Foods from Kirin Express
Comments
2012 May 29
They also had nice fried bits of things ling spring rolls, tempura shrimp, eggrolls, those sesame ball things along with sweet and sour soup and wonton.
In terms of salad they had a very tasty seaweed salad (I ate a heck of a lot of this – cause it’s expensive if ordered a la cart at most take out places), a fruit salad and some orange slices.
In terms of salad they had a very tasty seaweed salad (I ate a heck of a lot of this – cause it’s expensive if ordered a la cart at most take out places), a fruit salad and some orange slices.
2011 Aug 16
Sunday I tried Kirin; the buffet seemed empty, so I went upstairs (three flights!) for the sushi.
Overall it's quite okay - some better, some less, but most are of respectable quality. Edible, doesn't taste bad, a smallish (for AYCE) but varied menu:
- 31 deep fry/tempura/teriyaki options
- 17 udon/noodle options
- 5 sushi pizza options
- 13 nigiri options
- 5 sashimi options
- 24 maki options
- 8 "spicy and crispy" maki options
- 11 hand roll options
They offer Yamasa regular and low-salt soya sauces right at the table, good point for them.
The green tea is quite nice, but served boiling - I had to wait well over 5 minutes after most pours before being able to drink it without scalding my tongue.
Miso soup was good. Spring rolls were surprisingly tasty but won't take mush space per order of 2 as they are but 7cm wide - tiny things! The mixed vegetable tempura was okay, not too thick as was pointed out, but not what I'd call a full success. The broccoli is just odd as tempura.
The gyoza ("pork dumplings" on the menu) were somewhat doughy and floury, as if not boiled enough. Good, but... not quite what they could be.
The eggplant teriyaki was just a bit too mushy, not very crisp. I much prefer the version Genji makes, and Kirin's sauce did not seem to complement the flavour at all.
Salmon, tamago and eel nigiris were perfectly acceptable, the eel being cold as usual (o lamented Ichibei with your always-freshly-grilled-warm unagi!) for AYCE. Snapper sashimi was, as pointed out, really thin and suffered a bit.
At this point I realised that the rice used for the nigiris is still a bit warm! This is not good, as it can affect the fish if left too long. The place was mostly empty, and I got my orders quickly, but nonetheless.
The mango/avocado roll was different, well-executed but I'm not sure I'd have it again. It does taste as advertised. :) The Spicy & Crispy grilled salmon roll, on the other hand, was good! Warmth of the salmon and cold of the cucumber, with the crispiness of the tempura flakes, made a great sensation in my mouth along with the well-mixed flavours.
The "salmon rose nigiri" is a fun reversal - a small ball of rice around which is wrapped two pieces of salmon sashimi, topped with a small bit of mayo and salmon roe. Looks pretty, tastes quite nice.
The Eel Special Roll - ah, at last warm grilled unagi! Also with crab and avocado, as far as I can tell, but quite nice and filling.
Considering the $18 price on at all times for adults, there are far worse AYCE places, though this was OK quality on a slow Sunday night - a busy lunch time may not be the same. A few touches (non-boiling tea, cooler nigiri rice, a bit of work on a few apps) could improve things well, and maybe if they do better they can expand the nigiri/sashimi options - I'm glad they kept it small to start anyway, easier to manage for them and probably better quality for us. Don't go in expecting Great Quality, but to get filled up with friends there are far worse places costing quite a bit more.
Overall it's quite okay - some better, some less, but most are of respectable quality. Edible, doesn't taste bad, a smallish (for AYCE) but varied menu:
- 31 deep fry/tempura/teriyaki options
- 17 udon/noodle options
- 5 sushi pizza options
- 13 nigiri options
- 5 sashimi options
- 24 maki options
- 8 "spicy and crispy" maki options
- 11 hand roll options
They offer Yamasa regular and low-salt soya sauces right at the table, good point for them.
The green tea is quite nice, but served boiling - I had to wait well over 5 minutes after most pours before being able to drink it without scalding my tongue.
Miso soup was good. Spring rolls were surprisingly tasty but won't take mush space per order of 2 as they are but 7cm wide - tiny things! The mixed vegetable tempura was okay, not too thick as was pointed out, but not what I'd call a full success. The broccoli is just odd as tempura.
The gyoza ("pork dumplings" on the menu) were somewhat doughy and floury, as if not boiled enough. Good, but... not quite what they could be.
The eggplant teriyaki was just a bit too mushy, not very crisp. I much prefer the version Genji makes, and Kirin's sauce did not seem to complement the flavour at all.
Salmon, tamago and eel nigiris were perfectly acceptable, the eel being cold as usual (o lamented Ichibei with your always-freshly-grilled-warm unagi!) for AYCE. Snapper sashimi was, as pointed out, really thin and suffered a bit.
At this point I realised that the rice used for the nigiris is still a bit warm! This is not good, as it can affect the fish if left too long. The place was mostly empty, and I got my orders quickly, but nonetheless.
The mango/avocado roll was different, well-executed but I'm not sure I'd have it again. It does taste as advertised. :) The Spicy & Crispy grilled salmon roll, on the other hand, was good! Warmth of the salmon and cold of the cucumber, with the crispiness of the tempura flakes, made a great sensation in my mouth along with the well-mixed flavours.
The "salmon rose nigiri" is a fun reversal - a small ball of rice around which is wrapped two pieces of salmon sashimi, topped with a small bit of mayo and salmon roe. Looks pretty, tastes quite nice.
The Eel Special Roll - ah, at last warm grilled unagi! Also with crab and avocado, as far as I can tell, but quite nice and filling.
Considering the $18 price on at all times for adults, there are far worse AYCE places, though this was OK quality on a slow Sunday night - a busy lunch time may not be the same. A few touches (non-boiling tea, cooler nigiri rice, a bit of work on a few apps) could improve things well, and maybe if they do better they can expand the nigiri/sashimi options - I'm glad they kept it small to start anyway, easier to manage for them and probably better quality for us. Don't go in expecting Great Quality, but to get filled up with friends there are far worse places costing quite a bit more.
2011 Jul 13
@flandroid - did you order the butterfish??? Ithink that is the closest tuna replacement. While @ Yummy sushi for dinner one weekend I noticed they had tuna on the menu (not the order sheet) so I wrote in an order of tuna sushi and other dinner menu items not on the order sheet such as the beef sashimi. The waiter came back and explained that butterfish IS the tuna or its replacement.
I forgot to mention the types of yummy sushi and sashimi I ordered @ Kirin. I had the Kirin roll, spider roll, shrimp tempura roll, all the sashimi except crab meat and egg and sushi was the eel, shrimp, salmon, mackeral and butterfish.
I forgot to mention the types of yummy sushi and sashimi I ordered @ Kirin. I had the Kirin roll, spider roll, shrimp tempura roll, all the sashimi except crab meat and egg and sushi was the eel, shrimp, salmon, mackeral and butterfish.
2011 Jul 12
I had dinner here last night (a Monday) with a friend, figuring I'd go somewhere other than 1KSI for a change. Kirin Express is 5-6 blocks from my place, which also helps.
We arrived, ravenous, around a quarter to eight; there were only three other occupied tables, so service was quick and the waiter was courteous.
Round one consisted of seaweed salad (we just split one, no sense wasting stomach real estate with wakame!), a whack of sashimi, some rolls (dynamite, mango/avocado -- the latter wasn't my choice) and mixed tempura vegetable. The fish was good and tasted fresh, although the snapper was cut a bit thin. One peculiar thing is that there was NO TUNA anywhere on the menu. Not as sashimi, not as nigiri, not in spicy hand rolls...nowhere. The tempura was good, crispy and not too oily, however it was served without tentsuyu (brothy dip), leaving us a bit perplexed.
Round two, we split some beef/green-onion rolls, they weren't bad, as well as the fried chicken udon, also not bad, pretty straightforward. No raves, but no complaints.
Round three, hand rolls, more sashimi, some nigiri (some of the fish, eg. mackerel, is not available as anything else). The hand rolls were good, not overly packed (this is a plus, some places overpack them and it's a hassle to eat them).
My friend got another hand roll and some roe maki, but I was already pretty full at this point, so we each had a nugget of deep fried banana and waddled home. Despite a couple of minor disappointments (no tuna! no tentsuyu!), it's worth noting that Kirin is a few bucks cheaper per person than some of the competition (especially on weekends; their price does not change), and still pretty tasty, so I'll definitely be stopping by again. I'll ask them what the deal is with the issues I had.
We arrived, ravenous, around a quarter to eight; there were only three other occupied tables, so service was quick and the waiter was courteous.
Round one consisted of seaweed salad (we just split one, no sense wasting stomach real estate with wakame!), a whack of sashimi, some rolls (dynamite, mango/avocado -- the latter wasn't my choice) and mixed tempura vegetable. The fish was good and tasted fresh, although the snapper was cut a bit thin. One peculiar thing is that there was NO TUNA anywhere on the menu. Not as sashimi, not as nigiri, not in spicy hand rolls...nowhere. The tempura was good, crispy and not too oily, however it was served without tentsuyu (brothy dip), leaving us a bit perplexed.
Round two, we split some beef/green-onion rolls, they weren't bad, as well as the fried chicken udon, also not bad, pretty straightforward. No raves, but no complaints.
Round three, hand rolls, more sashimi, some nigiri (some of the fish, eg. mackerel, is not available as anything else). The hand rolls were good, not overly packed (this is a plus, some places overpack them and it's a hassle to eat them).
My friend got another hand roll and some roe maki, but I was already pretty full at this point, so we each had a nugget of deep fried banana and waddled home. Despite a couple of minor disappointments (no tuna! no tentsuyu!), it's worth noting that Kirin is a few bucks cheaper per person than some of the competition (especially on weekends; their price does not change), and still pretty tasty, so I'll definitely be stopping by again. I'll ask them what the deal is with the issues I had.
Older
ilikerealfood
For what it is (a 14.99 buffet), it’s actually surprisingly good. This is not gourmet Chinese food, but you can easily eat your money's worth. The sushi is nothing to write home about, but they had a modest variety of rolls and sashimi, which did the trick.