Chef Yamashita has been a representative of Japanese Master Chefs at World Gourmet Summit for both 2010 and 2012. As a creator of the Nouvelle Japanese cuisine, he currently runs nine dining outlets in Japan itself.
His restaurant in Singapore is headed by Japanese chef Norihito Saki, who has spent a month cooking with the chef himself before the grand opening (source).
We made a dinner reservation with the restaurant for a birthday celebration, and we ordered the 7-course Kaiseki set (SGD128++ per pax) with a bottle of sake.
Upon the service crew's recommendation, we decided on 'Kiss of Fire', a sake brew made from 50% polished Yamada Nishiki rice and matured for three years.
Personally, i thought this sake didn't wow me, but I am no sake expert. If you are looking for sake recommendation, I would recommend getting Kubota Manju instead.
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| Img courtesy of Rakuten JP |
It was a good start to the kaiseki dinner: Sinking your teeth into the tender, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly, and pairing it with the flavourful marinated egg.
The other half was Chawanmushi (right) and Tsukemono (left). The steamed egg was conservatively done, while the pickles were much stronger in taste.
This next dish is wildly popular among diners: a cluster of uni (sea urchin) wrapped softly in wagyu beef. I do agree that this bite-size goodness is delicious, but I can't help but also feel that the original taste of wagyu has been overpowered by uni, and all that is left (of the wagyu) to savour was its tenderness.
Assorted sashimi was fresh:
The service staff introduced us to the next item on the menu, which she said was the Chef's signature dish.
While I must rate this signature dish highly for its creativity, the use of strongly flavoured cheese did not bring out the freshness of the cod fish. We were also forewarned that there will be bones in the fillet... which was rather surprising to me.
The star of the dinner was its wagyu, presented daintily on a decorated slab:
If you do not take beef, you may wish to choose their seabream instead.
After trying both however, I would strongly recommend you to stick with the beef option.
We were then served assorted sushi, with a gigantic maki which the service staff introduced as their Syun special.
It was basically an assortment of fish as shown below:
Syun's desserts were the highlight of the entire Kaiseki meal, but sadly, I cannot remember their exact titles.
The dark chocolate dessert was sinfully rich, but maintained a good balance of sweetness:
The next dessert was my absolute favourite! Known as monaka in Japanese, the intensely rich matcha ice cream was clad between two thin wafers and served in a masu (sake wooden box cup). The shiso leaf (perilla leaf) added a minty flavour to this innovation.
If you have not tried a Kaiseki set meal before, I think Syun is a good start. For its pricing, the food served was decent and displayed a variety of Japanese culinary skills.
However, my personal favourite is still Takuma of Gion, Kyoto Prefecture. This hidden gem deserves more recognition for their chef's passion, pride, and dedication toward Japanese cuisine. Do keep a lookout for my review and photos of Takuma (soon, i promise)!
Have you tried Syun yet? Do share your views of this highly acclaimed restaurant with us!
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Syun
Festive Walk
Resorts World Sentosa
8 Sentosa Gateway
Opening hours: Tues to Sun
Lunch: 1200hrs to 1500hrs (last order at 1430hrs)
Dinner: 1800hrs - 2300hrs (last order at 2230hrs)
Reservations: +65-6577-6688 / dining@rwsentosa.com
Official Webpage here
