Been seeing many photos of Sakura flowers or pictures of friends in Japan on your feed? Spring beckons and those beautiful flowers are good reasons to make a trip to Japan. For those spending March and April in Singapore, fret not as Wagatomo is heralding the arrival of spring with a refreshed omakase menu.
True to his principle of serving on the best in-season ingredients, this Spring Omakase Menu features ingredients of this season. You can expect lighter flavours and fresher profiles.
Two tartlets are served to start the meal. The first sees spicy tuna sashimi spiced with togarashi aioli and speckled with sesame seed with thinly sliced negi nestled within thin tartlet cups. The second (my preferred tart) is a Japanese interpretation of the French Petit Pois – green peas that are first sautéed with amaze then served on a bed of green pea puree and finished with Japanese perilla leaf.
The next dish is sure to whet your appetite with its tangy flavours. Tomato 3 ways is a sharing dish – sweet, sour and umami notes come together with these heirloom tomatoes. A mix of yellow and red tomatoes are marinated in amazu, then served with tomato jelly (made from tomato water) and finally tomato consommé steeped with houjicha is poured into the dish right before you dig in.
Lightly torched maguro slices are served in a sauce of vinegar, soy and sugar. Shredded pickled ginger flower, negi and garlic chips are also added for contrasting textures and garnishing.
The first hot dish is a hit! Crispy spring vegetables (asparagus, bamboo shoots, burdock, onions and carrots) are brought up a notch in this classic vegetable tempura mixed with diced prawns. Dip them in the tentsuyu sauce that has been made from dashi, mirin and soy. Yum.
The fifth course was my unexpected favourite. Japanese saba mackerel from Fukuoka is seasoned with coarse grain salt and grilled over binchotan charcoal to crisp the thin skin. The sweetness of the fish is also further complemented with the daikon oroshi (yuzu zest mixed with grated daikon). Nothing fancy in the preparation of this dish, just pure fresh ingredients that are well-executed.
The main dish is Wagatomo’s signature. Showcasing Wagatomo’s signature beef – Kamichiku 4% Miracle Gyu. Grilled to the perfect doneness and served with negi sautéed in brown butter and umeboshi glaze. Hazelnuts are also added to the dish for additional nutty and buttery flavours.
For a sweet finish, Chef Tomoyuki experiments with five different ways to serve apple. What you get is apple pie chutney encased within a baked apple, topped with green apple sorbet and apple gel dollops. The final addition of dehydrated candied apple gives it a crunch and some sweetness.
This omakase menu is one of the more affordable ones and is available for dinner too. At Wagatomo, you can witness a buzzing open kitchen and savour many modern Japanese creations.
Budget per person: $96 per person (minimum 2 to dine)
