A Modest Grill

My modest attempt at some yakitori after inspiration from Kushigin.

Chicken wings turned out to be more satay-style bbq than yakitori. No idea why.


The yaki onigiri turned out quite well - sticky but not mushy rice.


Last up was a flash-grilled prawn in miso soup.

Kushigin 串銀炭火燒

Cuppage Plaza and the adjoining Orchard Plaza are veritable treasure troves of Japanese entertainment. The congregation of Japanese KTVs naturally drew the opening of several authentic restaurants to serve the homesick expats. I have only been and returned several times to Kushigin (串銀炭火燒) and am seldom disappointed with the food. The atmosphere is wonderful too, just last evening we were the only 4 of about 6 locals in a restaurant packed full of Japanese working men (exclusively men, somehow) looking to wind down... on a Monday night.

Surprisingly, the tebasaki (chicken wings) were the first to arrive. They usually take quite long but I guess these were already started before I placed my order. So what’s so special about them? These dainty little fellows are obviously not from the usual breed of chicken. They are devoid of the excess fat under the skin which lends to a satisfying crunch as you bite in and a burst of hot chicken juices and fat embedded between the skin and meat.


Not pictured were the grilled chicken skin and the liver. The liver can be a hit or miss affair. Today, I thought it spent a few seconds too many over the coals. However, when the chef gets the window just right, meltingly tender chicken liver is just as decadent as foie gras. Unfortunately, they ran out of bonjiri (chicken arse) this time. I highly recommend that you abandon your inhibitions and give that arse a chance.

The grilled negi (leek) and negi (eggplant) are also my perennial favourites but they fell somewhat short of their mark today. The leek was a little stringy and the pieces of eggplant were too small for sufficient impact. Still, they remained sweet and juicy. I quite like the balance of flavours by the sharp salty soy and stinging grated ginger.


Asparagus Maki is somewhat of a misnomer, I feel. In this case, the asparagus clearly plays a supporting role behind the smoky and crispy pork belly. Full marks for the meat, but the young asparagus lacked definition.


I forgot to picture the Mini Tomato Maki, scoffing down the little balls of fire as soon as they were set down on the table. Here’s my recommended eating method: pop in mouth and bite softly until the tomato juice just trickles out. Slowly savour until you can stand the heat then chew. Unlike the asparagus, the tomato is unmistakably the star here.

The Shishamo was Ivan’s order but I was surprised by how well it turned out. The last few times I have ordered any fish (an Ayu and a Saba comes to mind), they have been way overcooked for my taste. The Shishamo stood well under the grill and the eggs were quite creamy.



Last up was the slightly unusual but delicious Grilled Fried Tofu. The crunchy smoky crust gives way to smooth tofu. Again the combination of grated ginger and soy works well.


The order in which in your dishes emerge can be hilariously random sometimes but in all, a great start to the week after a weekend struggling with quantum mechanics assignments.

Chikuwa Tei

10 days gone without blogging. It doesn’t look very long but it sure feels like it. While I am still sitting on a pile of work, I think I deserve a break after battling through Edbert’s quantum mechanics homework.

Fans of the old Wasabi Tei in Far East Plaza ought to know that Chef Peter Teo has moved to a swanky location in Mohamed Sultan. This new place, Chikuwa Tei (nothing to do with chikus, mind you), couldn’t be more different from the old restaurant. For the uninitiated, Wasabi Tei is (the restaurant still exists but with a different owner) this dumpy little store which sits barely 20 in a U-shaped counter. The chef ran the kitchen singlehandedly with his wife doing the cleaning. This system obviously produces a lot frayed nerves and rarely a meal goes by without Chef Peter making a sharp rebuke to his wife or an indecisive customer. Once, he even had a policy to take order from each person only once! Things have improved in the new place obviously.

Chikuwa Tei still excels in all things raw. We had the Sashimi Platter which had generous slices of salmon, salmon belly, yellowtail, tuna, swordfish, sakura shrimp and a scallop. All were great, especially the swordfish which was firm, springy and bursting with intramuscular fats. On the day we went, the restaurant happened to receive a shipment of deep sea scallops and botan ebi. How could we miss that? The freshly shucked scallops were on a totally different plane in sweetness and texture from the regular ones. To describe it, the fibres of the flesh are still well defined and when you bite into it, it breaks apart almost like the scallop has been blanched ever so rapidly. By the way, did you know that even most sashimi-grade scallops were blast frozen? I cannot vouch for the botan ebi though. It tasted fine but the slimy texture is not to my liking.



The grilled fish (eel, cod and salmon) are all still as good as they used to be. They are boldy grilled to the point where the skin almost burns while not overcooking the flesh. The sweet and intense teriyaki goes well with rice. The thinly sliced raw cabbage salad may be overlooked by some, but to me it remains an enigma how he gets rid of the bitterness and ‘greeness’ of vegetable.

Unfortunately, that’s about as far as the strength of Chikuwa Tei goes. I thought the cod nabe was ho-hum. Worse still was the assorted tempura which came soggy and oily. Obviously, the quality control in the back kitchen still has some way to go.


If I were to return to Chikuwa Teo, I will stick with either of these strategies: stick with sashimi and rice or order one of the grilled fish sets.

Pork Belly Rice

Here's something I done quite long ago but never posted. It’s a sort of Chinese-Japanese fusion. The pork belly pieces marinated generously in dark soy were browned on a low fire together with garlic, ginger and galangal for a long time to develop the caramelized flavours. At this point, you can just add water and then stew for a classic down-to-earth soy-stewed meat. However, I deglazed with mirin for sweetness and then added a light dashi stock for the Japanese twist. Towards the end, sweated onions were thrown in and cooked for a few minutes. Thinly sliced negi and ginger helps counter the richness.

Kingfish Sashimi and Tempura

My dad unexpectedly brought a sashimi-grade kingfish fillet back from Sydney, giving me a chance to use my recently acquired vintage ‘Tamahagane’ Yanagi-ba (sashimi slicer). The edge didn’t disappoint though my technique leaves room for vast improvement. I didn’t have much to use in terms of garnish so I had to make do with half a lime and some needle cut cucumbers.


The rest of the fillet was done tempura style with some small prawns with the head left on, onions, shiitakes, red and yellow papers, sweet potatoes and eggplants. My batter? 2 parts all-purpose flour, 1 part Dragon Boat brand Crispy Flour and enough cold beer to get the correct consistency.

Winter 2009 - Japan - Others

This is the last of my Winter 2009 series. Its just collection of food-related pictures.

Amazing looking mushrooms at Himeiji farmer's market.


Knives at Sakai Ichimonji store on Doguya-Suji arcade in Osaka. Doguya-Suji is a restaurant supplies district clustered with many knife shops.



Famous crab at Dotonbori.


Grilled oysters and oyster farms at Miyajima. Home of the famous Itsukushima Shrine





The most amazing little alley near Shinjuku packed full of yakitori joints. I hate myself for missing out on yakitori while in Japan. The entrance of the alley is near the Uniqlo corner store just outside Shinjuku station. Follow your nose and you won't miss it.



Horse sashimi.


Hand made udon at Roppongi. Easily the best noodle dish I had in the whole trip. Somehow I didn't find any ramen places which I liked better than Marutama.


Sushi train joint in Ueno.







Parting words of wisdom.

Winter 2009 - Japan - Shunju Mishuku

The Shunju chain of restaurants was recommended while I was searching for a destination for a fancy multi-course dinner below my 10,000 yen budget. I arrived early at the Mishuku branch in Shibuya and was given a spacious counter seat in front of the sashimi station with the head chef working in front of me. They had an English menu from which I selected the 8,000 yen set dinner.


The first course was a selection of seasonal vegetables and salads arranged on a large basket – sort of a salad bar that was brought your side. I didn’t think much of it at first and only picked little sampling of each. Damn, was I mistaken! The cabbage, simply washed and cut, was crunchy and full of natural sugars. Also noteworthy were the boiled spinach which was tender yet not overcooked at all and the sweet potatoes which tasted like candies. Luckily I managed to convey the message to the waiter that I would like to have a second helping of the course which they gladly obliged.


Next was a sashimi platter with Chu Toro, Kampachi, Tako (Octopus), Tai (Snapper) and fresh wasabi. On the side of the Tako are pieces of suckers that had an interesting texture. The Tai, known as King of Snapper, was in its winter prime with the flavourful fleshing tasting almost milky and the Chu Toro, which I suspect was lightly cured on Konbu, was unctuous and buttery.


The third course combined a piece of deep fried Anglerfish liver and Daikon in a Yuzu soy broth. The rich and slightly powdery liver was perfectly matched by the sweet and juicy radish with the broth binding both elements with the fragrance of Yuzu.


Charcoal grilled duck, which was the main meat course was the only let down of the meal. The duck, which was imported, was cooked appropriately rare but retained an unpleasing livery taste.


The final savoury course was oyster rice cooked with broth in a tradition cast iron pot. Much like a claypot, this method enabled the bottom layer of rice to char a little and add an extra dimension to the already flavourful rice.



Dessert was a pear sorbet with pear jelly.

Winter 2009 - Japan - Daiwa Sushi

Having a sushi breakfast at Tsukiji, as touristy as it may be, is a rite of passage. There are 2 famous sushi joints at the market – Sushi Dai and Daiwa Sushi. I went considerably late in the morning after touring the market and there was an intimidating queue for both of them. I opted for the shorter queue at Daiwa Sushi.

Daiwa Sushi has all the elements of a successful restaurant like one sees back here in Singapore. It started out in one stall and soon it had to expand to a neighbouring one except in the process all they had to do is to throw in a sushi counter and some chairs. Such carelessness in the decor reflects a well-placed confidence in the quality of their food to draw in the diners.

Anyway, as a single diner, I was offered a place relatively quickly and I slipped into the narrow path between the seats and the wall into probably the worst seat in the restaurant. I barely had enough space for my plate between a fellow diner to the left, the cash register to the right and the sushi counter in front. Being obviously foreign, I was offered the Omakase set menu which I promptly rejected in favour of picking from the counter display.

I started with the more common – Salmon, Tuna, Samma, Eel, Yellowtail etc and I regretted immediately. I cannot have sushi outside of Tsukiji ever again. All the Japanese restaurants in Singapore? They offer gluey cold rice cakes with pieces of fish stuck to them. Even in Japan, the quality I experienced at Daiwa is head and shoulders above all the other sushi joints. Surprisingly, it was not the fish but the rice which was most memorable. Each sushi was a warm pillowy bed of rice which had the ability to stay whole when you pick it up but crumbles and melts in your mouth. The temperature of the rice warmed the squeaky fresh fish just right to fully bring out its flavours.

Next, I moved on to the Otoro (Tuna Belly) which was very different from what we get here in the sense that it was less fatty and tastes purer of fish with a slight acidic zing. Again, the heat from the rice was crucial in melting the tuna fat into a heavenly semi-liquid state. The Sakura Shrimp and Scallop were also very, very good.

Then, the Sea Urchin, Uni, on the smallest bite of rice just enough to keep the roe from falling through and surrounded by a thin crispy of seaweed. By this time I have abandoned the chopsticks and was eating with my hand. I brought it close and detected the waft of the ocean but something was lacking - an annoying medicinal iodine smell that accompanied every Uni I ever had. This urchin was pristine, probably hours fresh. The sweet essence of the sea lived in it. I got so crazy over it I had 3 of them. This is good enough to be my last meal.

I also had the Shirako, which was the sperm sac of a cod fish. This won the approval and admiration of the chef. He exclaimed, 'Shirako.. ahh.. Shirako. Goooood! Very winter!' It tasted disappointingly neutral of creamy fish fat.

The meal lasted a brief half an hour and the above is the only picture I have of the meal. Now, I am writing this post almost half a year from my visit to Daiwa Sushi entirely from memory. It was that good.

Wagyu

Before writing this post, I struggled for a little while trying to compose an opener for this blog. I gave up, and thought that it’s best to just let the ingredients do the talking.

Here goes...

Beef would make an auspicious first for this blog. The blog’s name: Gyuto, translates literally to Cow Sword or, more appropriately, Chef’s Knife. And to drive home the theme, let’s start with the king of beef, Wagyu. I am sure most are familiar with Kobe Beef. Kobe is a location, and over there they breed Wagyu (和牛). Now, the Wagyu breed is not bred exclusively in Japan. Outside of Japan, the most successful breeding programs are in Australia. To find out more, surf: Vicsmeat and Kawamura Steakhouse.

Here, I have a sirloin from Master Kobe with Marble Score 9+ from Vicsmeat, Sydney. You cannot serve a piece of MBS 9+ beef as a steak, it is simply too rich (read oily). Thus, a 200+ g piece actually goes a long way to serve 3 to 4 people.


For this piece of beef, I was inclined to fire up some charcoals and do it properly. Good charcoal imparts a heady smokiness and a sweet aroma to the meat. All it needs is just a minute on each side until the beef fat bubbles and crisps. Slow roasted cauliflowers, carrots, shiitakes and asparagus make up the accompaniments.


To cut into the richness, grated ginger goes into the ponzu dipping sauce.