I work really near Bōruto, and was definitely deceived by it’s unassuming exterior. Situated on South Bridge Road, the two story Sake & Japanese Tapas Bar has been quietly plugging away, pairing food with sake in experimental ways.
Re-using history
The building that Bōruto occupies used to be a bank, complete with a vault and safety deposit boxes. Bōruto’s proprietors decided not to waste that space, and turned the vault into a beautiful sake cellar that houses rare and valuable sakes.
They even kept the vault door! Super cool.
The second floor also has a private dining room, but I preferred sitting at the open kitchen on the first floor to see the hustle of food being prepped.
Ten Ten Ten
No, that wasn’t a typo! Chef Angus, who heads the kitchen at Bōruto, decided on something called the Ten Ten Weekend Menu. This menu is a specially selected set of 10 Japanese Tapas, each paired with a different sake. Both the Tapas and sakes comes at $10++ each, hence the name “Ten Ten”.
With that in mind, we dived into the menu quickly.
The Okinawa Oysters were, frankly, one of my favourites. I’m glad we opened with this chunky, firm and fresh shellfish. It was ice cold, and when I slurped it into my mouth, I was met with a pleasant resistance when I tried to bite down. It wasn’t hard, just firm.
I loved how we could wash it down with a swig of Saké, and if you did it at the right time, it’d change the flavour profile of the oyster completely.
Creative Sashimi
Chef Angus is creative. From the idea of a Ten Ten menu, to this version of Sashimi, he kept surprising me!
While it doesn’t seem like there’s anything special about this Sashimi, besides the fact that it’s cubed, look at the clear and dark coloured balls on the sashimi. If you ignore it, you’re missing out on the special touch on this dish! The dark coloured spheres are actually soy sauce, while the clear ones are yuzu! The sashimi doesn’t need a soy sauce dip anymore, and the random flavour explosions really delighted my taste buds.
A Shining Star
Every restaurant needs at least one star dish, and the Tori Take is Bōruto’s Star. I’d say without reservation that this dish was the highlight of the night.
I bit down, and went “oh my” almost immediately. What is basically a chicken roulade, done with a touch of Japanese, came alive in my mouth. The chicken was juicy, but the skin was actually crunchy. As for the stuffing? Mushroom jam! So much flavour packed into one package. This is a must order when you go to Bōruto.
The Other Winner
There’s just one more dish that I want to highlight here: The White Truffle Cold Somen Noodle. Now, most people will be wondering what the big deal is, and I can tell you that it’s not the truffle. Neither is it the crunchy shrimp or the caviar.
The real winner here is the emulsified egg yolk. Yes, the simple egg yolk.
When you get this dish, do yourself a favour and really mix it up before you eat. Make sure the egg coats every strand of noodle, then scoop a bunch up and slurp it down. The truffle permeates the dish, the toppings give flavour and then that egg coated noodle gives you a silky smooth texture.
Ask for a Pairing!
It’s important to note that every dish comes paired with a different sake, You can get a bottle for drinking throughout the whole session, but I recommend that you ask your server to pair the Sakés individually. Each bottle gives you diffeent notes, and possesses a different level of dryness. The range alone would set your tastebuds dancing!
Details
Address: 80 South Bridge Road #01-01, Golden Castle Building, Singapore 058710
Opening Hours:
Monday to Saturday (Closed on Sundays)
- Tapas bar (first level): 4:30-10:30pm (last order: 10:30pm)
- Bar (upper level): 4:30pm-12:00am (last order: 11:30pm)
- Happy hour: 4:30-7:30pm
Contact: +65 6532 0418 or use Chope to reserve
