Turning Japanese

Kazu Sumi-yaki
5 Koek Road
#04-05 Cuppage Plaza
Tel: +65 6734 2492

I will be the first to admit that I have a weak knowledge of Japanese cuisine, which is perhaps a gap in my culinary and gastronomic understanding. One always reads about top chefs going ga-ga over Japanese food and I have never fully comprehended why. I suppose Japanese cuisine must be taken in context – that is, you have to eat it in the right surroundings and go through all the right rituals (preferably in the company of a beautiful Japanese woman, of course). It doesn’t help that I have never had a transcendental Japanese culinary experience, or that even though I feel full at the time of eating it, I am invariably hungry again after two hours.

I met Winnie for dinner the other night and we (or rather I) decided to try out Kazu in Cuppage Plaza. One of the benefits of being such a snobby pain-in-the-ass about food is that people – at least the ones who love me – always let me choose the restaurant. However, it must be said that the weight of expectation can also be a curse sometimes. In any case, Winnie had also heard good things about this establishment, and she was quick to agree to the choice.

Cuppage Plaza is a rarity along Orchard Road: it is a relatively old shopping mall that is a far cry from the brisk, crowded havens of mass consumption that flank it. The upper floors are dominated by Japanese karaoke pubs, massage parlours, dance studios and Japanese restaurants – things you don’t often see in the cut-throat world of retail that is Singapore’s premier shopping district. For some reason the Japanese expatriate community has made Cuppage Plaza its own, and there are many businesses catered to the Japanese population in Singapore. It is never crowded, and walking from the always bustling Centrepoint into Cuppage Plaza always feels sort of like stepping into an oasis of calm. There are no words to describe why this is the case.

Kazu Sumiyaki, then, is a tiny restaurant on the fourth floor of Cuppage Plaza that serves sumiyaki – Japanese barbeque – basically skewers of meat and offal grilled over an intense charcoal flame. Despite its popularity among both Japanese expatriates and Singaporean locals it has never expanded, and so reservations on a weekend are a necessity. The place itself is small, and seems to have been built for the Japanese. By that I mean to say that the chairs and tables are not only small but also arranged in very close proximity to one another. For people like me who like to shift 45 degrees in my chair and sprawl out at the end of the meal, it is an absolute nightmare.

Compared with the American way of eating, which emphasises the protein in a single large portion, Japanese dining is markedly different. Starch is the staple – be it rice or noodles or something or other – and it is then supplemented by small portions of many different foods from all food groups. I read a study once saying that the Japanese consume 30 different foods on average in a single day. This, then, might be one of the keys to what is possibly the healthiest cuisine on earth – variety in minimalist portions. (That, and the low fat, high salt content and predominance of seafood.)

Winnie and I ordered some rice, and then set about picking as many different skewers of unidentified things as possible. The menu is very extensive at Kazu, and is dominated by meats – chicken, beef, pork. I had been exhorted to try the Kurobuta pork belly, and that was the first thing I asked for. Unfortunately Winnie is allergic to shellfish, and doesn’t eat liver, gizzards or hearts, so those were off the table (pardon the pun), out of respect to her. She did, however, make an exception and agreed to try the foie gras.

As the skewers started arriving fast and furious, it became a near impossibility to try and remember which was which, and we concentrated on getting as much into our mouths as quickly as possible. The foie gras was a major disappointment, nowhere as fatty as French foie, and only a fraction of its deliciousness. The Kurobuta pork belly on the other hand was nice and fatty, but needed a little more salt. Enoki mushrooms wrapped in beef were delicious, as was crispy chicken skin. The quails’ eggs were also done wonderfully, as was a dish of halved eggplant roasted, topped with ground pork and drizzled with a black bean tare sauce. Oysters wrapped in bacon were sheer decadence, and the beef tongue that I had all to myself was stellar as well. One of the surprises of the night was a recommendation by our waitress – mochi wrapped in bacon. Mochi is a Japanese glutinous rice cake typically eaten for dessert, but here it was light and impossibly fluffy, its sweetness underlined by the saltiness of the bacon. It only served to prove what I had known all along – that you can add bacon to anything and have it be delicious.

Kazu made me think about why I don’t eat Japanese food that often (although I remembered why when the bill came). But all glibness aside, the sheer variety of the foods we sampled was a delight in and of itself. It was like appetiser heaven. The waitstaff were friendly and the food came quickly and it did not stop. I could have sat there all night but it soon came time to go and I sighed as I dragged myself up off the chair. That, I suppose, is vindication enough of a good restaurant.