The new Soup Curry by Ki-setsu at Fortune Centre offers a comforting & unique taste of Hokkaido

When we say Japanese curry, what is the first image that appears in your mind? Is it a thick brown gravy with veggie chunks, drenched over a bed of white rice and a crunchy fried katsu?

That impression might change after you visit Soup Curry by Ki-setsu, the newest viral restaurant at Fortune Centre, which opened on September 7.

The restaurant takes up two units on the fourth floor of the cult-favourite mall in Bugis and is relatively spacious, but it was still completely full during lunch time when we visited.

While there are plenty of Japanese restaurants in Fortune Centre, Soup Curry by Ki-setsu stands out for its Hokkaido-style soup curry that you probably won’t really find anywhere else in Singapore.

The dish is nothing like the Japanese curry we know — the star dish here features a spiced broth with a thinner mouthfeel.

Apparently, the team prepares around 150 portions a day. When we visited at 12pm on a weekday, we saw them turning away customers as early as 12.40pm, since the allocated lunch portions were already sold out.

Besides its novelty, Soup Curry is also worth trying because of the people behind it: The soup is crafted by the chef of Sushi Masa, an omakase joint also by the Ki-setsu Group, at Cuppage Plaza.

With Sushi Masa being a premium omakase venue with a meal there starting from S$230, we think that it’s a pretty good indication of the expertise behind Soup Curry by Ki-setsu.

Hokkaido soup curry in Singapore

Soup Curry by Ki-setsu’s menu has a bunch of appetisers and sides, but the headliner is obviously the soup curry.

The soup curry is its only main dish and is available in two different permutations: soup curry chicken bowl (S$14.80) and soup curry vegetable bowl (S$14.80).

The soup curry base itself is rich and comforting but since it incorporates brined chicken in the cooking, the salinity is a bit more pronounced in the mix.

This profile makes sense, given the Japanese do prefer heavier flavours — the team told us that the ones they’d tasted in Japan were actually even saltier!

You can also customise your spice level at Soup Curry by Ki-setsu, from level zero to four. 

Wanting to be more cautious, we opted for level one (less spicy) and two (normal spice) but they turned out to be not very spicy at all — spice lovers will do well to turn up the heat up to a level four (extreme spicy). 

Of the two options, we recommend the soup curry vegetable bowl. To us, the vegetables were an even bigger highlight than the soup base itself. 

Surprising, right? Well, here, the veggies are not merely blanched, or cooked in the soup.

Instead, Soup Curry by Ki-setsu flash fries the veggies to bring out maximum fragrance while retaining the produce’s texture.

The team prioritises in-season vegetables, which means that not only do diners get the freshest selection, but also one that might change from time to time — great for those who love variety. 

It’s actually in their name:  “Ki-setsu” means “season” in Japanese.

When we visited, the bowl we had actually included quite an assortment of vegetables in its vegetable bowl option, ranging from cabbage and carrots, to eggplant and potatoes.

Our favourite of the bunch were the cabbage, which was smoky and chockfull of flavour, and the broccoli, which had the florets fragrant and lightly crispy from the frying, lok-lok style.

The eggplant and mushrooms are also close runner-ups, with the former being wonderfully soft and the latter being meaty and juicy.

The chicken bowl version is still pretty enjoyable, and it also comes with the similarly cooked veggies, just with reduced variety (six instead of nine).

Soup Curry by Ki-setsu also serves this permutation with a rather sizable chicken thigh (also available at S$2.80 as an a la carte add-on) that is decently tender.

We just thought the meat seemed to be on the blander side, but that might be a good thing considering that the soup is already relatively flavourful.

Non-curry dishes at Soup Curry by Ki-setsu

The menu at Soup Curry by Ki-setsu might only have soup curry as a main dish, but that’s not all it has — there are also a series of smaller plates that you can pair your mains with. 

One appetiser we quite enjoyed was the sharp and tangy jellyfish (S$5.80), which featured a delightful medley of crunchy cucumber and silky sliced jellyfish.

There’s also the airy kani cream croquette (S$8.80 for two pieces), which is stuffed full of a creamy crab filling. This must be eaten hot since the filling does get quite clumpy after a while.

Our favourite side dish at Soup Curry by Ki-setsu, though, has to be the renkon fish cake (S$5.80), where the bouncy fried fish cake and the crunchy lotus root complements each other so well.

As for dessert, the daizu soymilk cheesecake (S$6.80) is actually quite spectacular, despite its humble appearance.

This dessert — which is actually the dessert prepared for special occasions at Sushi Masa — is apparently quite challenging to make, and understandably, Soup Curry by Ki-setsu only carries limited portions of it daily.

We loved how immensely light and creamy it is, and how elegant the flavours are — it’s got notes of soy and cream cheese, but everything is balanced and not too sweet.

With all that said, remember to come early if you want a taste of Soup Curry by Ki-setsu — lest you get turned away (like the disappointed diners we saw) when it sells out early.

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on the surprising new McDonald’s x G-Dragon collab and the hot new Korean bakery opening in Orchard.