Boruto means vault in Japanese and since the unit was formerly occupied by a bank. You could still sight traces of bank such as the safe boxes at the second floor. Boruto is suitated along South Bridge Road; offering both Japanese Tapas and Sake to diners. It is opened by Chef Patrick Tan who owns another restaurant, Tamashii Robataya, around the same place. Boruto is currently helmed by Chef Angus Chow who has worked for various big names including FOC.

 

Occupying 2 level, with entrance at the ground floor is the Tapas Bar while on the second level is the Sake Bar both section offer diners casual dinning environment. The entire design is mainly chic industrial.

 

 

 

 

Sake Bar

 

At the Sake Bar, located at level 2, is where Boruto offers a private room with cushy leather sofa for diners to sit back and chill out with their favourite drink. This private room is made available for reservation with a minimum charges.

 

 

 

One might very quickly notice the Sake vault with the safe boxes as backdrops.

 

 

 

Besides the sake and bespoke cocktails, the Japanese Plum Wine is also offered. Customers could purchase a bottle and store it with Boruto and pop over to enjoy whenever they feel like it.

 

Tapas Bar

 

The Tapas Bar features a bar counter facing the open kitchen. Diners could enjoy the food while watching the chefs in action. Boruto offers mainly bar table seatings with a few normal dinning tables as an alternative option.

 

 

Currently, Boruto offers 5 Salads, 10 Small Bites, 6 Cold Tapas, 14 Hot Tapas, 6 Carbs and 5 Sweets.

 

Small Bites

We didn’t try any of the 5 salads. Instead we jumped straight into the Small Bites priced from $6.80 to $15.80. Among the 10, we tried only the Crispy Rice Cracker Tacos ($12.80). It is one of the 2 recommended dishes for Small Bites. Pulled pork is sat on crispy rice crackers, topped with guacomole & chilli salsa. A flavourful dish with creamy smooth guacomole enhancing the dish and chilli salsa to spice it up. This is one of my top favourite dish at Boruto.

 

 

In case, you are wondering what’s the second recommendation, it is the Teba Gyoza ($15.80).

 

Cold Tapas

Coming to the Cold Tapas, we tried 2 out of 6 dishes. Saga Gyu Tataki ($28.80) is one of the very well received dish among the group of taster of the night. Including myself, I thought well of it too. The perfectly seared Japanese Beef with some seaweed and saffron was served with some lovely edible flowers laced on the edge of the plate. Not only it is appealing to the sight but certainly flavoursome to the tastebud.

 

 

Ahi Tataki ($12.80) is the second cold tapas of the night. The Yellowfin Tuna block is slightly pan-fried on the outer before slicing it and served on the plate with chopped finely black olives, Japanese leek, chilli and wasabi yuzu dressing to whet the appetite. I am neutral to this dish.

 

 

Both the cold tapas we tried were the recommended dishes at Boruto.

 

Hot Tapas

Tori-Take Roll ($15.80) is a North-eastern Chinese (Dongbei) inspired dish. Crispy chicken roulade with stuffed shitake jam drizzled with Chinese sauce concoction. My other personal favourite. Personally, I like the combination of the shitake jam with chicken.

 

 

 

Personally, I thought it was a tough fight with the Saga Gyu Tataki.

Among the 14 Hot Tapas, beside the Tori-take Roll, there are 4 others recommended tapas namely Hotate to Cauliflower no Grill ($15.80), Beef short rib 58°C ($18.80), Kurobuta “Sio Bak” ($20.80) and Zuwai Gani Sausage ($30.80).

 

Carbs

Knowing that some diners might need carbs to complete the meeal, Boruto introduces 6 dishes to the menu with 3 recommended dish. We tried one of them, the Uni Pasta v1.1 ($35.80). It is known as version 1.1 as it is an improved dish from the original recipe which was with a Aglio Olio based pasta.

 

 

The version 1.1 has its pasta cooked in seafood broth topped with fresh sea urchin roe and Hokkaido white wasabi. So expect an extremely strong seafood flavour from the dish. You either love it or hate it. I belong to the latter. Personally, I find the flavour too pungent.

 

Sweets

Desserts are always welcomed even after tons of food. My stomach could always make space for them. Starting from the lightest in taste is the Warabi Mochi ($8.80). A sweet soft to the chew and lightly sweeten, is made from bracken starch and coated with kinako. Most of us find that it lacks of the chewiness which is present in mochi.

 

 

At Boruto, they served the classic Creme Brulee with truffle infused, the Truffle Creme Brulee ($8.80). Though the texture is a little to liquefied but was flavourful, filled with nice vanilla flavour and truffle augmented the dish. But certainly this may not appeal to everyone. As there are some factor of acquired taste I suppose.

 

 

Finally, the strong in taste is the Chocolate Surprise ($12.80). Half cake, half souffle with molten chocolate in the centre was served with 2 scoops of homemade vanilla ice cream and lastly topped with some crushed peanut.

 

 

Chocolate fan, you are in it for a treat. Rich and strong chocolate aroma filled this dish. It is tough for me to reject this dish as one of my fave sweet at Boruto.

 

 

NAHMJ Verdict

 

At Boruto, there are some outstanding dishes while a few pale to comparison. In short, there are hits and misses. NAHMJ would recommend the Tori-take Roll, Crispy Rice Cracker Tacos, Saga Gyu Tataki, Truffle Creme Brulee and Chocolate Surprise.

 

 

 

Boruto 

80 South Bridge Road #01-01 Golden Castle Building, Singapore 058710
Tel: +65 6532 0418

Website: http://www.boruto.com.sg
FB: https://www.facebook.com/borutosingapore/?fref=ts

 

Opening Hours

 

Tapas Bar: Monday – Saturday  1800 to 2300 (Last order 2230)

Sake Bar: Monday – Saturday  1630 to 0000 (Last order 2330)

Happy Hour: Monday – Saturday  1630 to 1930

Closed on Sunday

 

Getting There

 

By MRT:

• Downtown line and North East line – Chinatown station

• North East line – Clarke Quay station

• North-South line and East-West line – Raffles Place station

 

By Bus:

• alight at Clarke Quay Station along Eu Tong Sen Street   2, 12, 33, 51, 54, 61, 63, 80, 124, 145, 147, 166, 174, 190, 197, 851, 961

• alight opposite Clarke Quay Station along New Bridge Road   2, 12, 33, 54, 147, 190

• alight at Boat Quay along South Bridge Road   51, 61, 63, 80, 124, 145, 166, 174, 197, 851, 961

 

Rating: 7/10

 

 

Disclaimer: This was a media invite by Openrice Singapore