Met the friend for a yakiniku birthday meal and I suggested trying Niku Katsumata, recommended by my Japanese friends. I spotted the friend easily who was at the counter and also noticed the place wasn’t exceptionally packed. We had already pre-selected our course prior when making the reservation so all we had to do was to order drinks which took awhile cos the staffs just seemed perpetually busy

This restaurant originates from Ebisu, Tokyo and uses crystal plate for grilling which is uncommon in Singapore. We also found out the chef has transferred here recently from Ebisu and we wondered why. lol

Starter: Today’s Special & Simmered Wagyu Beef Tendon

We started with a beef tendon soup which is oily yet flavourful with tender beef slices and also an equally oily grilled duck slices

Today’s Assorted 2 Kind of Sashimi

Then we went on to the sashimi and beef tartare. I really liked the tartare. It was much better than the sashimi

And then it took awhile for the meat to arrive which the chef was so apologetic he decided to throw in some wagyu tongue for us. Well, we accepted happily since more meat, why not? Though that decision came to bite us at the end of the meal

Assorted Homemade Kimchi & Marinated Vegetables

And came the kimchi which we liked it so much we did an ala carte order for it

Chinese Cabbage Salad

Also a plate of rather sad-looking salad which by no means looked any appetising. To be honest, it was not bad, but probably because of the sesame sauce

And the grilling started. I thought they could have given us some small plates cos we literally eat it straight from the crystal plate. The speed of the meat being served also took quite awhile depending on who was grilling it. While staff 1 was grilling like speed of a local train, staff 2 was grilling like speed of Shinkansen, cooking multiple meats at the same time. The friend joked we could have someone in between

Assorted A4 Wagyu Beef 90g

Kurobuta Pork Loin 30g

A4 Wagyu Beef Fillet 30g

And we started with stomach, went on to rump, upper rump, thigh, near the thigh, stomach and back to rump again. So in conclusion, we mainly had parts from stomach, rump and thigh. Save for the pork pieces which we had pork belly and loin, the parts were distinctly repeated

The best piece was definitely the tenderloin

We were definitely full halfway and were struggling to make it to the end. But we saw light at the end of the tunnel when we had to make the selection between rice and noodles

A4 Wagyu Beef Curry

The friend had the rice which was not bad

Chicken Noodle “Torisoba”

While I had the noodles. The broth reminded me of what you find in yakitori places. It was pretty similar and comforting

We were so full. omg

Today’s Ice cream – I picked yuzu

To be honest, the quality of the meat was not bad but the service could be better. Understand they are pretty much understaffed with only 3 staffs manning the entire place. You had the main chef grilling, slicing and bartending, the wait staff that confirmed the reservation, serving and grilling and the last staff who had to make the salad, cook the rice/noodles and wash all the dishes. It was probably very challenging and tiring for them. But that in turn transpired into a not-so-great experience for the customer. The friend mentioned it wasn’t like this the last time she visited. Well,  I guessed we probably won’t be returning anytime soon

Niku Katsumata

47 Duxton Rd, Singapore 089511