Keyaki is one of the many in-house restaurants nestled within Pan Pacific Hotel that specializes in Japanese cuisine. My husband and I first dined here during our previous stay when we had dining credits to spend and boy, did this restaurant make an impression. Since AMEX was offering $100 cashback for a minimum spend of $400 with the Pan Pacific Hotels Group, I decided to bring my parents to sample the good food here as well. To secure a reservation, I needed to put down a refundable deposit of $50 per person but given the limited seating capacity, I could see why they’d want to minimize last-minute cancellations.
- Our order:
- Keyaki Kaiseki ($200++)
- Beef fried rice ($13++)
- Gyuniku foie gras ($90++)
- Teppanyaki wagyu beef sirloin ($128++)
- Spent: SGD$431.20
The restaurant is located at the outdoor garden on level 4 so it was pretty dark by the time we arrived for dinner. As a result, my basic photography skills didn’t allow me to take any usable shots of the restaurant interior. In comparison to the last time my husband and I were here in the day, the evening ambience felt a little more cosy with the low lighting interspersed with spotlights.
Staff greeted us warmly and handed us a hot towel each as we settled into our seats. Jeff saw that my mom and I had bags so he took the initiative to bring us baskets to place our bags in such that we could sit more comfortably. Great anticipation of our needs (:
We didn’t quite know where to start as there were so many options on the menu. Thankfully, Alicia offered her suggestions and provided some information about the menu items to help with our decision. We ended up getting the 8-course Keyaki Kaiseki and topped it up with beef fried rice, grilled wagyu beef and foie gras, as well as an a la carte order of wagyu beef sirloin from the live teppanyaki counter.
Our 8-course meal starters were served first, along with the beef fried rice and teppanyaki wagyu beef. My dad loves fresh oysters so this one that came with caviar was such a treat for him. The sashimi platter (salmon, tuna belly, blue fin tuna, sweet shrimp) was very fresh too and the teppanyaki wagyu beef was full of melt-in-your-mouth tasty goodness.
Next up was the grilled wagyu beef with foie gras and dobin mushi (clear soup steamed in a dobin teapot). Again, the wagyu beef was incredibly succulent and according to my husband, the foie gras had a nice, creamy texture.
It was an amusing process of us trying to figure out how to drink this dobin mushi broth as it was the first time any of us encountered such a dish. We scrutinized the teapot while debating what to do with the slice of lime on the top. Eventually, we just ignored the lime and poured out the hearty, flavourful broth into the cup to sip and enjoy.
The subsequent dishes were the remaining hot items from the 8-course meal. I really liked the perfectly cooked half lobster with mentaiko sauce, super fresh and juicy. Having gone through two rounds of delicious wagyu beef dishes, this last one served on hot stones was no different, although the portion merely consisted of two small cubes. We requested for the udon item to be changed to garlic fried rice and I was totally relishing every fragrant spoonful of it (I absolutely adore garlic). Only the sweet corn tempura had more of a forgettable, mediocre standard.
Last but not least was the fruit platter dessert comprising a slice of musk melon from the Shizuoka prefecture, half a strawberry and a small chunk of kiwi. I didn’t find the musk melon to be especially delectable (oops) so this fruit platter was a fairly average one in my books.
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. Similar to our previous visit, we were really blown away by the quality of the food here. Our collective favourite was the tender and succulent wagyu beef (that evening was basically a beef party given the amount of beef dishes we ordered!). The prices are certainly quite steep for the size of the portions served but taking into account the premium ingredients and skillful execution, I’d say it’s still pretty worth it (especially if you get to stack another 15% AMEX discount on top of the cashback offer like we did). In addition, the service was excellent, professional and polished. It did get a tad noisy at some points with the incessant chatter and I found myself having to raise my voice to be heard across the table, but all in all, we had a good time and I’d definitely be back in a heartbeat!
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 