Kappo Arai
Kappo Arai is a small omakase restaurant in Orchard Plaza Singapore serving up a range of japanese dishes at a value price.
Seeking out a pretty laid-back weeknight dinner, we booked a pair of counter seats at Kappo Arai to experience their $100 SGD omakase. In Singapore, a place believed to be more expensive than New York, $100 SGD is a bargain for a night out — a real steal.
Kappo Arai sits on the first floor of Orchard Plaza in Singapore, which is the hotbed for small and quirky Japanese restaurants. We've noticed some high turnover within the building as players come and go, Kappo Arai being a new addition earlier this year.
Kappo Arai omakase menu
We walk in to a big U-shaped counter with a large style yakitori grill smoking in the center. For a Thursday night there were a few Japanese regulars enjoying some drinks and a few dishes.
We decided to go for the set omakase course which seemingly had a very wide range of different dishes included.
The omakase course:
- Appetizer
- Soup
- Sashimi
- Choice of grilled dish
- Main dish
- Sushi
- Dessert
The appetizer came out which was a well presented plate of a creamy monkfish custard, mushrooms and vegetables, a bouncy but smooth sesame tofu, and a bowl mixed of ikura and soy. These were all easy on the palate with no overwhelming flavors, keeping it light as intended.
Next was the chicken soup with dashi made of bonito and seaweed, a really comforting hot appetizer which turned out to be one of my favorite dishes of the evening.
Kappo Arai appetiser and soup
For drinks - rather than highballs or sake, we decided to bring our own Napa Chardonnay Far Niente which in hindsight was very difficult to pair given the menu jumps consistently back and forth from hot to cold, seafood to meat.
Up next was a platter of sashimi where we had three cuts, maguro, flounder and kanpachi. All were really nice and fresh but left you wanting a lot more.
Shortly after we were presented with charcoal grilled salmon with ikura followed by a small bowl of Japanese beef sukiyaki with onsen tamago. The sukiyaki was sweet but not sickly and really isn't a dish you would expect in a omakase like this, but it was a nice surprise.
Kappo Arai sukiyaki, grilled salmon and sashimi platter
Three pieces of nigiri were then presented, in similar cuts to the sashimi. I was a little bit surprised by the timing of this dish as typically you would have sushi and colder bites up front rather than after a heavy meat dish.
To wrap up we had Japanese rockmelon and a custard with red bean which was very simple but hit the spot. A fan favorite..
Kappo Arai dessert and sushi
Gaijin’s review
Food quality: very fresh but small portions
Ambience: chill, typical izakaya/yakitori vibes
Value: great value at $100 but might need to add on a few dishes
Overall rating ★★★☆☆ (3.7/5)
Price: $$
Kappo Arai is a good vibe with nice staff and is on the more 'affordable' side of Singapore Japanese dining. The food was great quality, all delicious, but in being honest, we were still hungry at the end as the portioning just wasn't quite enough.
Two easy wins for the restaurant to change this would be to 1) give a small bowl of rice with the sukiyaki and onsen tamago so you can scoop up the remainder of the sweet sauce and 2) perhaps provide a pickle or cucumber maki with the nigiri dish. Just that extra hint more of food and you would feel it is really good value.
The only other part that could change, or perhaps it's personal preference, is the sequence of the dishes. The sushi should be presented after the salmon, as by the time you have it, your tastebuds are shot from the sweet and salty sukiyaki.
With these two small points aside we had a great experience and even shared a few drinks with the owner who was very accommodating.
At $100 SGD, you can't really go wrong here for such a huge and diverse range of flavors. We are keen to see how this menu develops over time and will try again perhaps early next year.
Kappo Arai
A: 150 Orchard Rd, #01-26/27/28 Orchard Plaza, Singapore 238841
