After much anticipation, Tokyo’s Michelin-starred Tsuta Ramen has opened its doors at Pacific Plaza along Scotts Road. The noodles are made from a custom blend of whole wheat flour, and you get to pair it with three ramen bases: shio, miso and their signature shoyu broth. The latter is made by adding three types of shoyu - including two custom brews from an artisanal producer in Wakayama prefecture - to an umami-rich dashi (soup stock) base comprising whole chickens, vegetables, clams, and other seafood ingredients. A slab of not-too-fatty char siew and a dab of pureed truffles in truffle oil rounds out the flavours. 9 Scotts Road, Pacific Plaza, #01-01
When a piece of beef arrives on the plate at the table, it’s easy to assume that the meat is the star of the dish. At Michelin Guide-listed Whitegrass, it’s the soy sauce – 20-year-old aged Japanese soy sauce to be exact. Chef Sam Aisbett has conceived the entire dish around this deep, rich condiment, even though all that’s served is but a few drops on the side. That doesn’t mean that everything else is neglected though. The beef for instance is from the Scottish Highlands and cooked over white charcoal, served with fermented mushrooms. Each element goes beautifully with the soy sauce, demonstrating that a marriage of time-honoured craft and good ingredients can only result in true quality.
Momiji plate from Hashida Sushi, from the Hiragi set menu, S$250 per person
So attuned are the Japanese to the changing of the seasons that they even have a term - momiji - for the act of watching the leaves turn red. Aptly, the momiji appetite course on Michelin Guide-recommended contemporary Japanese sushi restaurant Hashida’s latest menu update celebrates this time of year by pairing Autumnal chestnuts with lightly steamed sea urchin (often referred to as the ‘chestnuts of the sea’) atop two plump pieces of flounder and botan ebi sashimi. Toss it all together, Chinese “lo hei”-style, with a drizzle of yellow and purple chrysanthemum petals and cold-pressed tea oil from Shizuoka prefecture, said to have five times as much vitamins as olive oil. Larger groups can opt for the restaurant’s newly opened, 14-seater private room Toki, whose name pays homage to the chef-owner Hashida-san’s father. 333A Orchard Road, #04-16 Mandarin Gallery. Tel: 6733 2114
At first we were skeptical: what exactly is Western food with a Sichuan twist? Does it just mean a scattering of peppercorns on every dish? Not only, it turns out.
The first Singapore venture of a Chengdu-based company behind China’s Good Wood Coffee cafe chain, Birds of a Feather has quietly found a roost among other glittering favourites such as Employees Only, Bochinche and Michelin Guide-listed Ding Dong on Amoy Street. Among its offerings are clever Chinese-inflected takes on comfort food favourites such as starters of Crispy Pork Trotters - deep fried in hearty chunks akin to that you toss with a melange of peppery spices in a paper bag - and Fortune Skewers in Szechuan Pepper Broth, and a zingy Tofu Burger with Mapo Meat Sauce.
Our pick: the Oriental Bolognaise, a take on zha jiang mian if you will, comprising perfectly cooked angel hair pasta heaped with a minced meat ragout and topped with onsen tamago, mizuna and cripsy sakura ebi. It’s fusion food done right. 113 Amoy Street. Tel: 6221 7449
Be sure to come to Man Man, an unagi don (marinated eel served over rice) specialist by Teppei, well before opening time as the queues can get crazy. The food here is honest, affordable and most of all, well-executed. It starts with the fact that only freshwater eel from Mikawa Isshiki – a region known for its eel – is used here and these are kept alive in tanks until service time.
Order the Hitsumabashi – unagi don served with soup, pickles, broth and condiments like scallions, nori and fresh wasabi which diners grate themselves. It lets you tuck into the main rice bowl 3 ways: On its own, with the broth like an ochazuke and with the condiments. Even so, the star here is clearly the unagi and it is cooked over a charcoal grill which lends a smoky flavour and slight bitter charring to offset the sweetness of the marinade. Tip: Sit by counter to watch the cooks slice, debone and grill the eel if you can, but ask for a normal table if you can’t stomach the sight of blood. 1 Keong Saik Road. Entrance is behind The Working Capitol.
Homegrown seafood establishment Seafood Paradise – the first restaurant by the Paradise Group – has moved out of its home in Defu Lane and into the luxe surroundings of Marina Bay Sands. While there’s an extensive menu on hand, go for the customised dishes as there are always surprise ingredients. When we visited, there was geoduck liver – which has the texture of firm tofu and tastes like a very mild foie gras with a briny hint of the sea. This was served with Japanese geoduck and Chinese chives – stir-fried quickly in hot wok to retain the geoduck’s softness and the vegetable’s crunch. #02-03, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
Nonna’s cooking gets an upscale spin at Angeleno by David Almany, who left the top post at Osteria Mozza a year ago to set up his red sauce joint along hipper-by-the-minute Gemmill Lane. Among his latest menu additions is a winsome Red Wine Lumache Pasta with Duck Ragout and Pecorino. Red wine-stained homemade lumache (shell pasta) is luxuriously coated with a duck ragout made with milk-soaked duck liver, chopped duck hearts and meticulously deboned duck legs and a classic sofrito base - a traditional Italian sauce of stewed carrots, onions and celery, a splash of red wine and tomato paste. The result: a deep, rich and comforting dish the culinary equivalent of grandma’s warm embrace. 20 Gemmill Lane. Tel: 6221 6986
Signor Monti from Monti, S$52
Does Singapore need another Italian restaurant? Definitely so, say the people at the One Rochester Group (who also run restaurants such as Una and Stellar at One-Altitude on top of their One Rochester flagship). The first to open among a slate of new restaurants they’ll be rolling out is Monti, a plush dining and drinking destination that takes over the floating glass dome on the Marina Bay Sands that housed now-defunct Catalunya.
The restaurant’s pan-Italian menu takes you on a culinary tour across Italy, by marrying classic flavours and treasured ingredients from the country’s various regions on one plate. Definitely save room for the Signor Monti, a gourmet surf-and-turf combination of pancetta-wrapped monkfish slow-roasted to let the fatty juices of the bacon accentuate the milky sweetness of the fish. A side of spring-time ratatouille keep things light. 82 Collyer Quay, Fullerton Pavilion. Tel: 6535 0724
Thin strips of pork belly are often the go-to meat cuts when it comes to Korean barbecues but E!ght Korean BBQ’s new outlet at Shaw Centre has introduced a thick slab of meat that looks more like a steak than your usual samgyeopsal and galbi. It takes a little longer to cook than the thin cuts but the wait is well worth it as it’s Hungarian mangalitsa pork – a breed that many regard as the kobe beef equivalent of pork. The tender meat is cooked till the outside is crispy and slightly charred while the inside remains juicy.#04-20/21 Shaw Centre.
Diamond Kitchen celebrates its third anniversary and has introduced a new menu to keep its regulars coming back for more. The Ba Ba Pomfret – or golden pomfret slathered with a generous serve of sweet, sour and spicy sauce and eaten with a simple bowl of rice – is especially memorable. It is first steamed so the flesh is kept tender and succulent for a texture that goes beautifully with the explosive accompanying rempah of tamarind, garlic, chilli, ginger flower and onions sweetened with pineapples. #01-01 Oasis, 87 Science Park Drive.
Those who miss the punchy flavours of Bali might find comfort with Gallery & Co’s lemongrass rib. It’s a striking dish on its new menu that captures the essence of Southeast Asia – the rest are largely Polynesian-Hawaiian inspired tapas. It could be in the delicious lemongrass and garlic marinade, or the kicap manis mixed with spicy chilli dip it’s served with, either way, the whiff of Bali is unmistakeable. Just one caveat: Only popular food items will stay as it’s a pop-up menu, so if you truly like something, be sure to make it heard. Level 1, National Gallery.
It’s hard to go wrong when you’re serving up melted cheese in some form or other but Ninja Cut takes it a step further by serving a cheese brioche sandwich with beef cheek that’s seasoned with red wine and braised for 24 hours in a Japanese curry. It’s the perfect dish to show that good food is based on textures and balance of flavour – the brioche is soft and sweet which makes the savoury stretchy cheese a delight to bite into. If the combination gets too cloying, there’s the side of curry to mop up and a tangle of greens to refresh your palate. 32 Seah Street.
Following founding chef Daniel Sia’s departure, The Disgruntled Chef at The Club Hotel has undergone a makeover as The Disgruntled Brasserie under the leadership of current head chef Jacqueline Lim, who has worked with Sia even from his early days at White Rabbit. In Lim’s hands, at least half of the dishes on the menu have been revamped or given minute tweaks. Among them, the Braised Pork Cheeks - comprising pork cheeks braised in Asian spices served with wilted greens on a supersized Yorkshire pudding - stands out for its harmonious balance of East-West influences that is at once innovative yet familiar. 28 Ann Siang Rd. Tel: 6808 2184
