ENSO Kitchen

I was excited. This will be my first time to taste Japanese temple food also known as Shojin Ryori in Singapore. In case you are not aware, Shojin Ryori is a Japanese vegetarian cuisine. I fell in love with it during my stay in the temples in Koyasan on one of my trips to Japan. Their tofu is to die for! but I digress. We found ENSO in an article in the sunday papers and were immediately attracted to it. Check it out www.ensokitchen.com. ENSO does not have its own restaurant but luckily, it borrows the kitchen of GOTO restaurant every Sunday to serve lunch. Reserve early for tables are limited. Therefore, on my second attempt, I got a table.

My family and I went early to roam Ann Siang Hill and saw many vibrant colours.

At 12.30pm, we entered GOTO. The service is real friendly, manned by the buddies of the chef I suppose. Prompt to refill our teacups with a ready smile. Well done.

Goma tofu in light soya sauce and freshly grated wasabi. Real simple. I liked it.

From top left in clockwise direction. Cooked daikon in white miso, french beans in ginger and soya sauce, mushroom with red miso sauce, miso soup with lotus root, fried almond tofu and shiso rice. Overall, I think the food is not too bad, having tasted the real thing in Koyasan, Japan. The chef could improve by scaling back the portion and simplify the flavours, focusing more on the natural flavours of the vegetables itself. For example, the original sweetness of daikon was overpowered by the sweet salty white miso paste.

Fruit jelly of rockmelon and blueberries. Refreshing after the seemingly heavy meal.

End.