Kenji

Kenji Modern Japanese on Urbanspoon

I’ve actually been here three times now. Of the over hundred places I’ve been to, Kenji is the only place to have earned a score of 10 from me. Their walnut panna cotta was insanely good, and my second illicit visit here, in the very early days of The Feed Report was an attempt to harness another such panna cotta. Alas, they had changed the recipe.

WAGYU SIRLOIN STEAK
7/10

with mixed tomato, edamame, buckwheat. & Japanese shiso basil salad, teriyaki jus.

The meat is medium-rare, but not bloody. It’s grilled, but has a strong taste of oyster sauce or soy sauce. With all the sauce, and the vegetables, this juicy steak is almost like a casserole.

The meat was juicy and tasty, but the vegetables were a bit plain and random. The cherry tomatoes and slices of tomato didn’t have any relationship to a steak. The caramelised onion was nice, but neither it nor the beans had a taste that matched the steak. Maybe some subtler vegetables would’ve been a better accompaniment to this flavourful steak.

CHOCOLATE AND BANANA SOUFFLÉ
5/10

With macadamia nut crumble, tapioca and coconut cream. With vanilla ice cream.

This was recommended by the waitress.

This is a very strange dessert. The soufflé is moist and dense, and not particularly sweet. However, it contains nuts, melted chocolate, and chunks of cooked banana.

I pour in the tapioca and coconut cream, but this just adds more random ingredients, to what was once a soufflé, but is now more of a crazy pudding. I’m not sure how the optional extra scoop of vanilla ice cream is supposed to participate here. I guess I could’ve thrown it in the cauldron too. It comes with a distasteful little crispy pastry wafer that’s loaded with sugar and salt.