Kaiseki Yoshiyuki Kyoto Cuisine
To the uninitiated, Kaiseki is often confused with Omakase. The former is Japan's top fine dining cuisine which consists a prescribed set of courses dependent on the freshest seasonal produce; the latter is a style of dining that can be found at several types of Japanese restaurants and dishes served are up to the chef. In order to learn about Kaiseki, the best way is to eat it of course, and we recommend you do it at Kaiseiki Yoshiyuki, one of the very few restaurants in Singapore that specialize in this cuisine.
If you're looking for punchy and wow, Kaiseki cuisine is not. Well, it takes more than your palate to understand and appreciate the beauty and intricacy that goes into planning and cooking the meal. It is an art form. There are no high tech kitchen aids in Chef Yoshiyuki's kitchen, the food is prepped by knives (no peelers even), true to his kaiseki training at the respected Kyoryori Hosoi in Saitama prefecture.
For 2017, Chef Yoshiyuki will be serving seasonal menus tied to the Cultural Festivals of Japan. We sampled the Hina Matsuri (Girls' Day) menu, which is the first of the series of seasonal menus this year.
We started our meal with a Shirozake, the first variety of sake and the most important element of Hina Matsuri. It was followed by the Hassun「八寸」course, an appetizer that brings together the mountain and the sea. Broad bean with fried gluten puffs, Temari sushi (river shrimp), stuffed squid, and fried white bait, were exquisitely presented on this plate.
Dashi is the elemental pillar of most Japanese cuisine and every chef's dashi is unique. We enjoyed the sweetness in this special Hamguri (venus clam) dashi for the Suimono「吸物」course. The konbu and bonito combination provides the smoky and umami flavor. Clam is used here as it symbolizes happy and peaceful marriages. Did you know that only an original pair of clam shells can fit perfectly with each other? #TIL
Sashimi was next in the Tsukuri「造り」course.
Go easy on the foam as it can mask the taste of that buttery tuna. Another way to eat this is to wrap the fish up with the wasabi leaf. Don't worry, it tastes nothing like wasabi. My advice is to sample the toro on its own though.
Onto the Yakimono「焼物」course, we had the grilled Sawara Bunka Yaki. Spanish mackerel is grilled and comes topped with Bunka Yaki, an egg yolk and oil emulsion. Think of it as Japanese mayonnaise sans vinegar. The fish was lovely but I thought the bunka yaki didn't contribute much flavor (only oil) to the fish.
We enjoyed more of the dashi in the Shiizakana「強肴」course, where buttery slices of A5 Omi Wagyu from Kagoshima was given a quick bath in the nabe. Give me a giant pot please!!
We could not resist the Salted Vanila ice cream and red bean wafer sandwich when we heard it's on the menu. Well we made the right decision to stuff ourselves because it was damn freaking amazing. Best wafer ice cream I've had really.
Kaiseki Yoshiyuki is also offering donburi lunch sets priced at $25 to $35 at its neighboring sister bar, the Horse's Mouth! Each set includes an appetizer, a don, miso soup and pickles, an a dessert. Donburi selections include Sakura Ebi don, Tendon, Gyudon, and Maguro Zuke Don.
Japanese fine dining at its finest. Make sure you make a reservation at Kaiseiki Yoshiyuki.
Kaiseki Yoshiyuki
#B1-39, Forum The Shopping Mall
583 Orchard Road Signapore 238884
Tel: +65 8188 0900
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