PUBLISHED August 23rd, 2013 04:10 am | UPDATED May 9th, 2018 03:13 am
Ah Omakase. I just like saying that word….it’s so unmistakably Japanese. It seems in Singapore that Omakase is one of the new ‘trends’, however the likes of Hachi have been doing it for years. So with all these new venues opening up, how does an old boy like Hachi hold up… The answer…pretty damn well.
Hachi has a fixed price menu at $118++ not including drinks and once you’re seated…your life and your tastebuds enter into the hands of the formidable Chefs. ‘Omakase’, in Japanese translates as something like: ‘I’ll leave it to you (to decide)’…So that’s exactly what we did.
I’ve got a thing about dining at the bar/kitchen, especially when it comes to Japanese… I just love to see the show of the expert Chef prepare his (or her) ingredients at their ‘mise en place’ and ready the orders with such precision timing most Swiss watchmakers would blush.
As the courses began to arrive, my dining partner and I were wowed by each and every dish, a Japanese assault of familiar dishes such as Sashimi, Tempura, Seared Scallops…and less familiar (though equally tasty). Check out the minature deep-fried crab in battle stance…Pop in your mouth and eat whole… Yum.
These are just a few of the wonderful treats we were served up, but for me, the star was still to come….
To say that the final course, the Ohmi beef, was the piece de resistance is the understatement of the year. These slivers of awesomeness won the resistance outright. When people talk of marbling score, Wagyu grade blah blah blah…it all pales into insignificance when matched against Ohmi, the king of Wagyu. I know this isn’t the highest definition photo, but just look at that fat…Not separate parts of gristle, but superb, high quality, buttery fat enmeshed into the meat itself. I could talk about this for ages so I’ll stop here. All I can say is this, most of the course took approx. 5mins to eat… I made a point of savouring each bite of this beef for that time. Just superb.
Whilst some other Japanese Omakase restaurants are charging extortionate amounts around Singapore, it has been truly a pleasure to discover Hachi. So while $118 isn’t exactly cheap by any stretch of the imagination, considering the whole package, quality of ingredients, preparation, intimate and personal service, I would be happy to pay it again, and soon.
Written by The City Nomad