10 Bayfront Ave, L2-03 The Shoppes, Singapore 018956
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What travelers say:
Western Style Japanese Cuisine
On the first night after arriving in Singapore, I enjoyed the Japanese restaurant Waku Ghin, which ranks first in the list of mainland food in Singapore. It is said that this is also Beckham's favorite restaurant in Singapore.
When the chef came out to greet everyone, I saw a "TW" embroidered on his chest. I thought he was a veteran from the Taiwan military village. Later I learned that TW was the abbreviation of his name Tetsuya Wakuda. A friend in charge of catering promotion at the Sands Hotel in Singapore introduced that this legendary Michelin chef has lived in Australia for a long time. Therefore, unlike many classical Japanese cuisine masters, Tw's dishes are more personal. To describe it in the official language, it is to use the taste system of Japanese cooking to control high-quality ingredients from all over the world.
Isn't this the basic killer move of the new chefs of various cuisines that I have seen in the mainland? Putting aside the techniques and ingredients, and then integrating them more widely, and exploring the possibility of innovation, it seems that people have the same heart and the same mind!
However, in fact, the Japanese started exploring this aspect earlier than us, and their attitude is more resolute. After the Meiji Restoration, Japanese society set off a wave of total Westernization. In addition to learning Western scientific education and social systems, Western lifestyles were also considered more civilized and advanced. Therefore, Li Shutong could learn drama in Japan, and the Japanese could brew the best whiskey in Asia. In such a big atmosphere, "Western-style Japanese cuisine" that was highly integrated with Western cuisine was also born.
Focusing on food, tw's approach is indeed not the traditional Japanese style. The half-cooked wagyu is served with wasabi and Japanese-style yaki sauce. The shape and cooking ideas of the dish are both like Japanese thin grilling, Western salad, and a little like Chinese "lo hei". What is still adhered to is the forbearance and restraint of Japanese aesthetics. Chinese chefs are obsessed with flowers, while Japanese chefs are fascinated by dry landscapes.
Unlike the big-ticket dishes of Chinese and Western chefs, Japanese chefs seem to be more keen on piling up details. I thought the cup of food at the beginning was a common stomach-warming soup in today's exquisite Chinese cuisine, but it turned out to be the traditional Japanese chawanmushi. However, the heat of TW has definitely been upgraded and iterated, because the real protagonist of this chawanmushi is the smoked caviar inside. It is necessary to have the warm form of chawanmushi, but also to avoid high temperature from destroying the freshness of caviar. This is probably the precise key that the chef strives to grasp.
There is no commonplace sashimi platter. Fresh sea urchin, fresh shrimp and caviar are mixed to make a "mini bonsai" sashimi "lohei". We have to admit that many of us Japanese food fans are chasing after the hormonal temptation of raw meat, rather than another culinary expression of a thinking system.
TW has a foie gras-roasted hairtail worth learning from Chinese chefs. The hairtail is deboned and the meat is controlled to be soft, slippery and rotten. When mixed with the oily and residue-free foie gras, it does have a full and complex oil aroma. In fact, judging from the cooking method, ingredient selection and flavor combination alone, it is difficult to define which cuisine or country this dish belongs to. Perhaps culture should not have boundaries!