PUBLISHED August 23rd, 2012 04:14 pm | UPDATED March 29th, 2016 01:49 pm
I don’t know about you, but while they’re two of my favourite things, I don’t often expect to see Japanese fine-dining and deep-fried food on the same menu. In my limited imagination, it’s a combination that just won’t work – though in recent times I’ve been forced to seriously evaluate my food choices by the fabulous kaiseki-style (Japanese fine-dining) kushikatsu plated up at HAN Restaurant.
If you’ve ever heard of kushikatsu, you might be forgiven for being a smidge skeptical. Kushikatsu fine-dining, really? For those less familiar, kushikatsu is essentially meat, seafood and vegetables skewered up and bathed in a batter of flour and panko bread crumbs, deep-fried ’til golden brown and crispy.
Traditionally, you dip freshly-fried skewers into tall jars of sauce shared with whoever else at the table (so strictly no double-dipping!). In Shinsekai, the small, sleepy Osaka suburb where it originated, kushikatsu shops are a common sight and a popular way to chill with a bunch of friends and a beer or two. So, yes, not exactly upper-crust eating. At least, not usually. Chef Seiichiro Arakawa is uniquely qualified to change your mind. Having been mentored by Chef Tsutomu Hasegawa at the one-Michelin starred A-Bon in Kobe, where they serve up similar fine-dining Naniwa fare, the man knows what he’s cooking.
We had the Seasonal Kushikatsu 7-Stick Set for lunch. With appetiser, salad, soup and dessert, as well as Chef Arakawa preparing the food right in front of us (and earnestly talking our heads off about his food!), it’s quite reasonable at $75 a head for the quality and experience you get. Not to mention the fact that his seafood is flown in from Japan 4 times a week, and personally quality-checked!
Of our appetisers, this is one that has managed to firmly lodge itself in my memory – not only because of the painstaking work behind this seemingly innocuous piece of fish, but also because I was blown away by the number of flavours jam-packed – harmoniously – into a single item!
This piece of mackerel was first wrapped in a kombu leaf, then marinated in a vinegar-based marinade for hours before being drained and gently blanketed in powdered egg yolk. In your mouth, it becomes a symphony of sensations – first the gentle sourness of the vinegar cutting the meatiness of the fish, the yuzu notes from the marinade, and then the faint saltiness of the egg yolk melting on your tongue. The umami of the kombu ties it together at the end and leaves you wide-eyed at how awesome life is. For me, this dish captures the essence of food at HAN – each item has its own story, carefully planned out and before it even reaches your mouth.
Moving on to batter things… (that was quite bad, I apologise) – meet Angel Prawn. ‘Angel’ Prawn, Chef says with a twinkle in his eye, is so named because its taste is like angels coming down from the heavens. Not entirely sure what that’s all about, but I was happy to put it in my mouth.
Nomads, you may look at the picture and think that it looks pretty good, but not any more so than any other battered-and-deep-fried ebi you’ve ever had. Well, you’re wrong. I’m struggling to find the words to express just how awesome it was, but suffice it to say that Chef Arakawa has deep-frying down to an art form. The crust is so light and delicate it almost shatters on impact, into a thousand little pieces. There’s no hint of the awful bready-ness that comes with some breaded foods, so little oil you’re surprised it’s crispy, and the breadcrumbs so fine you don’t even realise they’re there.
And the prawn – oh, my. I’m not sure what angels coming down from heaven is going to look like, but if they’re bringing me more of this prawn, I’ll be right there to welcome them. It’s sweet, but only just; crunchy and moist, just barely sealed up in hot crispy batter. Basically, everything you ever wanted in deep-fried food.
Chef’s batter is da bomb – and for good reason. He makes all his own batter, dredging it in breadcrumbs imported specially from a bakery in Tokyo that – get this – makes bread specifically for making breadcrumbs. Naturally, all his dipping sauces are also made from scratch, from his own closely-guarded recipe.
Above you see the battered eel with ume (plum) sauce. We couldn’t get enough of it. However, the unanimous favourite was the battered wagyu beef – where top-grade wagyu is, similarly, sheathed in in the batter and deep-fried. The result is beyond amazing. The beef was just barely heated through, and so tender it was actually creamy. Past the delicious outer layer, it slips into your mouth and into your gullet. Before you know what’s happening, it’s gone, and you’re left staring at an empty plate and cursing yourself for finishing it so quickly. We didn’t manage to get a picture of it because it was gone too fast. True story.
Chef Arakawa takes great pride in his own creations, some of them even designed in Singapore and inspired by local tastes and Chinese and Korean cuisine. The kushikatsu above is one such invention, tomato stuffed with cream cheese, battered, deep-fried and finished with tomato paste on top. The goal, chef says, is to increase the magnitude of the tomato flavour, often lost among the others.
We end off with some sushi, including a Osaka specialty – futomaki – pictured above. HAN Restaurant’s Chef Arakawa is earnest about bringing traditional Osaka-style – also known as Naniwa – food to Singapore. Most of what you know is from up north, from Tokyo, he says. There was certainly a variety of sushi rarely seen in Singapore, such as the battera sushi, pictured below, a type of ‘pressed’ sushi.
We washed it all down with some hand-made sorbet for dessert. I was informed that this is no mean feat – to do it without an ice-cream maker, you have to alternately freeze and beat the sorbet several times over the course of two hours. Hard work, but decidedly worth it – the yuzu and melon sorbets were fantastic.
So if you’ve never been to Osaka – or if you’ve been, but think that Osaka food is limited to okonomiyaki and yakisoba – then you should treat yourself to an authentic Naniwa experience right here in Singapore. Be warned though, that the prices aren’t for the faint-hearted – at $75, the lunch set is the most affordable they have on offer, with dinner sets starting from $120. If you’re feeling generous though, HAN definitely won’t disappoint.
Have you eaten the Kushikatsu at HAN Restaurant in Singapore? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. For more information, check out their website.