KUZA — Restaurant in Victoria Park

A bit of an older review which will have different visits lumped together along with a review of the different dishes that I tried.

Food: I would have to say without a doubt that the quality of food here is generally quite high but the reason for the overall rating being bumped down a star is due to the lack of consistency between dishes which will be elaborated below. But another annoying factor is how the menu / meal system works here. During lunch times, you'll generally find yourself ordering individual dishes to eat on your own; bento sets, ramen etc. but dinner has a different menu, which consists mainly of dishes to share, such as shared vegetable or meat dishes. The first and last time we came for dinner, we did not know this, which was a slight issue. We've previously visited for lunch, and ordered regular dishes, due to a family member being vegan, as there were a variety of vegan options in the lunch menu. The dinner menu on the other hand wasn't accommodating for this at all. We first asked if there were any individual dishes we could order such as rice bowls, bento sets or noodle dishes, but they said the dinner menu was the only thing they could do for us. We then asked for any vegan options, and the only thing that they had available that could accommodate a vegan diet was just a dish of eggplants. The eggplants turned out fairly poorly for the price we paid which definitely made sure that was our last dinner there.

In terms of the dishes: (October 2023) Chirashiidon - $28 (4/10) For the price paid, all I can really say that it was really disappointing. Majority of the meal was rice which wasn't very good in itself. It was both bland and hard, which didn't pair well with the fish at all, further making the experience quite unenjoyable considering the rice to fish ratio. For reference, I'm comparing this to another chirashiidon that I had recently at that time which was cheaper, had more fish, and had higher quality rice AND fish. The fish wasn't anything special, the salmon was fairly fatty which I'd say generally majority of people might enjoy, but I just thought it was a bit too much for me. Since I'm not the biggest fan of octopus, take this with a grain of salt, but the octopus was both chewy and quite tough but that might just be because I don't quite enjoy octopus and its texture. The only veggies that came with the rice and fish, ignoring the other bento aspects were 2 small cucumber slices which were bland and felt like a really bad cucumber which is quite hard to imagine. It felt as though it's been sitting out for a while and wasn't quite fresh. The salad on the side was a bit too vinegary for my taste, making it difficult to finish. I generally try to finish all my food, but I just couldn't. With the simple potato and corn salad on the side as well being a bit underwhelming, I wouldn't quite recommend the chirashiidon at its price point. For a cheaper bill, the other bentos, curries and ramens are just better quality and better value.

(November 2023) Original Tonkotsu Black Garlic Ramen - $20 (10/10) I don't have much written down for the ramen in comparison to the chirashiidon, but this one was quite memorable, especially since this was not my first ramen at Kuza and I decided to give their ramens another shot. From memory, the broth was absolutely amazing, as I tend to try the broth first before tasting the ramen as a whole, and I can definitely say that their black garlic ramen broth was truly delicious. Their noodles were not too chewy, not too thick and was definitely not too starchy which some other places are guilty of. The flavours of all of it together were amazing, and I would highly recommend trying their ramen, given the weather isn't too hot.

(July 2023) Katsu Pork Ramen - $22 (7.5/10) Broth was underwhelming, katsu pork was alright, but not too exciting.

Service: Generally good, but there was a visit where a waiter was quite rude to us.

TLDR: The quality of food is generally good, but sometimes the food isn't quite up to par or worth the money...

May 2021 update: The katsu egg don set price went up by $5 to $21! Portion size hasn't changed, we had plenty of leftovers to take home for dinner. We also tried the braised beef cheek soba set ($25), and it was nice and light and tasty. Wait time for food was about 30 min again, despite there only being 2 other tables so it looks like long waits are the norm here. With the price hikes I'd no longer say this place was a fantastic deal, but I'd be comfortable paying it for a fancy lunch as the portion sizes, presentation, and flavour are still excellent. Overall would visit again. Second visit: We came after 1PM when it was less busy, but the food took 30min+ to come out despite less customers. Last time it was much speedier even with a full house so seems inconsistent. The Katsu egg don set was once again fantastic. Skip the ramen, it was okay but not very good - overcooked soft noodles, and the tonkotsu broth was not very rich; you can get a similar or better flavour from the Japanese packet ramen. On a positive note the chashuu slices were melt in your mouth tender and delicious! Overall would still definitely recommend. If you haven't been here for lunch yet, book it in right now! Everything is super delicious and beautifully presented, and though the prices seem slightly expensive ($16 for a lunch set), the portion sizes are proportional and you're guaranteed to have leftovers with the lunch sets. The karaage chicken was not as marinated as other places, but perfectly deep fried and paired well with the Yuzu dipping sauce it came with. A generous 8 pieces for $15. Katsu egg don was wonderful, and unagi don was great too. Surprisingly, the orange slices that came with the lunch set were the juiciest, tastiest oranges I've ever had. They were even pre-notched for easy eating :) I asked wait staff what type of orange they serve, but they didn't know. Will definitely be back for lunch to try their other items! We didn't have a reservation, but they managed to squeeze us in - next time I'll definitely book, as despite being a large venue (~50pax) they were fully packed the entire time I was there and there was a fairly long line, even when surrounding restaurants were almost empty.

Note: 50c surcharge for...

Did a very last minute booking for 2 people on a Thursday and I’m glad they were able to accommodate us. First off, ambience is nice- felt very modern fusion type of restaurant. Would say that this is a perfect date spot too! Now onto the most important part of the review, the food👌🏻. We ordered 3 dishes: the kingfish cerviche, unagi roll and the prawn & (something) ravioli. Kingfish- oh my my, the fish was so fresh and when you fuse a sashimi dish this way with the soy sauce and coriander, you get this amazing bomb dish. You gotta take a few coriander leaves, place it on the middle of the fish and wrap it up. It is a burst of salty (must stress that this is the good kind), balanced with a tiny bit of sourness and finished off with a tangy coriander sensation. Unagi roll was a 4 outta 5 for me. A basic dish which they didn’t mess up but didn’t impress too. Unagi was salty and ‘roasted’ enough. Initially, I felt that the egg and cream cheese wouldn’t pair well with this umami flavour but the taste fused okay. Onto the ravioli now. This fusion was surprising but it worked so well. I couldn’t really taste the Japanese ‘yuzu’ element of it but rather it was this perfect prawn ravioli (kind of like a hargow in dimsum but wrapped in a different type of case) which paired so well with the cream sauce. Gosh it would have been perfect if we had some bread to clean off the sauce. Anyways, the mushroom provides this strong body of flavour which compliments the prawn taste- think of it like the “earthiness” of the mushroom balancing out the “sea-taste” of the prawns. No idea what the middle bit is BUT you gotta pair it with your raviolis. The slight crispness makes it a perfect mouthful of textures. Of course, the wrapping is done and cooked well- has a slight chew and most importantly, doesn’t fall apart as I use a chopstick to put an entire ravioli in my mouth. This element is extremely important in East Asian cooking philosophy because food is usually eaten with chopsticks so food (generally) have to be bite sized; unusual to use knives to slice into a dumpling. That was off topic but it just shows that it’s very much a perfect fusion food- ravioli and cream sauce (western-style dishes) paired with East Asian...