I have been driving past this restaurant for years...   always wanted to try it. So, when a friend suggested we go there for my wife's birthday gathering, I jumped at the chance.

The building is gorgeous.  Hard to believe you're at Cairnhill and Scotts Road as it has a feel like some remote garden retreat.  The entry way is enchanting and the steep stairway climb to the door is a great anticipation builder.

The menu is full of delightful Indian dishes.  It's really hard to choose!  I don't normally do Indian fine-dining, so wasn't sure what to expect or how a dish I normally eat on Serangoon Rd for, say, $8 could be that much better when it costs $45.  But, we delved into the menu and selected a few starters and a few main dishes (remembering that while it always seems like not enough food, it's always too much food!).

We were 5 people, so one of our party ordered the $75 Tasting Menu set dinner.  It had everything you would want - including coffee and dessert - and seemed to be a never-ending arrival of plates of new dishes throughout the evening.  It's well worth it.

The rest of us ordered a la carte and were not disappointed.   Our first dish was the Lahsoona Jhinga - which was clearly the best dish we ordered.  It consists of 2 giant prawns stuffed with crayfish and shrimp and lathered in a Tandoor sauce.  They were not "goopy" but moist and melted in your mouth - literally.  For $36 for two of them, we were hesitant - but don't be. They are totally worth it.

Next we ordered the Rogan Josh (lamb curry) as they were out of the Tandoor Lamb.  It was lovely.  Then we ordered a shrimp curry, which was gorgeous.  The sauce was not too powerful, but was simply delightful over the saffron rice.  We complemented this with the de rigeur Chicken Tikka, which was both plentiful and a joy to eat.   Rounded off with some Paneer and an assortment of Nan bread and we were well-stuffed by the end of the meal.  Even with four of us, it was a "ok, you take the last prawn and I'll take the last chicken and you can have the last bit of lamb".  

Of course, no dinner is complete without the obligatory dessert, so we ordered one Gulab and shared it.

Service was consistently brilliant throughout the meal. The servers were present but not overwhelming.  We rarely had to wait more than 10 seconds for any request and had a variety of people assisting with our meal.   They clearly met our expectations for a restaurant of this calibre.

We highly recommend this restaurant for any special event, a couples dinner or if you want to have near-flawless Indian food in a setting that is reminiscent of how the Maharajahs must have had their dinners 100 years ago.  

First off, let me state that I've lived in Japan, so know a thing or two about Japanese food and Tonkatsu (one of our favorites).  We've been going to Tonkichi for years, which was originally recommended to me by a Japanese friend who visited Singapore often (the place is fab).

While inaugurating ION on opening day (as one does in Singapore), we decided to try out Ginza Bairin as the description sounded quite good.   Well it was awful.  Here's why (in no particular order):

1) There is no ambience at all to the restaurant.  A side-street coffee stall setup is not commensurate with the prices.   Wooden tables and chairs are more reminiscent of a school canteen than a Japanese restaurant.  I didn't notice a single Japanese bit of decoration in the place other than a hanging bit of cloth with Japanese on it.  The translation probably read "This is for tourists who can't read Japanese".  

2) They  don't serve green tea.  Really?!??   How weird is that. 

3) The menu is ok, but none of the usual goodies at a Tonkatsu restaurant, like potato salad, pickles, etc.   No combo deals of Ebi and Tonkatsu.  They also don't specify the type of Katsu - eg loin or fillet.   Not that I ever could figure out the difference, but they are usually offered to the guests.

4) Ok, now to the nitty gritty.  The food was awful.  We both ordered different dishes.  My wife ordered the standard Katsu set.  I ordered the Curry Katsu.   My curry came relatively quickly, while my wife waited quite a while for hers.  When it came, my dish was quite small for the price ($15).  The cutlet was only 5" or so wide (arouund 12cm for you metric folks), which is small by comparison to most other places.  My wife's was even smaller.  

The Tonkatsu dish my wife had came with a tablespoon's worth of shredded cabbage.  That is ridiculous.  First off, cabbage is cheap..   don't be stingy!  Secondly, there is no joy in having Tonkatsu without cabbage.  Next, they only gave her a teaspoon full of the tonkatsu BBQ sauce.  Ridiculous!  Lastly, both of our cutlets were more than 1/3 fat.  Disgusting.   

Here's where it gets interesting:  we asked supervisor if they could bring us another pork cutlet to make up for the fact that we had small cutlets that were full of inedible fat and gristle.  She didn't really get what we were saying, so we explained very carefully and showed her.  To her credit, she finally got the picture and then asked if we could give her our cutlets to show the chef.  I said she could have one strip, which would be sufficient and then would continue eating the meagre bits of meat while we ostensibly waited for our cutlet reinforcements.   Well, the supervisor insisted to take away my entire plate, and said she would replace it with another, better one with no fat.   I resisted as I was hungry and didn't want to wait for a new dish, but she insisted and whisked away my lunch before I could stop her.  

After waiting another 10 minutes (my wife had long since finished her small meal), the supervisor returned with a plate which contained two of what I can only describe as breaded pork hamburgers.   I asked where was my curry sauce, as that was what I originally ordered and what i really wanted (I love Japanese curry folks..).  She responded "this is the replacement for your meal.. this one doesnt' come with curry sauce".  Knowing where this was going by the look in her eyes (a bit vacant), I still pushed on and told her that I didn't ask for another dish, but just wanted more cutlet to make up a full meal since ours was so full of inedible gruel.   She didn't relent, and only kept stating that she replaced my meal with this one since I didn't like the first dish and that this dish didn't come with curry.  

Now, I know what you're thinking:  why didn't i just ask her for a side dish of curry?  Well, I did... repeatedly. But she said she couldn't... which really frustrated and angered us both.   Anyway, she finally relented and went to "ask the chef" (who was as Japanese as I am) and then returned with a small spoon-sized container of curry sauce.   I was so irritated that even if the new cutlet had been good (it was simply awful), I woudl not have been able to eat it.

So, suffice to say we do NOT recommend this place.