Wagokoro Hide Yamamoto Review: The Best Of Kyoto In Singapore

You sit on a tiny chair as the chef watches your every move and judges every micro expression on your face as you take a bite into his precious work of art. I felt like I was guided through the experience instead of being intimidated every step of the way. While it is a Hide Yamamoto concept, the chef overseeing the restaurant is a native of Kyoto and so are most of the elements used during our meal.

After oogling at the various dear looking and totally amazing knives, we dived into the Ayame dinner menu ($158) experience. Pumpkin Mousse topped with Okura Walnut This light and mildly sweet mousse served as a good appetizer, preparing your tastebuds for a journey of the senses. The okra and walnut offered a variance of texture that was welcome and added an earthiness to the dish.

Kaiseki meals tend to start off slow and build flavour over the course of the meal, which would explain the softer flavours here. Offering clean and fresh flavours straight from the sea, these were a delight to eat especially the Toro which was packed with fatty taste.

Kamo Egg Plant with Sea Urchin (Kamo is the name of a place in Kyoto) One of my favourite dishes in the meal, the eggplant is gently stewed in a dashi broth that’s thickened before serving. The result is a tender and soft eggplant flavoured with a savoury stock that coated the chunks gloriously. Black Cod Marinated Miso with Truffle Edamame If you’re read our guide to the most overrated food trends of the year , you’ll know how we feel about truffle oil.

It’s a great savour combination of sweet and earthy that pays off addictively. The sweet aromatic flavour of the miso was a great match to the delicate and fatty black cod.

It’s extremely difficult to prepare and even requires a special knife to agreement with the thousands of bones present in each fish. The tempura style preparation of the dish was also served with tempura pepper and a special salt mixed with togarashi.

I wasn’t a big fan of the lightness of this dish especially at this point of the experience, but if your tastebuds aren’t as abused as mine have been over the years, you might find this acceptable. Duck Consommé Oden with Radish, Fish Cake And Tamago A blend of east and west, the richness of the duck consomme is paired with radish and the fishcake here.

I thought it was great with the lightness of radish and buffed up its taste profile, but I wasn’t so sure it did anything substantial with the fish cake. For all you egg people, the tamago is exactly what you’d expect it to be soft on the outside with a savoury gooey yolk. That would usually be fine, but as far as a $158 meal goes, I’d expect something special about every component, and that something special was just lacking here.

While the dishes are completely serviceable and even good, they are a little too basic and lack the “wow” factor for a meal at that quotation.