Shiraishi at Ritz Carlton

(*edited with input from my lovely cousin*)

I’m not normally a fan of Japanese fine dining establishments because I feel Japanese food, like prosciutto, is something that you can pay too much for. I think there’s a certain point beyond which it ceases to be “worth every penny” and is just a straight drop into “obscene”.

Plus at many of such chichi places, they tend to offer sets that comprise many uninspired filler courses to make up the numbers. And that doesn’t make for a satisfying happy belly meal.

So admittedly, I was rather doubtful when my cousin suggested having dinner at Shirashi one night. But it turned out pretty awesome. Though to be honest, I think if I had gone there on my own without the benefit of their prior experience (it’s one of my cousin and her hubby’s favourite Japanese restaurants), I probably would have ended up with one of the above-mentioned uninspired sets and condemned it to my list of never-to-be-visited-again restaurants.

Shiraishi, located at Ritz Carlton, prides themselves on being one of the few Japanese restaurants in Singapore that serves authentic edomae sushi. Edo is the old name for Tokyo, and edomae sushi typically refers to seafood caught around the waters of Tokyo. So you can expect a lot of tuna, sea eels and shellfish.

We had the omakase, which is short for omakase shimasu, and roughly translates to “I trust you chef”, or chef’s choice. And we basically ate till we decided we were full.

In most restaurants, the concept of omakase is taken with a pinch of salt. i.e. it’s usually a predetermined set with said uninspired filler dishes. But I can understand why restaurants do that. The concept of leaving it solely in the hands of the chef, and keeping your fingers crossed that the chef will take one look at you and know what you’d like to eat, coupled with the fact that you’d have no inclination what the final bill would amount to, can make most a little nervous.

I was a little late getting to dinner, so the food started almost as soon as I sat down. There was no time for introductions to the dishes, and I was too hungry to stop and ask. The only thing I was asked was if there was anything raw I didn’t eat – I said no. And the food came.

The appetiser. Gobo (burdock root) with carrots, sesame and lotus roots.

I know this is just boiled corn and doesn’t look all that exciting. But it was really sweet and fresh all on its own. I would haven eaten the whole head, had they given it to me. 

Bonito sashimi, and grilled bonito skin. I initially thought the sashimi was tuna because of the colour, but it’s bonito before it gets aged (and hardened) and made into bonito flakes. Served with ginger, spring onions and ginger flowers.

Assorted sashimi – otoro, chutoro, hamachi, torigai (typically referred to as giant cockle in english, but I prefer to refer to akagai as the giant cockle because it looks closer to our version of hawker centre cockles), botan ebi and sea bream. Served with freshly grated wasabi – the chef actually grates the wasabi in front of you right before serving it, and shiso flowers.

I happily threw both the shiso flowers and the wasabi into my soy sauce. I love the taste of shiso.

Deep fried prawn shell – I don’t normally take this, because they usually don’t do a great job of frying it. At most places it’s oil and slightly soft, instead of crisp. This was great.

In the background is the board that the wasabi is grated on.

I love shellfish, and am ashamed to say I don’t actually know what this was. In my defense, it’s probably something seasonal and not oft spotted. Luckily I have my cousin who told me that this is cooked tsubugai – alright, I suppose I have no excuse for not knowing this then because tsubugai isn’t all that uncommon.

The beef tataki was really really good. It was perfectly cooked, just the right amount of oiliness and practically melted in my mouth. Made only more perfect with the deep fried garlic and salt. Even the inconspicuous looking cucumber and miso in the corner were great. 

This is where our sushi adventure began. I’d been staring at the little bowl with the red inside and piece of cloth since I sat down. And when it was finally placed in front of me, my first instinct was to put it in my mouth. Before everyone shrieked and said it was for wiping my fingers so I could eat the sushi with my hands. It was a bimbo moment. 

Sea bream. I glanced over and my cousin’s hubby had already popped it whole into his mouth before I had time to react. I was about to reach for the soy sauce when there was another shriek. This time from the chef, telling me that this piece was already salted and lime-d, and that I should not be putting anymore sauce on it. I think the fun it is truly leaving it in the hands of the chef, and doing exactly what they tell you, when they tell you to be able to fully appreciate the experience. So, when in Rome. I gently wiped my fingers on the little cloth, picked up the sushi and popped it into my mouth. 

Thinly sliced otoro with some lightly brushed soy sauce and spring onion. 

Akagai. I love this because they basically look like giant see hum. This didn’t actually come with any sauce. There’s sauce on it only because I dipped it in, then remembered I wanted to take a picture.

Awabi. Rather chewy, but didn’t have the fishy taste that normally comes with abalone. I’m told the crunch comes from the freshness, if it wasn’t fresh it wouldn’t be sweet or chewy.

Another shellfish that I’m ashamed I didn’t manage to find out the name of. 

Tuna cheek. This was my first time having it, and it was delightful. It was like a cross between chutoro and negitoro – slightly mushy, extremely flavourful.

Hotate

Tsubugai

Anago – tasted freshly grilled, so the meat was soft unlike the supermarket variety. 

Chirashi made up of all my favourite things. Uni, ikura and more of that yummy tuna cheek. The chef also thoughtfully puts dabs of freshly grated wasabi and sauce all over the bowl, so you don’t have to do much more than scoop it up and put it in your mouth. 

The chirashi comes only in one size, I’m not sure which, but we made a special request for different sizes. I had the medium sized one (left), and my cousin had the small one (right). 

Pickled radish.

Clear soup with a giant clam. 

Grilled hotate served with seaweed

Ming’s (my cousin’s hubby) very crispy onigiri – grilled to an extra crisp because that’s how he likes it.

Tea to end off the meal – the girls get a cute cup with a little person hanging off the side. The guys get the boring run-of-the-mill no-person-hanging-off-the-side cup.

Musk melon – extremely sweet.

So if ever you feel like splurging on a meal, I would recommend Shiraishi. Reservations very necessary. And ask to sit at the counter so you can talk to the chef because that’s really part of the whole omakase experience. I wouldn’t recommend ordering off the menu because it’s limited, and you wouldn’t be able to take your eyes off the price tags.

They also do (relatively) reasonably priced set lunches that start from $30.

Shiraishi
Ritz Carlton Hotel
7 Raffles Ave
#03-01/12
Tel: 6338 3788

Restaurant Chako

*Updated below with more pictures from a follow-up visit*

Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre, located just off West Coast Way in a quiet neighbourhood, is an unexpected place for good Japanese food. Shopping Centre is an overstatement for what is really just a small building with an odd mix of mom and pop type shops, as well as a secondhand car dealership whose cars take up most of the tiny open-air carpark.

Despite its outwardly decrepit appearance, there’s a certain quiet charm about the place that makes you feel like you’ve been transported to a tiny town on the outskirts of Japan. Hidden amongst the tiny cluster of shops are four Japanese restaurants, all heavyweights in their own right boasting an impressive line-up of Hungrygowhere reviews – Restaurant Chako, Kyushu Nihon Ryori, Minoru Restaurant and Genkai Nada Japanese Restuarant.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to Restaurant Chako on a Thursday night. We called ahead to place our orders because we knew the food would take awhile to prepare – by awhile I mean it typically takes about an hour or more because all the food is lovingly prepared only when the order is placed.

The exterior of Restaurant Chako

Restaurant Chako is open daily from 12-230pm for lunch, and from 6-1030pm for dinner. On Sundays and Public Holidays, they’re only open for dinner.

An interior shot – it’s a tiny place that sits not more than twenty, and that’s if you’re seated cosily shoulder to shoulder. The restaurant area is just slightly bigger than the kitchen.

The first time we stumbled upon Restaurant Chako a few years back, we were walking around Hong Leong Garden in search of these four famed great Japanese restaurants. It was completely empty when we stepped in, the lighting was dim, and all we saw was an old couple – the okami (proprietress and chef, Hisako Okugawa – only we didn’t know her name then, so we referred to her as Auntie Chako) and her husband sitting by the table nearest the door. They both stood to greet us as we entered, and we were a little taken aback. This was a stark departure from the bright lights of contemporary chains like Sushi Tei. We asked for the menu, and an old weathered cloth-bound book was handed to us with both hands.

As we flipped the pages, Auntie Chako told us this menu has been unchanged for 19 years. At first glance, it didn’t seem impressive. They didn’t serve the usual fare of sashimi (this had to be ordered 3 days in advance) or any sort of sushi rolls. We looked up at each other and without saying anything, knew that we wanted out. We handed the menu back to Auntie Chako with an awkward and apologetic smile, and headed out to Genkai Nada where the atmosphere was closer to what we were used to – bustling restaurant, lots of people, menu with sashimi and sushi rolls.

Looking back now, I think we were a lot younger at the time and didn’t have a good appreciation of anything that wasn’t new, shiny or familiar. But I’d like to think we’ve matured along with our taste as we’ve gotten older.

A year after that first encounter, we decided to give Auntie Chako a chance and I’m glad we did. It’s now our go-to place for home-cooked soul-warming meals.

Instead of the usual green tea, they serve roasted barley tea.

The menu has been updated since our first visit. All the food, including the sauces are home-made so don’t expect a quick meal. You go to Chako when you want a reprieve from the world (even the 3G signal here is weak so forget about Facebook and Twitter), and are happy to spend the next couple of hours just enjoying the company of your dining companion(s) the good old fashioned way.

The Chako Set ($19), from L-R – coleslaw and potato salad, juicy grilled saba, perfect crisp skin (Auntie Chako grills this over a tiny charcoal stove – no microwaves involved) served with a side of freshly grated daikon, home-made pickled carrots and daikon, a small chinmi dish of lotus roots and wakame, cold tofu with bonito flakes and spring onion (they give you soy sauce to pour over this), bread crumbed fish and tender chicken served with salad sauce and onions, rice.

Ebi tempura set ($23). The tempura is deliciously crispy and light, and the prawns are huge. Although there were only four pieces, I could barely finish it. But my favourite part of this meal was the miso soup – unassumingly yummy. The sweet and slightly briny flavour of the clams are perfectly infused to complement the salty miso flavour. It made for a belly-warming satisfying end to the meal.

Dashimaki ($5). We had an option to pick either salty (dashimaki) or sweet (tamagoyaki) – we left the decision in the capable hands of Auntie Chako, and it didn’t disappoint. The egg was fluffy and still slightly runny on the insides. Good enough to eat on its own.

Ikabata yaki – squid sauteed in garlic, served with lime. ($11) Fresh, bouncy and very yummy.

Panfried gyoza. $7 for a serving of 5 pieces – there are two servings in the picture above. These were rather skinny as there wasn’t a lot of filling unlike the usual fatter more ingot-shaped gyoza’s that most restaurants serve. But I liked the silky smooth texture of the skin, and thought it was perfectly-sized to pop whole into your mouth. 

Tsukimi negi natto ($6). Fermented soybeans served with raw egg and spring onion. You can either have a whole raw egg, or just the yolk. Natto’s an acquired taste, not really my cup of tea. It tastes fermented, and not in a good way like the bottled preserved beancurd you put on porridge. 

Oden set ($19). A clear broth stew with fishcake and beancurd cake, daikon, boiled egg and seaweed konnyaku. 

Chako steak ($23). Japanese style beef steak served on a hot plate with sauteed vegetables that you can count and a side of spaghetti. It also comes with a slab of garlic butter, that gives the steak a nice garlicky flavour. 

Karei nitsuke ($20). Flounder simmered in a semi-sweet soy sauce based sauce. 

Unatamaju ($23). Broiled eel in home-made sauce, served on a bed of egg-topped rice. And unlike the eel you typically get from the chain restaurants or supermarkets, this eel really tasted freshly broiled – there was no sticky, chewy hard texture. It was nice, soft and tender. And the slightly runny egg over the rice was deliciously yummy. 

Sake teriyaki ($22). Pan-fried salmon with homemade teriyaki sauce. I didn’t even know it was possible to home make teriyaki sauce. I knew she said all sauces were homemade, but I took it with a pinch of salt and assumed that it only applied to gravy-like sauces. But as the sauce cooled and hardened on the plate like candy, I realised it was homemade. Fascinated, I shoved a bit of it in everyone’s face and insisted they try it. There’s something romantic and quaint about the idea of food made from scratch that charms me, especially in today’s day and age of instant and/or mechanised everything. 

Gyutamaju ($19). Thinly sliced beef in egg and onion gravy, served on rice. Very nice. I like anything rice-and-runny-egg.

Tofu cheesecake with tofu chocolate ($6.50). A combination of tofu and cheese, topped with tofu chocolate. I didn’t get a chance to try this, so can’t speak for the taste.

Homemade banana ice-cream ($6.50). All the ice-cream served is homemade, and according to Auntie Chako, takes three days to prepare. Her ice-cream is more icy than creamy, but it’s light and refreshing. 

Homemade cappucino ice-cream ($6.50). 

Homemade black sesame ice-cream ($6.50).

Unfortunately Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre is going en bloc, so all the tenants will be moving by August or September this year. We spoke to her daughter and she said that they haven’t thought about where they would be moving to. It would be a shame if she decided to retire but till that happens, we’ll definitely be back a couple more times.

Restaurant Chako
Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre
134 West Coast Way
Tel: 6776 3919

48 hours in Hong Kong

I made a short trip up to Hong Kong over the weekend to celebrate my cousin’s big 40th birthday, and indulge in the two things Hong Kong’s best known for – mai dong xi (shopping), chi dong xi (eating). In my opinion, the ‘mai dong xi, chi dong xi’ campaign that the Hong Kong Tourism Board launched many years back is one of their most iconic because till this day, whenever I think of what to do in Hong Kong, that familiar refrain of ‘mai dong xi, chi dong xi’ comes to mind.

(Note: lousy picture quality ahead, I was using my iPhone which only really produces decent quality photos in good lighting.)

I left Singapore early on Friday morning, and arrived to foggy weather. This is a snapshot from the plane window. I flew budget, so we landed on the tarmac away from the terminal (and a hangar) and had to be taken by bus to the terminal. It was freezing because I was still in sunny Singapore wear, with only a shawl to keep warm. Didn’t quite expect the tarmac dash – thought I’d be going straight from plane to terminal to car to hotel.

Stayed at Hotel LKF right smack in Lan Kwai Fong, which is in Central, so everything you need is within walking distance. Hotel LKF is a boutique hotel with great service, and  comfy spacious rooms – big by Hong Kong standards. I had two beds for one of me, so my iPad got a bed all to itself. The room also came with yummy smelling Molten Brown toiletries and a fancy coffee machine that you could use free of charge, unlike some of the other hotels that charge you for using the machines they put in your room. Unfortunately, it was wasted on me because I don’t drink coffee.

The toilet (and this is just half of it).

After checking in to the hotel, I managed to get about half an hour’s sleep before we had to  go get our hair done for my cousin’s birthday dinner. The theme was burlesque, and my cousin got me a really cute, fluffy corset dress. Looked like something out of Swan Lake. It shed really easily though, so I left a trail of feathers everywhere I went that night.

After we got dressed, it was decided that we had to take a cab to the restaurant even though it was only a five minute walk away, because it was five minutes down the steep sloping streets of LKF in killer heels, and nobody wanted to break a leg, or neck that night.

Food adventure in Taipei: Ah Ji Shi at Shidong market

Today we went exploring a little off the usual touristy places for food. I completely adore Japanese food, and so of course no holiday of mine is complete without a satisfying meal of fresh sashimi and sushi, especially when in such close proximity to Japan.

I did my research online whilst planning our itinerary and found this sushi bar – Ah Ji Shi in Shidong market.

Shidong market is an indoor wet market, a short taxi or bus ride away from Shi Pai station. We had initially planned to take the bus from the train station, but after a 15min wait in the glaring sun, we thought better of it and hailed a cab. A rumbly tummy does not a happy girlfriend make, and Boo knows this better than anyone.

Food adventure in Taipei: Exploring Ximending

We spent the night roaming the streets of Ximending, a short 5minute walk away from our hotel.

I had expected a night market atmosphere, similar to the Raohe night market we went to yesterday but it wasn’t quite so.

Ximending has a vibe, similar to the back alley shopping areas of Shibuya and Shinjuku of Tokyo, except a little less quirky, and dotted with sporadic stalls of street food that seemed intent on migrating every hour or so to a different location. I suppose to go where the crowd was.