Someone told me about this place, suggested I should go.
As usual I had my regular bunch of questions.
Because, see, I like variety in my meals, and this place- located on the 3rd basement of ION Orchard- seemed to be offering little else in the form of variety but... meat.
But the idea seemed interesting, so we went.
I had been expecting to see (only) meat on the menu, so you can imagine my surprise when there was not just meat on the menu, but a host of other dishes too.
In fact so detailed are they that they've got four different kinds of menus for their dine-in.
There's the Lunch menu, the Grand Menu, the Course Menu and the Special Menu.
I didn't get to take a good look at the Lunch Menu, but there's a Gyu Don set, a Salmon and Ikura Rice in Stone Pot set, Teriyaki Chicken Pizza and even a Roasted Mackerel Set.
There was, of course, much more on the Grand Menu, with Yaki Tetsu EDO Style and KOBE style taking the front page. What it really is, I don't know, but I think it looked like a hot grill of sorts, and whilst there was a lot of beef, the dish came served with vegetables, tofu, and gluten slices in sweet miso sauce.
My attention, however, was distracted by all the sushi, and the picture of the Wagyu Roll Maki that seemed light, and fascinating.
To my surprise they also had a Salmon Carpet, which picture showed a block of thinly sliced salmon prepared two different styles, one lightly seasoned, one half grilled and topped with mayonnaise.
The picture of the Wagyu Red Carpet with Uni Sauce also seemed interesting. Like the Salmon Carpet, there were all these beef sliced thinly carpaccio style and served with homemade uni sauce.
For a while I wondered if we were going to go for the yakitori or even warm tapas like the Truffle Chawanmushi and the Mentai Tofu.
I also wondered if my friend was keen on the Potato Bacon Pizza, but no, straight to the Hot Pot page he went.
There was a little tilt of the head on my part, but didn't take me long to see just why this Mt. Fuji Nabe was the exact dish that we had come to Niku Kappo for.
Because this is not only a delicious dish with freshly sliced beef, it is a visual feast.
They aren't kidding when they call it Mt. Fuji.
It really comes to you looking like the mountain herself.
Plus you get options- in the form of pork, beef and pork, or just beef alone.
Our order today was beef, and can I say just how surprised I was when the wait staff brought it to our table?
Yes, I had been expecting a hot pot of sorts, but certainly not this impressive-looking heap of meat standing tall and majestic on the table right in front of me.
What charmed me even further was the sprig of vegetables (I don't know what they are) that they'd arranged on Mt Fuji Nabe's summit.
It felt like spring.
So charming was the Mt Fuji Nabe that for a while I actually wondered aloud just from where I ought to start.
Eventually we began by eating from the top.
And thankfully, despite my fears, the mountain didn't come crashing down.
I cannot remember now what it is that kept the structure of the mountain looking the way it did.
It's either a bunch of skillfully arranged tougay or it might be something else altogether.
Whatever it was, the structure held firm all the way until we came to the foot of the mountain, and then after that there were all the vegetables swimming away happily in the pot.
There was tougay, there was cabbage and there was tofu.
And the soup was a collagen-rich pork bone soy sauce broth with dashes of black sesame oil.
Perhaps the best part of the dish was the broth.
Between the both of us we nearly cleaned up the pot, and would have wanted an additional serving of the soup alone had they allowed us more.
But today we weren't here just for the star dish of this meal.
We were here to have dinner, and so along with this masculine, nature-inspired dish of Mt Fuji Nabe, we ordered a Salmon Carpet, and a Mentai Tofu too.
I think the idea of deep fried tofu with mentai mayonnaise and all that cheese was particularly enticing.
I wanted to try the Wagyu Mozzarella Menchi too.
Maybe I'll save some space for this dish next time
Deep fried croquette balls filled with wagyu mince and mozzarella cheese sound like a great addition to the Mt Fuji Nabe meal, don't they?