I first heard of Firebird cos someone I know told me his friend opened this place and asked me to go down and try. And so, I finally made it down for my last birthday celebration officially. The restaurant is located nearer to the Neil road side and you wouldn’t miss the door if you look hard enough

It was full house and we were the last diners for that evening. Given they had only opened for 2 weeks (at the time of visit), I was quite looking forward to dinner and I was very hungry

Priced at $188++, the menu comprises of 11 dishes, Rice Dish & Dessert

Chicken Consomme

Starting with a chicken consommé, the soup was clear but yet flavourful at the same time. You can taste the short sweetness of chicken stock on first sip that disappeared quickly as you savour into it

Momo

The chicken thigh was very juicy and tender. I say this was done pretty well with the right amount of salt

Water Spinach cooked over Wood Fire

Served as a cold dish, you can taste the smokiness in the spinach. It was refreshing and sweet

Corn Puree, Dashi Jelly, Charred Corn

First bite, sweet and creamy. But maybe due to the dashi jelly, the texture was generally too mushy for my liking. Even though the charred corn made the dish slightly better, but generally I thought they could add something else to make this dish pop even more

Chicken Neck

I really loved this chicken neck. It was very good. Charred, fatty, tender, there’s only 3 words for it

Seasonal Chawanmushi – Sakura Ebi, Sweet Peas

The steamed egg custard was good. You can taste the sweetness of the sakura ebi with the crunch of the sweet peas that complement each other nicely

Grilled Ishitake Mushroom w Buerre Blanc Sauce

The mushroom was juicy and you could taste the earthiness of the mushroom in the sauce. You get a whole buttery flavour when you eat them together which actually went quite well

Chicken Breast Meat

I thought this tasted quite interesting. The sauce tasted somewhat Mexican to me but it actually did go well with the blander chicken breast itself

Preparing the next dish infront of us

Toast w Chicken Breast Rillette

I thought the chicken breast rillette was delightful. The overall texture was smooth yet creamy and enjoyable

Momo (one whole piece) w Japanese Greens cooked in Soy & Mustard

The momo was done really well. You can taste the juiciness of the thigh and the crispiness of the skin but somehow this was overshadowed by the abundance of Japanese greens. It was just too much vegetables for me. Personal opinion, they can give a lesser portion of the vegetables which was marinated in soy so that you get a lighter flavour on the dish as a whole

Tebasaki w Spicy Miso

The chicken wing was good. But I thought the spicy miso wasn’t needed. The wing was salted enough so pairing with the spicy miso was double the salt. lol. I removed the spicy miso and eat the wings by itself

Chicken Heart w Negi Koshio (Add On)

The chicken heart tasted different to me. It was different from the usual bouncy texture but in a good way. If you had closed your eyes and eaten this, you would have guessed this was just a very very tender piece of chicken

Chicken Skirt (Add on)

I thought this was just.. okay. lol. I had no description for this dish

Grilled Onion w Onion Sauce

Very, very sweet

Minced Chicken Claypot Rice (served 3 ways)

Minced Chicken

The claypot rice dish was served 3 ways. First, trying the original taste by itself. I thought it was a little dry

Served w Ginger Sauce

Second way, with the ginger sauce. I liked this. It was less dry like this and the ginger sauce complemented the fragrance of the rice

Served with Egg Yolk and Tempura Bits

And lastly, I liked this combination the most. The crunch of the tempura bits and the runniness of the yolk just made everything goes together nicely

We had a hilarious moment when the chef served us 2 portions of Version 1 and we were confused. It turned out he thought we wanted extra portions butt we just wanted lesser rice. lol. Personally, it was too much rice for us. Maybe I would just ask them to serve Version 2 and 3 directly the next time I go back

Lemon Jelly topped with Orange & Mint Leaves

Smoked Milk Icecream

Ending with palate cleanser and desserts to wrap up the meal

The difference between Firebird and other yakitori places is they use wood instead of binchotan to grill their chicken which they believe brings out the best taste in the chicken. I thought the execution of the yakitori is done generally well. You get the juiciness and tenderness in a chicken which is expected so. Furthermore they also had good control of the salt just so you get a good balance overall. Though they might get a little too creative with their toppings which might not necessarily be needed cos if your basics are done well, sometimes being simple is the best. Still, I think is a place worth returning just for that tasty yakitori

Firebird by Suetomi

83 Neil Road, Duxton Hill, #01-05

Mondrian Singapore

S(089813)