I once dated a guy who halfway through our relationship was grumbling about having taken me to the best restaurants in Sydney and the expense that I had incurred on his credit card.
"I should have started in the mid price range and then I could have worked my way up to the top. Now you’ll be expecting five-star three-hat restaurants all the time."
I looked at him like he was crazy. "What makes you think I would have dated you if you had started in the middle range?"
(It’s not strictly true. My first date with Mr NQN was bad take away pizza. But then I thought Mr NQN was much more fabulous than this guy.)
But in any case, I couldn’t help thinking about this ex of mine when I arrived in Singapore to be whisked away to dinner at Waku Ghin, Tetsuya Wakuda’s new restaurant in Singapore. With food completely unlike his Tetsuya’s restaurant in Sydney and only seating a mere 25 people at one time, it was something that I was more than curious about. And when Mr NQN took my place at the Waku Ghin dinner in Sydney there was much gnashing of the teeth and moaning as I was committed to another event. But no matter, I finally got to try it here! It’s no ordinary dinner, costing about $S400 ($A307) per head, but it has a clear emphasis on Japanese cuisine as opposed to the French Japanese cuisine at Tetsuya’s.
We walk into the Marina Bay Sands complex. There are shops from Miu Miu, Gucci, Chanel and the mother lode, a Manolo Blahnik shoe shop. We make our way up to the second floor where we look down and see floors and floors of the casino. I’m not one for gambling, but because they allow for smoking here some of the cigarette smoke does end up in Waku Ghin, so there was a bit of sniffling throughout the night from yours truly who is allergic to cigarette smoke.
There is an illuminated sign above the doors and white drapes on the outside giving it an almost 'closed' look. But then the doors swing open and a battalion of staff greet us. And given that the restaurant seats 25 there has got to be at least 25 staff in both the kitchen and on the floor.
The restaurant experience was said to be one where you move from one table to another, but in reality it is much less complicated than that. There are two seatings, one at 6pm and one at 9:30pm. The diner is led to a room where the savoury courses are brought out (about eight in total) and then you adjourn to another room for the dessert courses. I was envisaging much more getting up and down so I am relieved given my heels!
We are seated in front of a long grill plate and facing a wall with protruding wood blocks. Ghin means silver in Japanese and for this restaurant it is represented in the knives, the grill and even things like fish, which feature prominently on the menu. Shortly after we arrive we settle in with a glass of NV Pol Roger to soothe the nerves after travelling.
The first course is a seasonal Japanese fish called Sayori, or needlefish, with Nanohana and Japanese strawberry. Now I usually run screaming from savoury dishes with strawberry in them. I don’t mind some fruit but strawberries are not a favourite with savoury. This changed my mind completely.
