Kinship (Closed)

Item: Kinship
Rating: 4
Author: clarasy

3.5

77 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

11017

Central

$201-400

Western Bar

clarasy

Level4

118

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Kinship is one of the latest openings in Soho, Central, and certainly a welcome one. They have a rather concise menu but all of the items sound pretty interesting. The three of us ordered Grandpa's Smoked Carrots, Burnt Onion Risotto, Giant Duck Ravioli, Spiced Seafood Stew, Sticky BBQ Pork Belly, Fried Brussels, and Mr Whippy Ice Cream and Lemon & Lime Creme Brulee for dessert. We enjoyed every single dish, especially the Burnt Onion Risotto and Giant Duck Ravioli! Dishes here are mostly Western-based but with a creative twist incorporating some Asian elements. For example, the duck ravioli was filled with pulled duck leg meat "lo soi" style with scallion and ginger, which seemed to me rather like Shanghainese 紅燒/蔥燒. The Sticky BBQ Pork Belly was a little like 東坡肉 except it's not quite as tender and also not as fatty, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. Personally I liked that it was relatively (like 70%) lean but I thought it could be made a little more tender by means of slow-cooking or braising. Nonetheless it's very well favoured and interesting with edamame beans and a kind of dashi broth. The Burnt Onion Risotto was topped with a deep-fried egg yolk which you cut open and mix in before eating. The dish was very flavourful with rich-tasting sauce base yet not too heavy at all. We got the half portion and were left wanting more haha. The Spiced Seafood Stew consisted of lobster, black cod and spaezle (a type of pasta) in a slightly spicy broth. The black cod was nice, flaky and buttery but the lobster was a bit chewy though taste-wise it was not bad. I won't talk much about the carrots and fried brussels but they were both pretty good, especially the brussels. Now lastly the desserts: the Mr. Whippy Ice-cream was basically soft-servs ice cream with chunks of chocolate brownie and peanut butter crumble. I quite liked it but I think they could improve on the ice cream since the outer part of it melted quite quickly and formed a watery pool at the bottom whereas the core was still quite cold and hard. I think soft serve is supposed to be smoother and have a better consistency than that. The Lemon & Lime Creme Brulee was quite smooth and creamy with a nice caramelised layer but the lemon and lime could have come through a little stronger. As it stood it was not much different from the regular creme brulee. Overall there wasn't really any wow factor but each dish was quite well-executed and made worthwhile by the ingenuity brought by the mastermind chefs.

Despite its name Kinship seems to be more suited to gathering among friends than for family meal, though that could work perfectly well too. The place is rather noisy with a bar-like vibe so you really gotta speak a bit louder than usual to hear each other. Service is decent and the food arrives quite quickly so there's not much wait. They do have a two-hour limit for each table but there's really no time pressure unless you spend most of the time talking rather than eating. If you're in for some food adventure in a casual setting, this place is well worth a visit!