[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]t Ushidoki Wagyu Kaiseki, everything about the cooking embodies the tenet that Japanese dining in Singapore is as refined as in Japan – so long as you have the right ingredients; here, it’s premium Ozaki wagyu from Japan’s Miyazaki prefecture.

Beautifully presented seasonal hassun platter of Ozaki beef done three ways (shabu shabu, roast beef tataki and grilled beef).

It certainly helps that in parlaying his philosophy of head-to-tail cooking onto the plate, executive chef Hirohashi Nobuaki cleaves close to the Japanese concept of mottainai – waste nothing. This might explain the tender tiles of beef tongue simmered in a beef consomme with a touch of yuzu, or roasted slivers of lung flavoured with sweet miso, or even the nuggets of oyster wrapped in carpaccio. In a shallow pan, Nobuaki keeps the maison’s sukiyaki sauce on a barely trembling simmer.

The mother sauce was started one and a half year’s ago when the restaurant opened – its extraordinary sweet meaty flavour deepens in intensity every time strips of raw beef are dipped into it to cook for mere seconds before they’re served with a soft-boiled egg and topped with black truffle shavings.

Chef Hirohashi Nobuaki expertly creates his kaiseki menu featuring Ozaki wagyu;

The pacing of the kaiseki meal is perfectly judged as Nobuaki shifts gears with, say, a granita of kumquat and tomato, an icy yuzu-scented broth of beef tail and ramen, or a handroll stuffed with fatty ribeye. And just to prove that even desserts can manage a bovine note, Nobuaki serves ice cream made from Hokkaido milk paired with a bed of snowy burrata and gula melaka. In a meal already filled with so many nuanced surprises, this quiet homage to his adopted home is probably Nobuaki’s sweetest triumph.


USHIDOKI WAGYU KAISEKI
#01-01, 57 Tras Street, S(078996)
T 6221-6379

The full list of Singapore’s Best at
G Restaurant Awards 2017.

All tastings conducted incognito with esteemed members of G’s Food Panel.