This Emquartier opening specializes in yoshoku cuisine, or Japanese takes on Western dishes. Of its neighbors in the Helix Quartier, including Bella Rocca and Signor Sassi’s Nova Tearoom, Shio is the smallest and yet it gets the highest traffic.

The young groups come mainly for the signature cheesecake, which is served in two Instagram-baiting forms: an individual serving-size of circular rare cheesecake (B160) filled with runny caramel, and the fancier frozen sphere, dubbed Snowball (B290), which is topped with caramel sauce and liquid nitrogen. The latter, frozen to an almost ice cream texture, is delicious. The mellow cheesecake is complemented perfectly by the biscuit and the salty-sweet caramel sauce. To our joy, it turns out most savory dishes are no less impressive.

The menu covers hot and cold appetizers, salads, rice dishes, pizza, pasta, risotto and meat and seafood mains—all with apparent Japanese touches. The tofu teriyaki (fried tofu with crispy skin topped with mushroom, B170), for example, boasts a bold and creamy teriyaki sauce with an inviting sesame aroma. Likewise, the salmon tartare (B380), served in a sardine can with salmon roe, comes with a light and fresh character thanks to a touch of wasabi.

Instead of arborio rice, Shio makes all its risottos using Japanese rice for softer and stickier results. The Green Risotto (B550) is so named because the rice is cooked with spinach. Topped with a piece of miso-marinated salmon, a 62.5 degree egg and a dash of yuzu seaweed sauce, the dish offers an intriguingly complex mix of flavors. Their take on the trending duck and waffles (B490) sees tender duck confit and buttery, crisp waffle come served with a rewardingly large plate of cheese-baked mushroom, sauteed onion, marmalade and yuzu hollandaise.

There’s one major problem here, though: the pizza. While they’re generous with toppings—including lots and lots of cheese—the likes of the creamy spicy prawn pizza (B320) are a real mish-mash of flavors upon a thin crust that’s soggy in the middle. Take out the pizza, however, and Shio is a delightful journey into slightly weird territory, with nice service to boot. Corkage B300

This review took place in November 2015 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.