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Tucked into a corner of Raffles Hotel Singapore is the entranceway that leads visitors up a narrow cobblestoned path to the stage of a maestro who stands ready to provide up close and personal performances for a maximum of nine guests per seating. The setting at Oshino is intimate, with premium box seats right before Master Chef Koichiro Oshino. The stage is set: a thick circular stone plate is before you, positioned perfectly below the small spotlight to illuminate the vibrant colours of the food to be served.

The performance began with a light, breezy up-tempo pace that took us through delightful morsels of horse mackerel, striped jack mackerel, snapper and whiting sushi. Our appetites were further whetted by the delicate taste of sayuri sashimi, accentuated by fresh herbs and flowers, before the rich notes came in, with sublime cuts of glistening red bluefin tuna toro from Shizuoka Prefecture, aged 12 days for a complex flavour. The experience was further intensified by an uni sushi that exploded in the mouth for a creamy unctuous crescendo underscored by the seaweed’s salty note. When you thought it couldn’t get any better, Chef Oshino orchestrated another high note with the abalone sushi dressed in abalone liver sauce, leaving you wanting more of the buttery umami flavour bomb. Chef Oshino also served up tiger prawn sushi like a tiny ebi-don, which enhanced the flavour of the rice cooked in shrimp stock.

Oshino is open for lunch and dinner (two seatings at 6pm and 8:30pm) with a choice of Sushi Edomae or Chef Omakase menus.

}Raffles Hotel Singapore, 1 Beach Road. Tel: 9012 3938