IKO is The Latest Mod-Jap Restaurant on The Block - Men's Folio
Lifestyle, Wine & Dine

IKO is The Latest Mod-Jap Restaurant on The Block

  • By Bryan Goh

IKO is the Latest Mod-Jap Restaurant On the Block
Before we can talk about restaurant IKO (it’s situated at 65 Neil Road fyi), we have to talk about what Mod-Jap cuisine means. Technically, we don’t know how to exactly classify it. Sure, the ingredients are all similar but when the word Mod is placed before Japanese, it allows the chefs to do some wonderful things. Think about the flavours you can get from ingredients like wasabi butter or what a sous vide machine can really do for beef. Think about the visuals, man. The visuals.

Now, the food at IKO by chef Jeremy Chiam that can be dished down into two numbers. Three in terms of colour (purple, pink and blue like the brand’s colours) and six (the categories of his mod-jap menu).


IKO is the Latest Mod-Jap Restaurant On the Block
RAW:
Chiam upgrades the uni at IKO, purple cauliflower pudding that has been simmered in dashi broth and blizted and creamed. If that isn’t impressive enough, it comes topped with homemade dashi jelly and yes, a generous helping of uni.

IKO is the Latest Mod-Jap Restaurant On the Block
COLD: Charred eggplants slathered with sesame yoghurt sauce, La-Yu oil and shichimi goma, Chiamm’s cold dish at IKO that packs some serious heat.

SMALL: The restuarant recommends you share this small plates but the Asari at IKO will prove hard to share. Clams cooked in sake broth and the dashi stock contains briny enoki and butter.


ROBATA: This is where the Mod in Mod-Jap comes into play. Spanish Iberobico served atop a bed of house-made carrot puree and raisin. And because Chiamm has the chops, the fat of the iberico is reduced into a rich and flavoursome mustard jus.

IKO is the Latest Mod-Jap Restaurant On the Block
RICE AND NOODLES: Japanese rice cooked in shiitake broth with shimeji and king oyster mushroom = IKO’s take on the traditional Donabe. The restaurant especially likes this dish with a dollop of black truffle paste.

IKO is the Latest Mod-Jap Restaurant On the Block
SWEETS: How impressive is the 74% dark chocolate at IKO? The restaurant blends it into a cremeux served with raspberry white chocolate meringue, beetroot jelly and freeze-dried yogurt bits.

Once you’re doing booking a restaurant table at IKO, click here to catch up with our May 2021 issue.