Yakiniquest - 333A Orchard Rd Mandarin Gallery

Welcome to the neighbourhood in Mandarin Gallery! The level four within Mandarin Gallery has the eclectic collection of food and beverage, especially Japanese cuisine, joining the likes of Ippudo (the first ever started in Singapore), Suju (first outlet), Sushi Ayumu and now Yakinikuquest. The lovely interiors, smoke free and welcoming owners are going wow you with the wagyu selections from Japan. Don’t forget their sake selections. But first of all, must start with the draft Suntory Premium Malt. The omakase menu is highly recommended. #andrewtanatomisingapore

This is an amazing place. Love the thoughts that Ishida-san put into the Omakase menu. There's a lot of efforts put into preparing the Niku Soumen, the beef was cut into strands to look like somen noodles, served with a soy sauce, seaweed and a dab of wasabi. The star of the menu was Yakisuki to me. It's a combo of yakiniku and sukiyaki. Perfectly grilled striploin with option to dip in raw beaten egg. It's a symphony of beef and seasoned raw egg yolk singing hallelujah in your mouth. I'm not kidding.

Outstanding for what it is / price point. Cosy ambience with nice booth tables and private rooms overlooking Boat Quay. Excellent service from Japanese staff who introduce and cook each course of the wagyu omakase for you. Good sake list at reasonable mark-ups. Aaand the beef - had the wagyu lovers omakase set (middle option for omakase) at a reasonable price - wonderful assortment from various prime parts of the cow, along with salads, beef sashimi with uni (highly recommend as an add on), udon etc. I was just-nice full at the end of the meal, and I am not a small guy. Best experience I have had in Singapore, including some famous comparables at Robertson Quay and Palais Renaissance. Worth a trip here specially if you are seeking wagyu yakiniku - highly recommend. NB: pictures are only a sample as I was too engrossed with eating to capture all courses!

Back again, this time for their Christmas Wagyu yakiniku omakase. The menu started with a glass of prosecco and a salad before moving on to the beef - beef soup, aburi sushi, beef tongue and various cuts that culminated with a tri-tip and rib-eye. Ice cold udon and yoghurt pudding rounded off the menu. Every cut was of excellent quality and expertly grilled by the staff so the texture was just as great as the taste. The ventilation of the charcoal grill was very strong and effective so we didn't leave the place smelling too much of yakiniku beef. I do wish they had more comfortable seating than the current benches, but I heard from staff that 25 Dec 2021 is their last day there and that they are moving to a new place at Mandarin Gallery. I will be there to check out their new seats.

Came here to celebrate our anniversary in March, we had the "Quest" Omakase, together with sake pairing. Truly a fun and unique yakiniku experience where you get to try different cuts of wagyu. A complete course menu where the staff expertly grills the meats to different doneness levels that best showcases each respective cut. Highly recommend the sake pairing as it completes the meal. The sommelier also recommends which sake to go with certain dishes (appetiser, meat with/without sauce, etc) and you can mix and match to get different taste profiles. While you get one piece per cut of meat, by the end of the meal you should be sufficiently full.

Wanted to Treat my mom to a nice meal as she missed eating Japanese food as she couldn't return to Japan due to the pandemic. Maybe it was a busy night but the entire meal was overshadowed by the speed in which the dishes arrived. Our entire meal ended almost past 10pm, there were long gaps in between dishes and I nearly nodded off from waiting. We were using the private room and frankly, it was so tight and claustrophobic that we asked if we could leave the room to sit in the main hall as it became a little stuffy. Its nothing like the Chinese restaurant private room, imagine a bench style sitting tucked at a corner so if someone wanted to leave, everyone had to get out. The passageway was only good for 1 person to pass through. It is that tight. Luckily the ceilings were high. Skip the private room entirely. Service was great and friendly throughout and our wait staff did their best, however when our guests arrived at the beginning waiting for each other, nobody offered us any water or drinks. We had to keep on leaving the room to find someone to take our orders. Some of the dishes were very well thought up and innovative, though there were some forgettable dishes as well. For $188 per pax, you'll get to taste up to 12 slivers of meat. Great for small eaters but I had to supplement my menu with additional curry rice and side dishes to feel full. Portions are small. But credits has to be given for some of the meat dishes, it really was outstanding and if I could redo my meal, only focus on those that I liked and skip the others which i felt were just fillers. Sorry chef, the beef somen, although innovative, is a little gimmicky and wasn't pleasant at all. The flavour of the meat was really lost in the broth. On the plus side, your closing dish somen was delicious and very refined. Your starter chawanmushi, beef stew was excellent.. On a side note, the wagyu beef curry was absolutely terrible. The beef curry had no beef stock flavour, and just tasted salty. The few pieces of wagyu cut offs were just thrown inside and felt more like an after though instead of proper beef cubes. The rice unfortunately was overcooked. This is quite shocking for a Japanese chef owned restaurant, curry rice is a staple dish. Yes I understand curry is not the prime dish here, but it really is the basics. Is it worth the visit? I'm not really sure, maybe as a lunchset but definitely not a dinner set menu. There are many other yakinuku places that are way better, cheaper and better value for money.

We had the lunch SGD 128 set, good grilled. Very tall guy serve us, explained the parts we having. Good beef. Right amount of food. No too full. The dessert too milky, less of tea flavour, maybe less sweet needed for my taste bud.

It was quite a culinary experience for me as I was exposed to many raw beef dishes here. I ope for highest package meal, and they step up their game one dish after another. I was not impressed initially but I was totally sold as it progressed. The service is also good.