, and buzzy ambience. Will revisit IKO Restaurant & Bar for more!
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CONVERSATION