Opened in 2015 on the second floor of Mandarin Gallery, one of the best locations in Singapore, this Michelin-starred restaurant is a must-visit restaurant in Singapore. Chef Yamanaka is an early bloomer who was once appointed to the main dish at L'OSIER, a grand maison in Ginza, Tokyo, by Jacques Borie, the first head chef of the restaurant.
Later, he served as Executive Chef of the main dining room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Tokyo, where he was discovered by a client from Singapore and began entertaining guests from around the world in the heart of the city at Orchard Road. Based on solid French culinary techniques and style, he actively incorporates Japanese ingredients to offer seasonal French cuisine in a city without seasons. While there are few Japanese French chefs and others who use local Japanese ingredients to the fullest nowadays, introducing BENI in this way makes it sound as if it lacks individuality. However, this is not the case. Chef Yamanaka's sense of Japan and Asia is being redefined and reconstructed every day in accordance with his customers' needs.
For this particular shooting, we did not make any requests, but he chose three dishes that reinterpreted such Japanese accents.
The mushroom soup with vegan chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) underneath, and the abalone pie wraps are each delightfully Japanese, but the reinterpretation of yellowtail radish is perhaps one of the key dishes that set the stage for the chef's culinary journey to this point. The classic Japanese winter home-style/izakaya dish is beautifully incorporated into a French method that is both classic and new.
Yellowtail from Toyama's Himi Port in January is garnished with several varieties of daikon radish based on butterbur miso, creating a stunning French dish that is delicious in the summer temperatures of Singapore. Chef Yamanaka's local-inspired cuisine is finally becoming delicate yet sharp. This dish is sure to give you that conviction.