{"id":27146,"date":"2014-06-02T07:45:23","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T23:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/?p=27146"},"modified":"2016-11-20T06:37:58","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T22:37:58","slug":"waku-ghin-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/2014\/06\/02\/waku-ghin-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Waku Ghin, Marina Bay Sands"},"content":{"rendered":"

My BFF, Paul, who is a great home chef, wrote this review.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"waku
\nOne of Asia’s Best 50 Restaurants<\/strong>, Waku Ghin is the gastro-child of Tetsuya Wakuda<\/strong> who is famous for the eponymous Tetsuya<\/strong> in Sydney. Serving Modern Japanese cuisine<\/strong>, it\u2019s a restaurant recognized (and lauded) by many in the local food scene and it certainly has no lack of sterling accolades and reviews. In fact, it was on reading its stellar reviews and rating (85%!) on Hungrygowhere and various other food blogs that made me think, yeah let\u2019s do this for the BF\u2019s birthday. And so on 19 April, we went.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Waku Ghin didn\u2019t quite live up to its hype. Throughout the dinner, I couldn’t help but think, in the words of Mrs Bedi from Goodness Gracious Me<\/em>, \u2018I can make it at home for nothing!\u2019<\/p>\n

So they began by introducing the ingredients. At which point, I asked for the drinks list, flipped to the page with the most expensive stuff (a whopping SGD65,000!<\/strong>), gawked at it, exclaimed to the BF, \u2018AIYOH!\u2019 and then went on to order the more inexpensive alcohols.<\/p>\n

\"wakuThe first course was freshly shucked oysters<\/strong> served with ginger and rice vinegar. It was super succulent and tasty although slightly overpowering in tartness. The BF loved it. I thought it was nice. A little salt would\u2019ve made it even lovelier.<\/p>\n

\"wakuThe second course we had was the signature dish<\/strong> which was a decadent combination of marinated botan ebi, uni and oscietra caviar<\/strong>. If your palate is familiar with all of these ingredients, you\u2019ll know that this, obviously, tastes absolutely divine \u2013 rich, creamy and exploding with umami. However, my problem with such dishes is that it requires so little culinary skill. How can expensive and fresh ingredients thrown together like this not taste awesome? It\u2019s a copout.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"WakuNext, we had the John Dory with charcoal grilled eggplant<\/strong>. I quote the BF, \u2018This is the cze char<\/em> taste.\u2019 To which I said, \u2018You mean the char on the eggplant right? Like wok hei<\/em>?\u2019 No, no. Like ma you ji\u00a0<\/em>(sesame chicken). That is all.<\/p>\n

\"waku
\nAnd again, one of those low-level type cooking that placed its culinary faith on the freshness and expensiveness of the ingredients. Trofie pasta with Tasmanian abalone and cherry tomatoes.<\/strong> If you\u2019ve had gan bao<\/em>\u00a0that\u2019s been cooking intermittently for hours over many days, you\u2019d know that no other way of cooking abalone can have a better flavor and texture. So I suppose what was impressive about this was that it had abalone \u2013 something you won\u2019t have at Pasta Mania. And it tasted exactly like what it should \u2013 pasta and cherry tomatoes. The tartness of the tomatoes kinda overwhelmed the abalone so I couldn\u2019t really taste it. Also, the pasta was a little too al dente and the abalone tough-ish. (Raw abalone has the texture of hard cartilage.) Oh yes, we were also informed that the pasta was special \u2013 from Italy. Yeap.<\/p>\n

\"wakuLobster<\/strong>. Perfectly cooked \u2013 springy and sweet. Lovely tarragon-infused broth that was not too heavy. Nothing particularly special. The BF had grilled tilefish with maitake<\/strong>\u00a0(below) only because they misunderstood and thought he had an allergy to any kind of shellfish. He\u2019s allergic to raw shellfish. Anyway, simple, light flavours, very easy on the palate. And what\u2019s interesting about this (prolly the only interesting thing in this night\u2019s meal) is that they puffed up the skin and made it crisp, so when you eat the fish (with its skin) and the maitake, you get a really good mixture of textures -soft fish meat, crispy skin and a nice bite from the mushroom.<\/p>\n

\"Waku<\/p>\n

\"waku Tasmanian grass-fed beef with Tetsuya\u2019s wasabi mustard<\/strong>. Seared on the spot for you. Again, perfectly cooked medium rare. Really tender. Great combination with the wasabi mustard which wasn\u2019t overwhelming at all. But nothing particularly special.<\/p>\n

\"waku\u00a0Wagyu beef<\/strong>. Seared on the spot too. Rich, melty and just lovely to eat. With garlic chips, which were crispy and flavourful. But again, nothing particularly special. It\u2019s something I sometimes do on the weekends at home. And it\u2019s cheaper that way. By this time, I kinda was just waiting for dinner to be over.<\/p>\n

We had a gyukuro<\/strong> to cleanse our palate. The tea leaves were brewed at the right temperature (between 50-60C) which meant there was no bitterness \u2013 only a full, uplifting taste \u2013 like the liquid essence of sweet green vegetables.<\/p>\n

\"wakuAfter dinner, we were brought to the dining hall where desserts were served.\u00a0The chartreuse jelly with lychee sorbet topped with pomelo<\/strong> was light, sweet and refreshing. Nothing mind-blowing.\u00a0What was really nice was the house specialty \u2013 Ghin Cheese Cake<\/strong>. This little thing was pretty to look at and delicious to eat \u2013 soft and creamy and leaves you craving for more.\u00a0And we had the birthday cake<\/strong> which I suppose was pretty delicious too.<\/p>\n

The pleasant thing about this restaurant is that they pay attention to your needs. <\/strong>Doors were opened for us when we arrived; my seat was pushed in for me when they realized I had difficulty getting it in myself; we arrived late and yet they managed to pace us such that we were eventually having the same courses as the other guests without feeling like we were rushed (6 people share a communal dining counter); they find out about your allergies and prepare dishes outside of the night\u2019s degustation just for you.<\/p>\n

Overall, it was nice. Generally well-cooked, well-seasoned but for that amount of money I\u2019d rather fork it out on choosing the best and freshest ingredients from a seafood market and take them home and cook them myself. Or go to another fine-dining establishment.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this comes from a personal bias. In this day when everyone\u2019s sort of pseudo-chef with great pretensions to (home) cookery (I\u2019m one of those pretentious many who watches a lot of cooking shows and I cook), so when I go to a fine-dining restaurant, I expect to be bowled over not just by the ingredients. There must be some greater finesse and artistry in the plating. There must be some interesting way of cooking and manipulating the ingredients that makes me curious to try and see if I can replicate it at home without a commercial kitchen, that makes me want to learn more about the techniques involved.<\/p>\n

There are many raving reviews out there and unfortunately, or not, this isn\u2019t one of them. Perhaps this review isn\u2019t very fair and maybe I\u2019m cheap but nope, I\u2019m not gonna pay 400(+++) dollars<\/strong> again for stuff I can make at home for nothing.<\/p>\n

Waku Ghin by Tetsuya Wakuda<\/strong><\/h1>\n

10 Bayfront Avenue,\u00a0The Shoppes Atrium 2, Marina Bay Sands #02-02, Singapore.
\nT: +65 6688 8507 (reservations 2-4 months in advance)
\nT-Sun: 5.30pm & 8pm (2 seatings)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My BFF, Paul, who is a great home chef, wrote this review on Waku Ghin, one of Asia’s Best 50 Restaurants. He is not impressed.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":263488,"featured_media":27289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"NEW POST: A good home chef isn't won by one of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Waku Ghin, MBS. http:\/\/wp.me\/p1DEqF-73Q #sgfood 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