This restaurant is located in TST Harbour City, with a non-descript entrance which could be easily missed. The name came from the phrase Haku Rai Hin, meaning things from abroad, and is the philosophy of the restaurant to create innovative cuisine with a Japanese heart but also taking influences from all over the world.
We were seated at the main dining area, with only three tables. There is also a counter seating accommodating eight diners, similar to what one would see in a sushi restaurant, where customers can look at the activities in the kitchen and interact with the chefs closely.
The restaurant is serving a tasting menu ($1,480 each), and the first course is Hotate / Caviar. The concept came from the Japanese sushi type temaki, with the dried seaweed wrapping some sushi rice, and on top there is a piece of seared scallop with some caviar, myoga and an edible flower on top. A delicious piece, the scallop is umami in taste and after the searing brought the fragrance to another level. The caviar added an additional dimension of savory and also serve as seasoning to the scallop. A great start paying tribute to the Japanese cuisine.
The second course is Fruit Tomato. The ripe, juicy and sweet Japanese tomato are cut and then drizzled with some clam vinaigrette, prepared with Spanish olive oil and clam jus. There are also some small pieces of smoked iwashi, or sardines, which provided a nice contrast of savory and salty note to the delicate tomatoes. Another great dish featuring ingredients from Japan and the Mediterranean.
The third course is Dashi / Hamaguri. The Japanese soup dish is beautifully rendered, with the chrysanthemum petals and the finely shredded eringi mushroom creating a piece of visual art. The broth is very fragrant, and upon the first seep brought a familiar memory back, reminding me of some of the best Japanese meals I had in the country, which we all missed so much because of the recent travel restrictions. The tofu is soft and silky, and the hard clams are also fresh and tasty. Up to now it is three strikes in a row.
The fourth course is Sashimi. There are three different types of seasonal seafood included. First is Hirame, the flounder of delicate taste and soft texture. The chef has creatively added some finely chopped pieces of baked bacon to add a bit of savory notes. And instead of using soy sauce, a specially made sauce was applied to good effect. Second is Hamachi, with the richly tasted fish added with some special condiment (which I forgot what those are). The third is Botan Ebi, and the prawn are so creamy on texture, with the chef using the yolk from the heads to make a sauce which further highlight the freshness and great taste. Truly a nice assortment.
The fifth course is Spring Beans / Shirauo. Shirauo is a type of Japanese small fish, also known as 'ice fish', and the chef had deep fried them to put on top of three types of beans coming from Tohoku and Kanto area. To add further complexity to the dish, the chef has added koji, the yeast used to ferment rice to sake. An interesting dish but I found it a bit under-seasoned for my preference.
The sixth course is Lobster, a sophisticated dish, prepared with a cauliflower puree at the bottom, with the middle layer being a lobster bisque, followed by a corn foam on top, with several pieces of lobster sitting inside. To add to the flavours, there are finely chopped fermented olives with shio konbu, thin strips of sea kelp, on the foam, to give a savory complexity. An amazing dish with different texture, by mixing the three layers and the olives together a great feast of taste is created.
The seventh course is Suzuki / Asparagus. The Japanese sea bass is pan-seared beautifully, with a crispy skin, moist and tender flesh, and nicely seasoned, pairing with a nice sauce from butter and some other ingredients which I could not recall. On the side there is white asparagus along with a hotaru ika, or firefly squid, which is the seasonal seafood from Japan. Another fantastic dish.
The eighth course is Wagyu / Takenoko. The A4 Kumamoto wagyu beef is cooked perfectly, and I like it not overly fatty but with good tenderness and a rich, intense taste. The chef has also prepared a sauce made from the beef tendon and jus, of phenomenal thickness after 16 hours of reduction and supremely intense in taste. There are also some takenoko, a type of bamboo shoot, grilled to remove the water but not overly done to make it bitter. Along with a piece of okra and some urui leaves, is a good complement to the beef.
The ninth course is Unagi Gohan. The Yumepirika rice is a high-end variety coming from Hokkaido, with a soft and springy texture. The chef has cooked it to reminiscent of a risotto, with some egg yolk adding to increase the creamy characters and flavours. On top are two pieces of grilled eel which is very tasty. The Japanese pepper leaves on top provided a spicy note to the rice to add an extra dimension to the taste.
The tenth course is Blood Orange, with the semi-frozen granita made from blood orange juice, with a vanilla ice-cream at the bottom. The taste is delicate and not overly sweet or indulgent, good for cleansing the mouth and adding a bit of sweetness too. On top there is a torched mochi to add some bite to the dish.
The eleventh course is Chocolate / Coffee. The dessert has a yogurt cream on top of some chocolate ice-cream and coffee cream, along with some Japanese strawberries called amaou ichigo. The yogurt cream provided good acidity to balance well the chocolate ice-cream and coffee cream, building a nice harmonious finale for a dinner which was really exceptional.
There are still some Sweets to accompany, including a piece of Marshmallow with Redcurrant on top, with the sourness of the red fruit complementary to the light sweet marshmallow. The other snack is a gelatin wrapping a piece of red bean paste with some toasted rice pellets on the surface. Both the snacks are of the right sweetness. Then the last snack is a matcha white chocolate piece on skewer. The intense taste of the matcha is good complement to the white chocolate creamy note, making everything integrated and a great final wrap up for the meal.
Service was good, with the staff attentive and making an effort to introduce each course to us, so despite not sitting at the counter we did not feel left out on the interactions with the cooking team. The bill was $3,333 for two, reasonably priced considering the quality of the ingredients, attention to details of the chef and the amazing integration of western and Japanese culture. I won't be surprise if the restaurant is to be awarded a Michelin star in the future.
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