Home At Last
Hashida Singapore returns with fresh perspectives on the modern sushi experience
News of a restaurant opening tends to be met with cautious optimism, especially in a city this spoilt for choice. But when diners learnt of Hashida Singapore’s comeback on Amoy Street—after moving from previous addresses at the Mandarin Gallery and Mohamed Sultan Road—the excitement was irrefutable, even expected.
Chef Kenjiro Hashida, the maestro at the helm, has after all made quite an impression on the island’s most discerning diners, since he opened his first eponymous restaurant here in 2013. This time, he has partnered with the food and lifestyle division of global property developer OUE Limited and subsequently managed to secure a space within one of Singapore’s hottest dining enclave.
Suffice it to say, Hatch—as he is affectionately known—is an atypical Japanese chef whose innovative spirit has quickly outgrown expectations one might have placed on the son of a renowned master sushi chef (Tokio Hashida of Tokyo’s renowned Hashida Sushi). Still, it pays to keep in mind that woven into his exploration of the global influences on the modern sushi omakase is a reverence for his culinary heritage.
Evidence of this is set in the restaurant’s updated design—and they are subtle, intelligent and, in some areas, artfully quirky. Like the use of Hiba wood—a species native to Aomori where Hatch’s father is from—for the countertops in two of the three dining rooms, and even recycled 200-year-old wood beams from an old house in Kyoto that are used as decorative panels in the third and smallest room. In contrast are more modern accents, such as a
cloud-like lighting fixture in the largest dining room that Hatch helped design.
Similarly, the cuisine here transcends the customary. His take on a dish served during the new year celebrations, for instance, features handmade ozoni (mochi rice cake) in the style that is unique to Kyoto, which he prefers. Tradition calls for it to be served simply in white miso soup base, but Hatch decided to incorporate gobo (burdock) that is first confit and then simmered with white miso to make the broth. He also included a slice of apple for a surprising but welcome hint of natural sweetness.
The more immediately indulgent items include belt fish that’s lightly grilled skin-side only over binchotan, served cradled in a sheet of nori with bafun uni and sushi rice. It can be a bit of a mouthful but a necessary one to be able to fully appreciate the harmonious dance of textures and deep ocean flavours that culminate in a lingering hint of sweetness, aided no doubt by the fact that Hashida Singapore’s sushi rice remains less tart than most.
Another skilfully controlled explosion of umami, found close to the end of the meal, is a heady, savoury-sweet miso soup enhanced with fish stock and paired with incredibly delicate fish cakes.
Fans will no doubt appreciate how Hatch’s cuisine has evolved to match the new interior’s somewhat playful but strategic design—from the torii (shrine gate) at the entrance of the hallway leading to the dining rooms to a tiny toy astronaut hidden in plain sight. You would be right to anticipate a refined dining experience but expect it to be laced with a fair amount of unexpected touches and pleasant surprises.