Sushi temple: Hashida's new restaurant at Amoy Street transcends tradition
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Sushi temple: Hashida'southward new eating house at Amoy Street transcends tradition
Incorporating much more of the chef'due south personality, with designs he dreamed upward himself, Kenjiro Hashida's new restaurant is a philosophically succulent experience.
Chef Kenjiro "Hatch" Hashida presides over his new counter at Hashida Singapore. (Photo: Hashida Singapore)
29 January 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 09 Jul 2022 x:22PM)
It'southward been a niggling hard to go on runway of chef Kenjiro "Hatch" Hashida lately, what with his bouncing from one location to some other subsequently sallying along from his Standard mandarin Gallery eatery – which is why the opening of the brand new Hashida Singapore at Amoy Street is such welcome news for his numerous fans.
The discerning diner will know that i of the best experiences that money can buy – especially now that travel isn't on the cards – is a meal full of unexpected surprises taking shape in forepart of you past a master of his arts and crafts, and if symphonic perfection is the aim, and so you lot could do much worse than to sit down at Hatch'southward Hiba wood table (more on that later).
READ: The chef making his ain caviar from sturgeon in Nippon for Singapore diners
The new Hashida, which opened its brilliant red doors a calendar week agone, is a restaurant designed to have you through a journey that'southward not simply culinary but also cultural, dimensional and even spiritual.
Entering the establishment, you lot walk a pathway evocative of those leading from an outermost torii gate to the innermost sanctum of a Shinto shrine.
The restaurant has been opened in partnership with OUE Restaurants, the food and lifestyle division of global property developer OUE Express; just the chef'southward own personal bear upon permeates the space.
In that location are three dining rooms, all proudly designed by Hashida himself. The largest seats 12 and features gradated grayness walls together with a cloud-similar ceiling installation, which he says is meant to evoke the foamy tops of waves, bringing to heed the fishermen, farmers and logistics suppliers who labour for the freshest produce.
The second seats viii diners and pays homage to his heritage through the employ of thatched awnings and Hiba forest – the same type of forest that was used to build his family home in Aomori and likewise features in his father'south sushi restaurant in Tokyo.
Several of the eatery's counters are Hiba wood, an expense he said could not be spared because the material connects him with his ancestors, whom he tin trace dorsum through 12 generations.
Why is it so integral to what he does? "Because anyone tin train to be a sushi chef, but non everyone has this connection," he told united states.
The third room seats just vii and is designed to evoke the traditional manner of cooking and dining in rural Japan: Outdoors, by the side of a wooden hut. The walls here characteristic 200-yr-one-time wooden beams that used to be part of an bequeathed house in Kyoto. In this room, meant to showcase creative culinary experiments, the chef'southward table is made from Sakura forest.
Fans of Hashida know they will not be disappointed when it comes to the quality of the cuisine, but here, they can also wait the chef to button the subtle sense of playfulness he's known for slightly further.
In this new eatery, the prevailing principle is "Shu Ha Ri", the Japanese concept derived from martial arts signifying the ideas of "tradition, innovation and transcendence": Showtime, in Shu, 1 must be schooled in the means of tradition by a master; so, in Ha, one understands enough to incorporate novel ideas; and finally, in Ri, one develops his own unique mode and technique.
"When the restaurant first opened in Singapore in 2013, we originally focused on presenting accurate, high-stop Edomae sushi in line with the centuries-former traditions stemming from ancient Tokyo," Hashida said. "Since then, we have gone on to introduce several creative dishes to our culinary repertoire, equally our menu began to evolve with the experiences nosotros gained from our interactions and collaborations with other masters of their trade.
"At Hashida Singapore, nosotros are gear up to accept on the terminal phase in our journeying to mastery through 'Ri' – where guests may await forward to dishes that transcend tradition in an innovative style."
For example, at dinner on the second solar day of the restaurant'southward opening, a harmonious appetiser plate featured mackerel sushi, the fish marinated in soy sauce instead of the traditional vinegar; abalone and uni topped with caviar; sweet snow crab and sea cucumber; roasted sweet irish potato puree; and a sip of turnip soup.
Uncovering an apple-shaped bowl, we discovered a dish of Kyoto-fashion ozoni or Japanese mochi rice cake, with a goop of burdock confit, simmered and mixed with white miso; cherry-red Kyoto radish, yam, and a wedge of sugariness, roasted apple.
A tender lily bulb dumpling, stuffed with shiitake mushrooms, was served with gingko and bamboo shoot and topped with nanohana (Japanese kailan) in a gelatinous sauce of dashi, kombu and bonito flakes.
And then there was a simple however stunning Hokkaido crab leg, requiring nothing more than its own freshness to control attention. Hashida jocularly referred to the crab leg every bit a "watergun", miming that all you had to practice was pull on the end for the meat to slide smoothly out of its beat.
Another stunner was a dish of cod milt with tangy ponzu and crunchy barafu or crystalline ice plant, remarkable in its mellow yet flavourful simplicity.
Hashida isn't a fan of amped-up acidity, he told us, so all his flavours are kept measured and balanced – even his sushi rice is less vinegary than others'.
To cease on a light yet satisfying note, at that place was matcha pudding with brown sugar syrup; Beni Madonna orangish; Amaou strawberry; and Hanabira mochi with burdock, sour plum sauce and white bean paste.
Just not, of course, before a barrage of perfectly-fashioned sushi that Hashida urges you to swallow immediately from his hand – don't bother waiting for the others in your dining party – while the temperatures and textures remain optimum for a sublime flavour.
Who can wait, anyway?
READ: At this Singapore restaurant, diners must choose between 2 paths of flavor
Hashida Singapore is at 77 Amoy Street.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/hashida-japanese-sushi-restaurant-amoy-street-singapore-250166
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