Waku Ghin

[Bu Pun Su]

In the past few years, I’ve been amazed by the development of culinary experiences in Singapore. The Merlion island is always behind Hong Kong pretty much in lots of different aspects. However, it may not be the case anymore, in particular talking about the non-Chinese gastronomy food. The big names such as Joel Robuchon, Guy Savoy, Kunio Tokuoka etc. decided to open their ‘serious’ restaurants here. Some of you may have known that the latest invasion of famous chefs also includes Tetsuya Wakuda – arguably the best chef in Australia. He opened a restaurant called Waku Ghin. Unlike Robuchon or Savoy, Tetsuya chose to open one that’s not a copy cat of his Sydney restaurant. I haven’t been to his Sydney’s establishment, hence cannot compare between the two

Food (and wine) – 94/100

There’s only one menu available (Japanese ‘omakase’ style) – 10 courses degustation menu. I would say the cuisine is inspired by Japanese and with some influence of French technique. The food is generally light and clean, but still delicious. For 1st visitor, they will usually serve a series of their signature dishes with a few seasonal items. Some of the memorable dishes I ate are (based on 2 separate visits),

- Botan ebi, uni and caviar: the restaurant’s signature dish is a must have one. The uni was velvety sweet that enhanced the shrimp’s sweetness and texture; the caviar’s brininess showed some contrast. This was a decadent and rich dish without any bad after taste. Excellent!

- Alaskan king crab: a simple dish, focusing on the crab’s tender texture and inherent taste. The crab was cooked under a copper pan, with some lemon scented olive oil. It’s hard to find any fault on this dish, a fine example of tasty and clean dish

- Ohmi wagyu beef: great Japanese food identical with fresh seafood and top quality beef. The beef was marbled, rich and delicious. A freshly grated wasabi and the ‘ponzu’ sauce give another dimension of an already wonderful stuff. Again, another simple but delicious dish

- Don’t expect elaborate dessert preparation like in many European 3-star restaurants. Both the cheesecake (light with some mild lemon curd) and chocolate mousse (rich with exceptional chocolate quality) demanded your full attention.

I will show some ‘contrast’ of my abalone and lobster dishes – the basic cooking are the same except the side dishes and sauces were not

- Abalones

Tasmanian Abalone served with Polenta, Tomato and Garlic cream - The 'greenlip' abalone was still alive. It had beautiful texture with right chewiness. The side dishes represented the summer spirit with fresh cherry tomato and cream's sourness.

VS

Australian Abalone served with Fregola and Tomato - Italian-influence dish. The charred 3-year old abalone was firm yet not rubbery, with subtle sweetness. The basil-laced fregola was delicate and worked well with tomato's acidity. Love the refreshing 'soup' - this dish was better than the abalone with polenta version

- Lobsters

Braised Canadian Lobster with Tarragon - The lobster was lightly cooked to produce right texture. The 'sauce', generating deep flavor, was not too rich but very tasty; the broth consisted of lobster bisque, olive oil, tarragon and butter. Great dish in generous portion

VS

Braised Canadian Lobster served with Couscous and Tagine spice - This dish has Moroccan's flavor. Lobster's claw was a bit too soft while its tail was perfectly cooked. The couscous was good, but the 'stock' (lobster's juice, long pepper and paprika cream) was somewhat very tense. It's hard to go wrong with lobster, but I prefer the one with Tarragon

I truly enjoy both of my meals here. The restaurant usually remembers you after the first visit – I suspected that’s why they re-assigned Chef Yagawa to cook for me again on my 2nd visit. It’s a bit unusual that in one Teppan room, there are 2 chefs. I suppose they want to make it more personal for me. I usually give grade to my meals, and this ones were 94/100 (solid 2 ½* by Michelin standard) – seriously, this score was about the equivalent of my meal at Alinea Chicago, Le Bristol Paris and La Pergola Rome

Service (and ambiance) – 93/100

The service is typical Asian – friendly, courteous but hardly personal. The service staffs are dominated by Filipinos (who are usually kind and helpful) and a few Japanese who used to work at Tetsuya’s Sydney. The décor is simplistic with some wooden panel and cold steel. The interesting part will be the dining concept itself. Diners may begin their aperitifs at “the caviar lounge”, then they will enjoy their appetizers and main courses at the Teppan room (there are 3 of them, and each seated about 6 guests). Lastly, to wind down and enjoying desserts, diners are seated at the high-ceiling main dining room that has a beautiful view of Singapore sky-line in the evening. I think it’s already time for Michelin to finally come to Singapore. There’re many good restaurants here, and this place may put serious challenge to HK’s dining scene (especially at 2-3 star levels). I’m confident Waku Ghin deserved at least a 2-star award (with a slight chance to push it to 3 as Michelin’s non-Europe edition tends to be lenient)

More detailed reviews: Waku Ghin '11

Pictures of the dishes: Waku Ghin dishes

Edited February 16, 2012 by Bu Pun Su (log)

[Bu Pun Su]

There is not that many gastronomy places in the world that I’ve visited more than twice. I can count with my fingers that a few of those restaurants are L’Arpege, Gagnaire Paris and L’Ambroisie. The new restaurant that just join my “exclusive list” is Waku Ghin (WG), currently Tetsuya Wakuda-san’s best establishment. This can happen also because Singapore is a lot more accessible for me than Paris. I will not talk much about the restaurant’s story or setting as you can find it at my previous post (http://zhangyuqisfoodjourneys.blogspot.com/2012/02/waku-ghin-singapore.html). Let’s jump into the main stuff: the food. The content is very similar especially the main ingredients for several dishes, but some of them prepared differently.

The signature items:

-Marinated Botan shrimp served with Sea urchin and Oscietra caviar - A lot has been said of the restaurant's most famous dish. Still as delicious as it gets even for the 3rd time. Botan ebi, uni, and caviar - no matter what combination I scooped, they're sensational!

The beef: finally I had the opportunity to taste and contrast Tasmanian vs Ohmi beef.

-The tender grass-fed beef from Australia was still pink on the inside and it's very good as expected. The beef was paired well with creamy and not-so-spicy mustard, a special recipe of Wakuda-san. It’s indeed enjoyable and possibly better than any steaks at Morton/Cut

-Ohmi beef is a "must have" dish at Waku Ghin. The cattle was raised in special environment and water; the beef was really marbling and its fat has viscosity. The result is a heavenly wagyu roll that melt in the mouth – make sure to add a bit of citrus soy and wasabi on the beef, umami experience!

The rests:

I could not recall where I had been deeply impressed by WG’s first 3-4 dishes (non-teppanyaki) except of course the botan ebi uni caviar. Not much different this time – they’re just alright. For this visit I began with mild flavor of marinated Sayori with nanohana and strawberry; the 3rd dish was pan-fried Sweet fish fillet with daikon and fennel – the only good stuff from it was the Ayu’s crispy skin

The teppanyaki is generally the best part of Waku Ghin’s meal – it’s part theatre, part cooking lesson. I missed the Alaskan crab last time, so I asked to have it again for this visit.

-The charcoal grill king crab was simple, slightly sweet and succulent. The 'lemon sauce' added flavor contrast balanced the dish. Steamed or grilled Alaskan crab? Both are well executed here

-Grilled abalone was slightly chewy and tender as it should be. It was served with French asparagus that has fine texture & delicate taste. Although tasty by themselves, the dish was improved by the decent Aonori (seaweed) sauce

-Braised lobster was served with white miso (from Kyoto). The miso broth also consisted of lobster juice, butter, ginger and spring onion. This ‘sauce’ was light and complemented the juicy lobster's inherent sweetness - excellent!

Note that: from 3 different visits, the restaurant managed to cook 3 different preparations of Abalone and Lobster – awesome!

When it come to pre-dessert: 2/3 you will likely get something relate to granite – usually sour and refreshing. The dessert is better and this time I got Chef Wakuda's interpretation of the classic dessert “Montblanc”; the sweet had chestnut and vanilla chantilly and the 'soup' is made of earl grey tea and vanilla. A pleasant and sweet dessert without being cloying

Forgot to mention that the meal also includes gyokuro as well as consomme of snapper with rice. My meal was accompanied by a glass of sake (about wine tasting portion) and Spanish dessert wine

Somehow during all my three visits I’ve been served by Japanese chefs. I learned that my ‘regular’ chef Kaz had left WG earlier this year to open his own venture in this island. My new chef (forgot to ask his name) used to work in Hilton Osaka – his cooking is also very good, but a bit lacking in English. The waiter for our room was an enthusiastic and friendly Filipino lady. Guests are more likely to interact with their chefs when they dine at WG. The thing I love most about Waku Ghin is that the high quality ingredients are front and center; they take good care and respect the ingredients. Most of the dishes look deceptively simple (remind me of Le Louis XV though not at that level yet), but they’re delicious with the execution that is almost flawless in particular the teppanyaki part. I have no doubt that food-wise, they’re very closed to Michelin 3-star standard (95 pts, equivalent to 2 ¾*) – the highest score I ever give thus far to any Singapore restaurants (tie with my Joel Robuchon Sentosa meal in Dec ‘11). The overall experience is still 94/100 (2 ½*)

Pictures of my meal: https://picasaweb.google.com/118237905546308956881/WakuGhinSingapore3rdVisit

[Bu Pun Su]

Waku Ghin was my favorite restaurant in Singapore in particular prior to 2014, so it’s natural that I’ve visited this place a few times. However, since the arrival of Kisho (my current top dining choice in the island), I’ve not returned to Waku Ghin for a full meal until Spring this year – I visited the bar near the end of ’15.

 

The restaurant is really spacious (more than 700 m2) and comfrotable, considering the “teppanyaki” + private dining rooms would accommodate at most 30 people or so only. Waku Ghin is not a kind of restaurant that will change that much. I observed some blogs reviewing this place in the past few years, unless you express your preference to try something new, the menu served (regardless of the season) would likely be the same dishes (more than ¾ of them). I usually prefer to try new dishes and the restaurant graciously tried to fulfil my request.

 

The other 2 teppan rooms were occupied by small groups. As the restaurant was also relatively quiet for the first seating, I was seated on the 3^rd room by myself throughout the whole meal meal. The only 3 things I already ate in the past at Waku Ghin that would be repeated again were: uni botan ebi caviar, ohmi wagyu beef and gyokuro (slightly bitter with umami flavor served warm) – they’re, excellent, as always.

 

A new dish I was truly impressed by:

-Potato puree, poached egg, caviar and truffles. I ate this dish “twice”: 1^st time as an a la carte order from the bar (with Alba truffle) and 2^nd time, it was part of my degustation menu (with Perigord truffle). The ‘mashed’ potato was smooth and buttery, enhanced by silky & runny egg yolk as well as briny caviar. Lastly, the truffles completed the dish. The white one was more luxurious and pungent while the black one was more versatile, earthy and pleasant in my palates. It’s my new “must-have dish” at Waku Ghin

 

Some other new good and interesting dishes I tried: If any of you dine here, abalone and lobster/prawn are something you can expect to have

-For the abalone dish, the kitchen thinly sliced the steamed abalone (slow cook for 10 hours) and served it as a salad. The abalone was nicely prepared, very tender and naturally sweet but the side dishes and its ‘sauce’ were rather average

-Instead of lobster, the chef (perfectly) cooked fresh NZ scampi – pure and refined. It’s prepared with Ceylon tea and the prawn head oil; flavorful

They’re generally satisfying but I had to admit that the more conventional dishes’ preparation of Tasmanian abalone and Canadian lobster I had in the past were better

-Gillardeau and Tsarkaya oysters with rice vinegar and ponzu dressing. Plump, fresh and delicious oysters – simple and very good; ordered at the bar

 

The main course reminded me of a kaiseki meal: a rice dish. At the bar, I ordered a bowl of marinated Tonbo (tuna belly) with vinegared sticky rice & seaweed whereas for the degustation menu, I had aburi beef tenderloin with fluffy rice & sansho pepper. I enjoyed these delicious stuffs especially the high quality of cooked Japanese rice + the tuna/beef served in generous portion. The desserts and sweets were alright, but nothing memorable (you’re welcome to see the pictures at the link below) – the ghin cheesecake and chocolate mousse I had in the past were more superior

 

The service staffs were professional and helpful. Since it’s not that busy, the maître d’ had more time to chat with me. It was a relaxed atmosphere to have the whole teppanyaki room all by myself. The only ‘downside’ was that my ‘chef’ who has been with the restaurant since the opening didn’t seem to be interested in talking with his customer. He did the minimal requirement: answer the necessary questions but did not seem to be that friendly and sincere. It’s not bad but sometimes you expected more when you paid a lot in such restaurant (Waku Ghin increased the tasting menu price this year by the way)

 

Overall, it’s a very solid meal though among the weakest compared to my previous visits. That being said, I was still surprised when Michelin Singapore only gave 1-star to this place. Tatsuya Wakuda, I bet, would not be too happy and this probably could act as a wakeup call for the team to strive for the better. Personally, Waku Ghin should get 2-star and they should be able to get it in the next 2-3 years. It may be a while before I return to this elite restaurant again; Singapore is spoiled with numerous choices nowadays

 

Pictures of our meal: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7124357@N03/sets/72157669049517824/with/28104724263/