The First Omakase Night at Kizuna

Kizuna has partnered young chefs to organize 'Cocktails X Izakaya Nights' from Thursdays to Saturdays. I think it sometimes offers its izakaya plates on Wednesdays too. Last weekend, Kizuna held its very first Omakase Night. We had to pop by!  

The cafe required a deposit and such. Of course. It's a small business and if people don't turn up, it will be detrimental to their takings. Every filled seat is valuable. This isn't a dinner menu of sashimi and sushi, so just chuck that out of your expectations. We didn't know what to expect either. But at this price point, we figured that it would be close to Piu M and Nobu-ya's kind of spread. We were right.

Tonight's menu had very decent market-fresh ingredients, of course. For a S$68++ menu, we had mountain yam (yamaimo) and okra, asari clam soup that had more sake than dashi (lol), pickled vegetables in miso, negitoro canapés, daikon salad, and a bowl bonito rice. There was dessert, but I seriously couldn't tell what I was eating. Ermmm... was it a dollop of custard of sorts? I was too busy talking and didn't bother noticing the dessert. 

We started with easy highballs that night. Then we moved on to sake. That was a beautiful bottle of Kosai Toraya junmai daiginjo from Miyagi Prefecture. We were pleasantly surprised by friends who came by towards the end of the meal. It was a last minute decision by M and E who decided to pop by to see if there's food for them. Unfortunately the kitchen couldn't accommodate. (And that's okay because everyone knew one another here.) So the friends got food from another eatery and joined us for drinks instead. A good chat we had! 

Didn't want Choya to miss out on food either. I got her sashimi in the form of a gorgeous slab of buri. (ブリ、鰤) The slab was spread over three meals. She had it first for lunch, a late afternoon snack, then supper. She had it with her usual raw base of venison, goat offal and kangaroo bone paste, randomly topped with cheese, yoghurt and some dried crackers. I also added on turkey neck. Mmmm.

The Smol Girl loves her fish. While she can't do salmon anymore (the oils give her the runs), she can still do shiny fish and white fish. At lunch, she sniffed her food in her bowl and went for the buri first. She was so so pleased.

I loved it that Kizuna is brave enough to attempt partnerships like this. The owners, married couple Shen and Sam, are realizing a shared vision, marrying their love for coffee, food and cocktails, and through those, built a strong community of friends and diners in Potong Pasir. 

Choya's lunch.