Food + Drink

Don’t miss a wagyu kaiseki with Guest Chef Hirohashi Nobuaki at The Ritz-Carlton KL

27.06.2018

By Gwen Ong

Don’t miss a wagyu kaiseki with Guest Chef Hirohashi Nobuaki at The Ritz-Carlton KL

A journey of the palate – Chef Hirohashi Nobuaki who helms Ushidoki, the fine wagyu kaiseki restaurant in Singapore, is down at The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur for an exclusive five-day residence only. With more than three decades of expertise under his belt, he’s bringing us on a beautiful passage to Japan through his haute cuisine of a wagyu kaiseki.

Chef Hirohashi, who began his culinary journey at the tender age of nine at his father’s sushi restaurant, has a deep love for Japanese cuisine. The Osaka native would spend countless hours experimenting recipes and crafting new dishes discovered from his father’s cookbook. After gaining experience at well-known kaiseki restaurants in Japan, he opened and operated his very own acclaimed restaurant Unshin in Osaka for seven years. His current gig at Ushidoki showcases his distinctive skills and techniques that we had the privilege to experience at a delicate four-course wagyu kaiseki dinner at The Ritz-Carlton KL.

The degustation menu started off with kanpai—a customary toast with a Kid junmai daiginjyo sake. It was a sweet aromatic prelude to the first dish served of roast wagyu beef and asparagus with miso vinaigrette and Yuzu herbs. The thinly sliced beef was tender and paired beautifully with the tartness of the vinaigrette sauce.

Next, we had the grilled wagyu beef served with soya sauce soil, edamame, sweet corn and mountain wasabi—our tastebud took delight in the marbled, sweet buttery flavour of the meat. We learned that the wagyu beef was sourced from the Miyazaki Prefecture, and it is named Ozaki beef after the breeder, Muneharu Ozaki. It is graded A5—the highest ranking for wagyu. Unlike most wagyu farm in Japan where the cattle are slaughtered at around 28 months, Ozaki prefers to slaughter his cattle later at 28 to 36 months old, as he believes the flavour continues to improve as they mature.

For the last dish, Chef Hirohashi presented us with a serving of braised wagyu beef drenched in sweet sukiyaki sauce, and topped with half-boiled egg, black truffles and mitsuba over steamed white rice. The wholesome flavours had a balance of richness and textures that left us satisfied. The three dishes had us tasting wagyu beef in different thickness and cooking style, so we had a better appreciation of the depth of its flavours. Our kaiseki experience ended with a luscious dessert of olive oil ice cream and shaved summer truffles.

The four-course kaiseki experience with Chef Hirohashi Nobuaki is only available until 30 June at The Ritz-Carlton KL. It is priced at RM350 nett per person, with an option of sake pairing at RM500 nett per person. For reservations and enquiries, please call 03-2142 8000 or email [email protected]

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