Syun by Celebrity Chef Hal Yamashita

Syun is the first overseas restaurant by Celebrity Chef Hal Yamashita. 

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. 

Img courtesy of Rakuten JP

The first half of the appetiser was a combination of braised kurobuta pork and Japanese marinated egg, served with mustard. 

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

Alcatraz E.R. - A Medical Prison Theme Japanese Restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo

Irasshai, irasshai... yokoso to one of the most interesting theme restaurants in Tokyo!

From the photo below, can you guess what is the restaurant's theme yet? 

Img courtesy of alcatraz-er.net

Alcatraz ER, a legendary medical prison restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo, boosts of a quirky dining experience where you will be served your orders in a jail cell setting by doctors and nurses, with a daily asylum prison-break show before dinner starts.

This restaurant, located a slight distance away from Shibuya station, is an entertainment gem that is easy to miss if you do not have a map on hand, or the address in mind.

Before the trip, my friends and I have decided that we should have a meal at one of the most interesting restaurant in Tokyo. We have read a good chunk of reviews that pointed us here and we decided to try it on our own.

After all, we are in Japan, where weird is the new norm, and the norm is well, just the norm.

The Japanese are the ones who started the hadouken-ing photo craze anyway:

Img courtesy of hadokening.net

If you are keen to visit this restaurant, it will be good if you are equipped with a map so that you can be sure that you are on the right track. 

It can be located at 2-13-5 Dogenzaka, Harvest Building 2F, Shibuya, Tokyo Prefecture 150-0043, Japan (more details at the end of the post).

The restaurant is where the red bubble pin is

We set off for the restaurant in the evening, and it was rather dark when we reached the building. The streets were empty and quiet, so it can be a little unsettling when you reach the venue (we were rather uncertain if we were on the right track because the neighbourhood was so quiet). 

However, there is a huge banner advertising the restaurant and that provided much reassurance to us: 

Img courtesy of weirdjapan.org

I am someone who cannot stand watching horror movies, so when the lift door opens, I felt slightly spooked. The hallway was dimly lit, with a mummy doll on display behind bars. Even the restroom feels cold and creepy (i think it was my imagination).

Restrooms are located outside the restaurant

To enter the restaurant, you have to choose and press a button:

Choose your blood type!

After we stepped in, the restaurant was much brighter inside than outside, and it really just looked like a rundown hospital. (´･ω･`)

The nurse led us through a narrow walkway and we noticed most diners are seated cross-legged in little jail cells behind bars. The place has been segregated into upper and lower decks, which make the individual table settings smaller and more claustrophobic. Each table is separated by a thick curtain to provide diners with some privacy, but I personally thought it would have been more realistic (and fun) if they had built individual cells for each table instead.

We were led to a table on the upper deck, so most of the photos you see would be from a top-down view:

Miss Nightingale serving other diners on the lower deck

After we were seated, the nurse (who was rather hot in the mini nurse uniform and fishnet stockings) presented us with an overly cute menu (pink menu with rundown hospital... seemed much of a mismatch and identity crisis to me):

I don't know why they think the asylum theme goes well with pink

We had a hard time deciding what to order mainly because everything on the menu (full menu link here) seemed really interesting (we will talk about the taste later):

Fancy some bedroom toys or human body parts?

Or perhaps some blue curry or suggestively-molded fried rice?

We managed to place our orders before the show started at 8pm (there is only 1 showtime every night) and as we wait in much anticipation, the lights were switched off, sirens went off, music came on, flashlights were out, and people were running.

We couldn't see very clearly at first, because we were on the upper deck and the design of the place made it hard for us to see what was happening.

Help...?

It became more obvious as we get accustomed to the dark setting, and it seemed that the plot revolves around a mad prisoner who has broken out of jail. The crew terrorised the diners and created much chaos within the restaurant.

Looks hard to breathe

Though disappointed that the seating arrangement didn't allow us to enjoy the experience fully, I was very impressed by how the crew tried to engage us by climbing up to the upper deck to 'terrorise' us:

Doesn't he give you the creeps?

After the show has ended (thankfully, because we were hungry and the show gets a little boring when you can't really see much of what's going on), the doctors and nurses busied themselves with serving food.

My camera obviously didn't do the pretty nurse much justice

I ordered a 'Human Body Experiment' (人体実験) for JPY880, and it comprises of orange juice, lemon, white curacao, blue curacao, pineapple, and lime:

Now who says you cannot play with your food (drink)?

This other drink my friend ordered... well. let's just call it the banana drink. (´≖‿≖) According to the menu, it consists of coconut, milk, pineapple, and a frozen banana. Before we can do anything, the nurse poured milk all over the fruit and made my friend licked it. 

The drink costs JPY780 and was rather fun, if your company of friends can accept it:

The mild-hearted shouldn't order this drink... just don't.

There wasn't much surprise for the food menu. We had a 'pork intestines with ponzu sauce' (JPY520), Karaage Chicken (JPY580), and Blue curry with Naan (JPY630):

Looks meh but tasted not too bad

As jailed as us...

Tasted ordinary despite looking extraordinary

The highlight of the menu was the 'Russian Takoyaki' (JPY680). It is basically takoyaki presented in russian roulette style, where one of the takoyakis was filled with wasabi.

Proud to declare that I have survived and live to tell the tale

The bill arrived in the form of a medical prescription, which says 'Medicine to make a great love relationship come true:

Cute little bag for the bill

Content of the bag

The trip to Alcatraz ER was an eye-opener as we get to experience how a theme restaurant should be like. However, despite what some reviews mentioned, we didn't get to witness or see any wild acts during the 8pm showtime (such as being handcuffed, or dragged out to a stretcher etc). That was rather disappointing, though the staff's enthusiasm made up for it a little.

Say Cheese!

We spent approximately JPY3,000 per person (~SGD34) and that includes the cover charge (termed as hospitalisation admission charge) of additional JPY500 per person and 10% service charge. This cover charge is applicable for ala-carte menu reservations made.

There are other packages such as the 'Mad Entertainment Course' which sounded more economical because it includes 9-course and free flow drinks during the two-hour slot for JPY3480 (~SGD40, by hp) or JPY3980 (~SGD46, normal reservation).

Reservation timings vary for different packages (for example ala-carte reservation can be done 3 days in advance between 1700hr - 2245hr, while 'Mad Entertainment Course' opens for reservations 2 days in advance between 1700hr - 2100hr). To make your own reservations, check out the official link here. 

Details:

In Japanese:
刑務所病院レストラン アルカトラズE.R.
〒150-0043 東京都渋谷区道玄坂2-13-5 ハーベストビルディング2F

In English:
Medical Prison Restaurant Alcatraz E.R.
2-13-5 Dogenzaka, Harvest Building 2F, Shibuya, Tokyo Prefecture 150-0043, Japan
Tel: 03-3770-7100

Last but not least, let me leave you with my favourite the photo of the night:

Do comment and share your experience with us if you have been to Alcatraz E.R., or if you have any other theme restaurants which you will recommend to us!

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Restaurant Week 2013: Equinox Restaurant, Swissotel the Stamford

Restaurant Week is here again!

For our first stop in 2013, the man decided to have dinner at Equinox. There were 2 different options for each course, so we chose one of each to sample what they had to offer.

Equinox Restaurant is one of the 6 restaurants located at the Equinox Complex in Swissotel the Stamford. It presents diners with an exquisite Modern European culinary experience coupled with breathtaking views overlooking Singapore's busiest district.

The 3-Course Set Dinner cost $55++ per person and if you are keen to get a table by the window, it will be an additional fee of $20.

For this post, it is a combination of photos taken with my iphone and photos taken with the man's Sony RX100. Dim lights and scenery are just incompatible with the iphone, so the difference will be rather stark.

We figured that being on level 70 of the hotel, we should take this opportunity to witness Singapore's transition from day to night. We reached the restaurant at about 6.30pm, right after work. It was really bright and sunny, so we get to enjoy a day view of our beloved island from our seat:

The meal started off with us being served 2 slabs of butter, salted and seaweed-flavoured, and salt:

The waiter will come by with a basket of freshly baked bread and introduce us to the various bread before asking us to make a choice.

We liked the black olive bread, which was complemented well by the butter. The onion and cheese bread was stronger in taste.

Black Olive bread:

Onion and cheese:

We couldn't resist taking another photo of the breathtaking scenery:

We were also presented with a complimentary appetiser, though sadly I was unable to catch and remember the name of it:

For food pairing, we have separately opened a bottle of Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial for the night at the promotional price of SGD99++.



Pre-dinner Toasting while overlooking scenic Singapore:

After much anticipation, our appetisers arrived. I WAS SOLD (I am an appearance-sort-of-person though i don't exactly look appealing myself).

It was as if you can feel the heart and soul of the chef who has prepared them. The dishes were so sincere and exquisite! The naming of the dishes aren't exactly creative though... it is basically just telling you what's in the dish.

i. Grilled Vegetable Salad, Goat Cheese, Quail Egg, Frisee Lettuce, Horseradish

Special mention to the quail egg, which comes with a beautiful golden runny yolk centre:

After tasting the salad, i must say that grilling has brought out the sweetness of the various vegetables, and the quail egg's yolk was done to perfection. However, the dish in its entirety was not the best salad i have eaten, and appetiser wise, i prefer the tuna tartare (below).

ii. Tuna Tartare, Avocado, Crispy Onion, Soy and Lime Vinaigrette
We love the gorgeous presentation, which makes the food taste even better! The tuna tartare was light, and it was refreshing when paired with avocado:

Another sneak peek at the dimming scenery out there:

As the area turns from a bustling business district to a gorgeous entertainment central, we start our main course:

i. Poached Salmon Fillet, Star Anise Oil, Braised Lettuce, Beetroot Gnocchi, Razor Clam Sauce

It was getting a little too dark to see the dish properly. On the overall, I would not rate this too high, because the star of the main course (salmon) was a little too fishy in my opinion. However, the redeeming factor was that the razor clam was fresh and the braised lettuce and beetroot gnocchi were tastefully done.

[Mental OS] Looking at the presentation, I wonder what has happened to the kokoro ('heart' in Japanese) displayed during the appetisers...



ii. Breast and Thigh of Chicken, Potato Terrine, Morels, Cauliflower, Toasted Almonds, Roasted Onion

I love this, which was much better (in my humble opinion) as compared to the salmon fillet. The potato terrine was well baked, and the chicken paired well with morels.

Next up was desserts!

i. Violet Wild Strawberry, Granite, Almond Sable, Meringue
It was definitely not as sweet as it looked and sounded. It was balanced, and you can experience different textures of the meringue, granite, sable... all intertwined together.

ii. Verbena Apricot, Preserved Blood Peach Jelly, Lemongrass Sorbet
I love the lemongrass sorbet, but i thought that the preserved blood peach jelly and verbena apricot were overly sweet. (actually, at first bite, i thought it was hawthorn and not blood peach *i need to get my tastebuds checked*)

Personally, I think that going to Equinox during restaurant week is very worthwhile, as they maintained their top service quality despite the much lower prices. However, it may be a tad overpriced for the same food quality because there are hits and misses along the way.

If you are running out of dating ideas, why not look out for the next round of restaurant week?

Equinox Restaurant
Swissotel the Stamford
2 Stamford Road
Singapore 178882

Hours:
Brunch on Sunday, 11am - 2.30pm
Lunch on Mon-Sat, 12nn - 2.30pm
High Tea everyday, 3.30pm - 5pm
Dinner everyday, 6.30pm - 10.30pm

Reservations online / phone (68373322) / email (reservations@equinoxcomplex.com)