We Queued An Hour For $10.90 Teriyaki Chicken At Keisuke’s New Charcoal Grill Diner
But was it worth the wait?
We hardly ever wait in line for food. But one Thursday night, we found ourselves in a queue at ramen king Keisuke Takeda’s latest and 19th restaurant in Singapore at Paya Lebar Square. Simply called Charcoal-Grill & Salad Bar Keisuke, the restaurant focuses on sumiyaki (Japanese for ‘charcoal-grilled’) cuisine with a free-flow salad bar. Fish is the specialty here, grilled over binchō-tan (Japanese white charcoal).
Cheap cheap hurray
We are surprised to see that prices for the menu start from only $9.90 for a Charcoal Grilled Chicken with Rock Salt Set, which comes with rice, a dainty portion of Japanese pickles and a wobbly onsen egg in a pool of light soy sauce. The price also includes access to the buffet-style salad bar, so you can get really stuffed for pretty much the price of a McDonald’s meal. Not bad at all. No wonder the queue is cray.
The menu
After waiting for an hour, it is finally our turn, and we hobble into the restaurant, weak from hunger. While waiting for our orders to arrive, we attack the free-flow salad bar with 25 types of osousai (Japanese side dishes), all fairly delish. The selection ranges from carb-laden options like green tea soba salad and potato salad, to crabstick coleslaw, to fresh veggies like radish, cabbage and long beans. It’s similar to the salad buffet at Keisuke’s hamburg joint, Teppanyaki Hamburg Nihonbashi Keisuke Bettei, at Tanjong Pagar. There’s also tororo imo, a sticky type of Japanese grated yam with a natto-like (fermented soybeans) texture which you eat with rice.
The main menu itself is less mind-boggling. There are only 12 items on it: nine types of fish, two types of chicken and a house-made Fish Cake, all grilled over binchō-tan coal.
Shopping
