Shinkei

Looking around for a buffet feast for dinner, we managed to find Shinkei (しんけい), a relatively new outlet which offers a la carte buffet located at Toa Payoh. The menu online (http://www.shinkei.com.sg/) appears to have all sorts of japanese cuisine (approximately 145 items), including my favourite Maguro sashimi. Not hesitating further, we booked a table for 6 on a Saturday evening.

First Impressions

Shinkei is easily located, beside the Toa Payoh Regional Library. We arrived ahead of schedule and were guided to our seats. The restaurant is dimly lit and mostly furnished with dark colored furniture, reminding me a spa environment. This would be an apt place to chill out for a few rounds of sake after a hard day of work.

Arriving ahead of time, the restaurant's mostly empty

Not long after we were seated, we were each served appetizers - a bowl of chilled tuna salad. Our orders for a pot of hot green tea was also served promptly. After that, we massed order a whole lot of dishes from the menu, so much so that we lost track of what we actually ordered. Some items appeared to be duplicate orders but fortunately the duplicated orders were delicious so we just ate them anyways, saving the trouble of having to order twice. For the first round of mass orders, I shall let the pictures tell the story.. ( I have to apologize but there were too many names to remember, I will try to get them right as much as possible)

A whole lot of dishes you can order (Up to 145 different items available)

Fried Salmon Skin

Chicken Salad

Soft-shelled crab maki

Bacon-wrapped asparagus

Pork Bulgolgi

Garlic Fried Rice

Grilled Saba

Chawanmushi (Steamed Egg)

(Top to bottom) Bacon-wrapped asparagus, snow peas, potato salad

Gyoza

Assorted Sashimi (Salmon, tuna and yellowtail)

Maguro (tuna) and Swordfish Sashimi

Chicken with Wasabi Mayo

(Clockwise left to right) Chicken wing, chicken gizzards and heart, quail egg

Complimentary fish head from the shop owner

By the time we were halfway through the orders, the restaurant was already packed. Staff were busily clearing the empty plates and refilling empty pots. We started to place our second round of orders to minimize the waiting time for our food. Even though we submitted our second round of orders early, the orders took some time to arrive. This was vastly different from when the restaurant was much empty. Some dishes did not even come after we placed our third round of orders (third round had lesser dishes as we were reaching our limits).

Cold soba

(Top to bottom) Chicken heart, lady's fingers (doh!)

Shisamo

Kimchi beansprouts

One of many ramen choices

Can't remember the name of the dish on the right. It was something like chicken in sour sauce..

Meatballs

ごちそうさま! Gochisosama! All cleared!

Overall, the buffet was quite satisfactory. There was quantity but quality was not necessarily there. Dishes which I recommend going for:

I will consider revisiting the outlet again as an alternative to the more popular Kiseki Buffet Restaurant.

Overall
Dinner for 6 - $200
Visited on 15 Feb 2014 @ 6 PM

Location
Shinkei Japanese Restaurant
600 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh (Beside Toa Payoh Regional Library)
#01-06
Singapore 319515