Review: Oushin Japanese Steakhouse, Suntec City Mall

It might be only too easy to miss Oushin Japanese Steakhouse’s Lilliputian entrance, but this new offering from the Akashi Group of Restaurants, focusing on high quality Japanese beef from the Iwate and Shiga prefectures, easily gives other top steakhouses a run for their money.

Beyond their tan tufted leather booth seats and ‘grilled’ décor—to resemble their star Mibrasa oven, fired up only with premium Japanese charcoal and Sakura wood chips—you’ll soon notice how meticulous and professional operation is. Servers don black gloves so they won’t leave fingerprints on plates, and the chef requested back a dish we’d taken slightly longer to photograph and replaced it, so we could savour it at its best.

The dish is question is the Hokkaido Crab Tart ($22). More sandwich than tart, a luscious amalgam of crabmeat, cream cheese and Japanese mayo nestles between two oven-baked crabmeat pastries, surrounded by prepossessing swirls of edible flowers and a truffle-mushroom sauce. The accompanying quenelle of savoury crab mousse adds another layer of texture to the already brilliant dish.

Other lovely options include the delicate Carpaccio of Daily Sea Catch ($32, we had Maguro, Salmon, and Red Snapper)—decked with greens, salmon roe, strawberry bits, and Chef Takayuki Fukushimi’s yuzu sauce—and the deeply flavoursome Japanese Iwate Beef Consommé ($28), painstakingly cooked for 2-days, available in limited quantities daily.

An alumnus of the Dons de la Nature, one of Tokyo’s finest steakhouses, Chef Fukushima works the Mibrasa charcoal oven—also known as the world’s hottest indoor barbeque—with ease, and serves up steaks literally fit for a king.

From free-range cows hailing from grounds between the Pacific Ocean and Ou Mountains, the premium Iwate A3 Sirloin ($98 for 220-grams) with a slight salty edge teams perfectly with the chef’s robust, signature garlic sauce, and left us in a satisfied daze. And if you feeling indulgent, go for the succinctly succulent and dulcet, prized Omi A5 Ribeye ($188 for 280-grams), purportedly the official beef of the Japanese Imperial household.

Second to the two delicious hunks of beef is the boldly toothsome, sticky-sweet Pork Belly ($28). Braised for 48-hours in sake and two bottles of red wine, the gloriously tender pork—paired with light crisps of pastry—seemed to melt away in the mouth.

Admittedly, not everyone might crave sweets after the richness of Japanese beef, but Chef Fukushima’s Dessert Platter will appease the sweet tooths. Besides the bevy of in-house ice creams and sorbets, I terribly enjoyed the crème brulee with a crisp, smokey caramelized crown that complemented the dry but rich chocolate cake.

With careful, precise service, and Chef Fukushima’s devotion to quality, Oushin Japanese Steakhouse is set to be a formidable force in the gastronomic scene.

Oushin Japanese Steakhouse Suntec City Mall, #02-391 3 Temasek Boulevard, Singapore 038983

Tel: +65 6884 4805

Opening hours: 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 10pm daily