Don’t confuse Hibiki Japanese Restaurant with the whisky that has the same name. This Hibiki is located at Bukit Timah Road with nearest MRT station, Sixth Avenue, a stone throw away. And it is next door to Vicky’s Chocolate Cake.
Hibiki Japanese Restaurant offers both outdoor and indoor seats. Interior was tastefully decorated in typical Japanese Zen design with shelves of Sake.
Menu at Hibiki specialises in Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture dishes with Sake Kurobuta Shabu-Shabu and Yakitori being their signature among many other dishes.
We certainly have to try their signature dishes on our first visit, hence first and foremost, we got a Sake Kurobuta Shabu-shabu ($69.80). On the menu it mentioned good for 2 but I think for small eater like myself, as many as 4 could share so that we can try other items too. In this set for 2 persons, there are Saitama Mixed Vegetable Platter, Pork Collar and Pork Belly to cook in the Sake-Dashi broth.
If you are worried that you do not know how to cook it, no worry, service crew is available to provide the service. First the harder vegetables such as cabbage, carrot, mushroom, yam noodle are placed nicely in the broth to cook. When it is half cooked, place the tofu and the greens. Finally place the thinly sliced pork on the top. This ensures that the pork is not over-cooked.
Now, ready to enjoy the Pork with the Ponzu dip and Sesame Sauce with the rest of the ingredients. Personally, I find the broth light with mainly the sweetness from the vegetable that blend well with the Dashi. It is highly suitable for the light palate. For heavy palate like myself, I find it a little bland. Towards the end when all pork were cooked, the soup tasted so much better than the start.
Upon all pork are cooked, now it is time to add either Udon or rice. We chose Porridge as this was highly recommended by the Hibiki. End result of the porridge was flavourful since it absorbed all the essence from the broth.
A handful of starters such as the Fruit Tomato ($9) found favours among our diners. Personally, since I am not a tomato fan, it was nothing more than the fruit itself though it was much sweeter and more pleasant compared to our local kind.
Shakushina zuke ($12) is a preserved vegetable which I find the taste similar to the Chinese preserved vegetable.
I love fish roe hence I am attracted to the Yaki-mentaiko ($18). The way to enjoy this dish per the advice of Hibiki Japanese Restaurant is to wrap all the ingredients on a seaweed. But I prefer having each individual component on its own.
Tako Karaage ($14.80) was evenly battered and fried. The tasty, thin and light breaded batter coated tightly on the well-marinated squid.
An assortment of Yakitori consisting of Black Pork and Kampong Chicken only were available on the menu. All the items were perfectly grill with hint of smokiness on the meat. And it wasn’t highly salted like most Yakitori which I have tried previously. Meat remains tender.
For desserts, Hibiki Japanese Restaurant offers mainly Ice Cream ($6.80) of 4 flavours, Vanilla, Tenpien (natural seasalt), Yaki-imo (grilled sweet potato) and Houji-cha. My favourite are the Tenpien and Houji-cha. Generally the ice cream was light in flavour and lightly creamy. And the deep-fried sweet potato were so addictive. I am going to order the ala-carte, Satsuma imo age ($13.80) at my next visit.
There are 2 other ice cream dishes on the menu. First is my favourite, the Sweet Potato served with vanilla ice cream & palm sugar ($9.80). I love the baked sweet potato cube cake. Though it was dense but it was smooth and full of sweet potato goodness. I suppose sweet potato fan would love this.
Matcha Warabi-mochi served with vanilla ice cream & palm sugar ($9.80) was the next item. I am not a fan of mochi though I love matcha hence I am neutral to this dessert. The warabi-mochi is jelly-like but denser in texture and lightly sweet and lightly Matcha-flavoured.
At Hibiki Japanese Restaurant, they offers an array of Kagamiyama Sake from the lighter and drier to the rich and full body type.
One interesting Sake was the Sake Wine. It was fermented using the wine-making technology. It doesn’t has the typical sake bitterness, instead it has the wine sweetness. The taste is somewhat close to Moscato.
Shochu is another item on Hibiki Japanese Restaurant menu. You could have it as a Soda with various flavours, Lemon, Ume, Cucumber, Ginger and Oolong. Personally, I love the Lemon and Ginger but surely will avoid the Oolong as the bitterness of the tea was accentuated by the alcohol.
Promotion
Every Tuesday, Yakitori sticks are priced at $2, except for Wagyu and Tokujo Kurobuta Yakiton are not part of the promotion. While on Wednesday, diners get to enjoy the Sake Kurobuta Shabu-Shabu, 5 Yakitori sticks and 300ml Sake at $88++. For both promotion, reservation is required.
NAHMJ Verdict
We felt that food served at Hibiki Japanese Restaurant was comforting and the taste reminds of home. The yakitori sticks are one of the best we tried so far.
Side note, we revisited Hibiki and found some very tasty and highly recommended dishes. Read to find out what’s else worth ordering at this Japanese Restaurant.
Hibiki Japanese Restaurant
833 Bukit Timah Road, #01-06, Royalville, Singapore 279887
Tel: +65 6519 6894
Website: http://hibiki.sg/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/yakitori.lounge.hibiki/?rf=1391726994187205
Opening Hours
Daily 1700 to 2330
Getting There
By MRT:
- Downtown line: Sixth Avenue station
By Bus:
- Sixth Avenue Centre along Bukit Timah Road 66, 67, 74, 77, 151, 154, 157, 170, 171, 174, 852, 961, 970
- Opposite Sixth Avenue Centre along Dunearn Road 66, 67, 74, 151, 154, 157, 170, 171,852, 961, 970
Rating: /10
*Disclaimer: This was a media invite.