Sake and izakaya at Sakemaru

NEW RESTAURANT

Sakemaru Artisan Sake Hideout 55 South Bridge Road Singapore 058686 Tel: 6513 2789 Open Mon to Sat: 3pm to 11pm

WHEN it comes to restaurant names, Sakemaru Artisan Sake Hideout isn't one to agonise over some airy fairy moniker to symbolise the essence of its soul. If anything, its name reads like a summary of its business plan - a Japanese company selling artisanal sake in a cosy place you can hang out in.

What it says is what you get in this no-nonsense izakaya on South Bridge Road that believes the way to your wallet is to ply you with easy-eating casual Japanese cooking and an arsenal of small-production sake brands.

The fact that Sakemaru started out as an online sake subscription service means that this Hideout is a sake shop first and restaurant second. Not that the food is second rate. It isn't. Just that unlike some sake bars that force you to order full bottles while grudgingly offering carafes of the sake equivalent of plonk, Sakemaru gives you the option of a glass, carafe or the full yongobin. Depending on your limit, you could conceivably taste your way through its entire sake list, with each label's characteristics conveniently displayed in a sliding scale of dry to sweet or light to strong. The idea being that the more you try, the more full bottles you might buy later.

But if red dots on a drinks list do nothing for you, then switch your attention to head chef Daisuke Yomogi who, the more he struggles with his English, the more you can happily imagine you're in an izakaya in a second-tier Japanese city. The only problem with that is the other Singaporeans talking loudly beside you who keep dragging your fantasy to Niseko instead.

Chef Daisuke doesn't have the luxury of calming Zen-like decor or hinoki cutting boards on which he can lovingly slice sashimi into pristine morsels. He has bright blue wall tiles and shelves of mismatched crockery like a Takashimaya weekend sale, a battered charcoal grill and heavy duty stove where his one and only assistant grills, fries and makes claypot rice in a non-stop frenzy as the place fills up and the orders start backing up.

Chef Daisuke is capable of some kitchen acrobatics himself, the way he slices at top speed while keeping an eye on his assistant (in a nerve-wracking moment on our part), sears some beltfish with a glowing piece of charcoal and fries up tempura in a hidden compartment.

There's an extensive ala carte menu spanning sashimi to fried chicken and grilled tuna collar, but we opt to test his skills with the S$200 omakase. Some are variations of what he already serves, but he does try to put an upmarket spin on the 12 mini courses we get.

He kicks off with seasonal firefly squid and a curl of baby octopus under sweet white miso - a reminder of the chilled appetisers in a mid-range ryokan kaiseki when they try to be fancy. Next up is an open face handroll of very soft, seasoned warm rice topped with a thin layer of minced scallop and creamy bafun uni held together by a sheet of nori - a surprising treat of warm and cold, slippery and rich mouthfeel.

A piping hot bowl of clear dashi gets a shot of brininess from a plump Japanese oyster, hitting the spot with a top note of yuzu. Slices of young maguro get a dollop of caviar and gold leaf, and for a stroke of showmanship he sizzles slices of beltfish to pair with pieces of sticky-chewy sumi ika. He can't do much about the quality which is just so-so, but points for detail and effort.

While things start off at a steady clip, the pace slows to a standstill when he's got to feed other hungry people in the restaurant who fill every available seat even on a Monday night. For the rest of the almost three- hour meal we're fed intermittently - a lacklustre prawn tempura; a better fried sweet potato nugget dusted with grated parmesan cheese; very good grilled Miyazaki wagyu wrapped around a generous blob of hot, custardy uni that oozes from its chargrilled blanket. Nutty shaved truffle completes the star of the meal.

He continues with more tempura - bitter mountain vegetable followed by an unusual battered Spanish mackerel that's still raw in the middle, its crisp exterior decorated with crunchy chilli oil. And finally, our carb - sauteed scallop rice cooked in stock and ginger. Seems more Chinese than Japanese, especially without miso soup and pickles. It's nothing fancy, and neither is the solitary dessert of masacarpone cream and fresh strawberries.

It's hard to pull a dour face when the chef keeps apologising for the delay, but it doesn't detract from the fact that his kitchen is woefully understaffed. How he keeps his cool even when his assistant botches up our order can only be attributed to the fact that if he stabs the guy, there would be no one left to grill our beef.

Thanks to his genial disposition and a generally decent meal, we leave with no ill-feeling. This artisanal sake hideout may not have a lot of finesse but it has good intentions and enough variety to keep your interest. Just pick up the pace and it's got what it takes to be a regular hideout.

Rating: 6.5

WHAT OUR RATINGS MEAN

10: The ultimate dining experience 9-9.5: Sublime 8-8.5: Excellent 7-7.5: Good to very good 6-6.5: Promising 5-5.5: Average

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