Koh Grill & Sushi Bar @ Wisma Atria [Orchard Road, Singapore]

To cater for the two younglings in my family, we often had no choice but to patronize the food courts given the wider variety and it was on one of those no-choice situations that we chanced upon Koh Grill and Sushi Bar.

Well, it will be very hard to miss it since it had the longest queue on the fourth level of Wisma Atria shopping center and the entire floor was, in essence, a food area that also included the Japan Food Town.

We decided to check out the place on a weekday instead and were lucky to have arrived slightly earlier as the queue was 38-person long when we were ushered in! Do keep in mind that everyone must be present before your group can be allowed in.

No picture of the interior and I could only muster a photo of the sushi bar counter. Nevertheless, it was rather cramped and I guess purposely designed this way to make you chop-chop finish your food so that other patrons could take over your table.

There were a few key recommendations and we thought we might as well order the grilled meat on skewers as well since there was an entire menu dedicated to them!

Grilled items that we had - shishamo, fresh oyster bacon roll, chicken skin, pork cheek, asparagus pork belly roll, golden mushroom pork belly roll and mini tomato pork belly roll.

Generally speaking, they were not too bad with the exception of the chicken skin which was too salty for our liking. The mini tomato pork belly roll burst with flavor as I didn't know what it was and happily detonated it! To be totally frank, I would still prefer the grilled meat skewers from Tori Q.

Salmon Sashimi - all sashimi sold in Singapore should be at least of this thickness for basic satisfaction! I was happy with what I had even though I couldn't help reminiscing the ones at Bangkok's Tohkai Sushi.

Sake Belly Soup - Sake is Japanese for Salmon by the way; just in case you think it's the Japanese rice wine. Anyway, this was ordered for mom and after taking a few sips, I concluded it was rather bland despite the fact that the pieces of salmon belly were fresh and tender.

Pitan Tofu - I am not much a tofu lover even though the sauce that covered it often increased its palatability a few folds! This was nice with a taste of something that I really love; century eggs!

Asparagus Buta Special - there's nothing special about asparagus wrapped with pork belly but this one was amazing due to the excessive fried garlic that accompanied the rolls! They were super addictive and I believe they would go well with simple, plain rice.

Yaki Udon - I had never been a big fan of udon and associated them with a similar local version known as bee tai mak which I don't quite like also. Hence, this fried udon with chicken, egg and vegetable would not have made it to the list if I am eating alone.

Verdict - what had I been missing all this while as it was super good with a lot of egg and it's like eating a noodle-based okonomiyaki! The thickness of the udon actually helped in two things; the sparing absorption of the sauce and slurping shiokness as you suck in each strand! 

Shiok Maki - using the word shiok in Singapore is like daring the locals to give it a try; we did, not least also due to the fact that it has a thumbs-up sign on the menu and according to many online reviews, the shiok maki is a die die must try! 

This is the first generation shiok maki - unagi wrapped in lightly roasted salmon that had this melty mayonnaise poured on it and topped with a generous heap of fish roes. 

It was superb and a big part had to be the special mayonnaise and fish roes that enhanced the roasted flavor of the salmon; to the extent of intensifying it to the point that I couldn't even taste the rice! As the name suggests, so shiok! 

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Location

435, Orchard Road,

#04-02/14, Wisma Atria,

Singapore 238877

(Next to Orchard MRT Station)

Reservation

6836-0609

Pricing

Shishamo - S$2.00

Fresh Oyster Bacon Roll - S$4.00

Chicken Skin - S$2.00

Pork Cheek - S$4.00

Asparagus Pork Belly Roll - S$3.00

Golden Mushroom Pork Belly Roll  - S$3.00

Mini Tomato Pork Belly Roll - S$3.00

Salmon Sashimi - S$8.00

Sake Belly Soup - S$12.00

Pitan Tofu - S$4.00

Asparagus Buta Special - S$10.00

Yaki Udon - S$10.00

Shiok Maki - S$16.80

(Subject to GST)