Tongue to tail – Ushidoki marks 10 years of beef kaiseki

SINGAPORE –A decade is practically a lifetime in Singapore’s competitive dining scene. One restaurant that has reached that milestone is Ushidoki, the beef kaiseki restaurant in Tras Street.

It is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a new look, having been shut for six weeks for renovations. The place now looks brighter, with light-coloured wood and better lighting. New wine chillers showcase a wider selection of wine and sake.

Ozaki beef is still the highlight of the menu. It comes from Miyazaki prefecture. What is different is the branding. It is the only wagyu named after its producer, Mr Muneharu Ozaki.

Beyond the marbling that Japanese beef is known for, Ozaki beef also has flavour. One reason it does is that the cattle are slaughtered at 32 to 34 months, rather than the usual 28 months.

Chef Nobuaki Hirohashi, 52, who has been with the restaurant since the beginning, showcases the cattle from tongue to tail. He knows to let the quality and flavour of the beef shine, and uses seasonal ingredients to complement, not overshadow, the star ingredient.

For lunch, there is a six-course option priced at $180 a person and a seven-course meal for $250 a person. At dinner, a nine-course meal is priced at $350 a person and, if money is no object, $480 a person gets the diner the works.

All the meal options include the Ushidoki Signature Ozaki Beef Sukiyaki served with a soft-boiled egg. Just so I can properly enjoy the beef, I eat some of it on its own before dipping the rest in the rich egg yolk.

Other standouts at my meal include the thick-cut and very springy grilled beef tongue served with aromatic sesame oil and white leek dip. Beef tartare, not too finely chopped, is set on a bed of finely shredded deep-fried potatoes. The contrast between velvety beef and crisp potato is just delightful.

Slices of Ozaki tenderloin are cooked shabu-shabu style and served with a sauce thickened with cabu or turnip. Served alongside, a fleshy, beautifully earthy piece of maitake; and early season nanohana or flowering rapeseed shoots, a spring vegetable.

This course, so simple, shows that restraint in the kitchen pays off big time. I taste the essence of each ingredient, but they all come together harmoniously.

A new addition to the menu is the option of chilled somen for diners who prefer something lighter than the usual garlic fried rice. In danger of drifting into a food coma, I opt for the somen.

There is dessert to come – Hokkaido milk ice cream with an orange hue from the Japanese egg yolks, with 25-year-old balsamic vinegar drizzled over it.

But I would have been happy to end on the somen, so perfectly silky and served in a cold broth pepped up with yuzu juice and cubes of oxtail jelly.

Ozaki beef is still the highlight at Ushidoki.

Where: Ushidoki, 57 Tras Street
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
Open: Noon to 2.30pm (Tuesdays to Fridays), 6 to 10.30pm (Mondays to Saturdays), closed on Sundays
Info:

ushidoki.com