The Les Amis group own
some of Singapore's most prestigious restaurants as well as the Michelin
starred Cépage in Hong Kong. Their flagship French restaurant Les Amis (see
here) with its S$5 million wine collection has won numerous awards
and accolades and is currently ranked at number 53 in the Restaurant Magazine’s
list of the World’s Best Restaurants.
Alongside the French
eateries, including Au Jardin and Bistro Du Vin, Les Amis also operates a
number of restaurants specializing in Asian cuisines. These include: Torisho Taka, Shabu Shabu Gen and the Vietnamese Annam but the jewel in
the crown is undoubtedly Aoki – overseen by and named in honour of executive chef
Kunio Aoki (a chef who has served Japanese Emperor Akihito.)
A small, simple sign in
Japanese ‘kanji’ and a plain Japanese noren (fabric door covering / divider) is
all that marks the entrance to Aoki.
Inside, the tone and
atmosphere of this fine dining Japanese restaurant is set through a harmoniously
layered mixture of warm natural hues and textures. Wood and bamboo dominate
with flashes of bronze - a striking washi paper ceiling ripples
majestically with the slightest breeze.
The most striking feature
is undoubtedly the hinoki wood counter. Hinoki wood or ‘Japanese cypress’ is
the same wood that is traditionally used to make the ‘Sushi Oke’ or ‘hangiri’ barrel-like bowls used in the preparation of
sushi rice.
Behind the counter, there are sleek floor to ceiling cedar
wood cabinets displaying an impressive collection of Damascus
steels with wooden saya covers. Pops of colour come from such things as, the
mandatory ‘Maneki Neko’ (beckoning
cat); a display of individual Kiriko (glass
sake cups) and from the elegant kimono-clad
servers.
There are a few intimate
tatami room booths but one of the fourteen spaces at the counter are most
prized. We were lucky enough to be sat directly in front of chef Kunio Aoki as
he silently, masterfully and diligently prepared the finest fish that they have
flown in from Tokyo's prestigious fish market four times a week.
Our meal started with ‘Otoshi’ (appetiser) featuring a dashi-based broth, topped with shredded Bonito
flakes and a fresh garden salad with impossibly thin slices of radish.
Next up was a Chawan Mushi - a chilled egg custard dish ‘steamed in a
tea bow’ containing mushrooms and prawns seasoned and flavoured with dashi,
mirin, soy and ginkgo seeds.
To complement our Sushi
platter we ordered a Yasai Tempura
(vegetable) and an Anago Tempura. The
vegetable served included mushroom, aubergine, carrot and shiso leaf.
The tempura better was
good enough but not the best I’ve had. The accompanying Tentsuyu sauce (three parts dashi and one part each of mirin and soy), grated daikon,
lemon and salted matcha (powdered green tea) however, were delicious.
We ordered some Anago Tempura – Anago, is a salt-water
eel also known as the ‘Whitespotted
conger’. Not to be confused with Unagi, which are fresh-water eels,
Anago meat is lighter and less oily than its more common unagi cousin.
The ‘Futamono’ (lidded dish) of Miso Soup
was a particularly good example of its type.
Throughout these initial
courses we had been observing itamae-san
Aoki wielding his sword-sharp knives slicing though the most amazing pieces of
fish meat and hand forming the ‘neta’ sized pieces into nigiri (the maki were
made by a more junior itamae.)
It was particularly
pleasing to see the fresh Japanese ‘wasabi’ horseradish root grated against the
traditional shark shin covered paddle.
The sushi selection served
with oshinko pickles featured all the favourites as well as a couple of rare
treats: Unagi (fresh-water eel), Tamagoyaki (rolled sweet egg), Maguro (bluefin tuna), Toro (fatty bluefin
tuna), Tai (snapper), Ebi (prawn), Ikura gunkan (salmon roe ‘battleship’) and Akagai (clam) with Kappamaki (cucumber).
Dessert featured a light
and refreshing trio of a Red Bean
Ice-cream; a block of crystal clear Umeshu Jelly made from the Japanese apricot liqueur beautifully set with
a dainty leaf and the most amazing homemade Warabimochi.
A world away from the
usual sweet Mochi (made from glutinous rice), the Warabimochi made from ‘warabiko’ (bracken of fiddlehead fern starch) and coated in ‘Kinako’ (sweet, finely ground roasted soybeans) had a wonderful sweet,
clean earthy flavour and a meltingly silken texture.
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