Nishikian Forest Hill

Nishikian serves Japanese izakaya style food in Forest Hill. The premises used to be a car repair centre but they've done a good job fitting it out. The open kitchen is in the middle of the restaurant surrounded by seating areas on three sides. Some of the industrial feel is retained with the high ceilings and exposed ventilation pipes giving it an interesting feel of simplicity and efficiency.

It was exciting to watch the chefs buzzing around in the kitchen. One gets the feeling that if ever there was a need to find chefs who know what they are doing, well then this is the kitchen to begin the search.

There was a dedicated grill area where skewers were cooked on charcoal grill. We ordered one of the specials of the day,  pork belly skewers with spicy sauce. The sauce was tasty but the marinade of the meat was somewhat lacking.



Next was chirashi. Lovely fresh salmon, tuna, king fish and scallop slices, prawns and tobiko on rice. This has always been my favorite. I can enjoy fresh fish slices, and my carb hit from the rice, without having to eat politely as you would a sushi.

We also ordered a tempura which came in a shallow plate of soup on a lighted burner. Just before serving,  an egg is broken into the soup for the burner to do it's job. By the time the egg is cooked, the tempura had become soggy. So perhaps this wasn't the best dish for me the fried food afficionado.

We enjoyed our meal but most probably will need to order more for the two of us the next time.