The Place There are no lack of Michelin starred dining concepts at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) with the latest being Teppan by Chef Yonemura, the first overseas outpost by Chef Yonemura. The few weeks old Japanese restaurant is a concept by Chef Yonemura, who is behind the One Michelin-starred Restaurant Yonemura Kyoto as well as another restaurant in Tokyo. The restaurant at RWS is a very intimate space, which comprises three dining rooms and able to accommodate 21 guests in total. I like the fact that all the seats are at the counter, as I enjoy watching the action behind the grill.

The Food There is only two set dinner menu at the moment with no lunch service. Choose from the 5-course (S$168++ per person) or 8-course (S$198++ per person) menu. Although the restaurant sounds like a pure teppanyaki concept, it is in fact a combination of Japanese kaiseki and teppanyaki as I found out along the way through the dishes. Chef Yonemura is widely recognised for his French-Japanese cuisine, so I was really excited to see how the meal would unfold.

I was first served Sencha tea from Fuji Marumo, an exclusive sencha tea farm and distributor near Mt Fuji in Japan which has close to a century of tea plantation history.

I tried the 8-course dinner menu, starting with some amuse bouche – Mussel Canapes and Konbu Seaweed flavoured Flounder and Persimmon Spring Roll. The former is steamed with white wine vinegar and olive oil, while the latter uses Vietnamese rice paper filed with persimmon with pesto sauce beneath. The ingredients seem quite contrasting but the overall flavours are not at all clashy.

Mushroom and beef are probably some of my favourites. For appetiser, the Mushroom Croquette with Beef Stew Sauce is quite an interesting creation. The A4 beef sirloin within the stew is very tender, while the texture of the mushroom croquette is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, where it is filled with creamy Brie cheese. The spinach purée at the base balances the rich flavour of the beef stew well.

Next was the Steamed Crab Meat with Rice. The best part of this is the generous serving of snow crab topped with thousand island sauce, sweet potato and cucumber. As for the glutinous rice, it is soaked overnight in dashi stock.

The third appetiser dish is the Live Prawn and Abalone stuffed Tomato. The Japanese tomato for both is topped with Fuji Apple, with live prawns from Japan and South African abalone. Both seafood are very fresh and they are quite refreshing along with the tomatoes.

One of my favourite courses of the dinner, the Clam and Lobster Bouillabaisse is a comfort dish. Dashi stock is used here as the base of the soup stock instead of the usual fish stock, along with kombu and fresh tomato. Topped with Brie cheese, this is a mix of lobster from Indonesia along with Japanese clams served with sauce prepared from garlic, mayonnaise and saffron sauce.The result is a rich and tasty Bouillabaisse.

The highlight of the dinner is undoubtedly the Japanese Wagyu Beef with Turnip and Zucchini. Check out that glorious marbling!

It was a theatrical showcase as the lights were dimmed, before huge burst of fire and heat light up the kitchen. I could literally feel the hot heat at my seat. The well-marbled Miyazaki Grade A4 tenderloin Wagyu Beef (approximately 80-90g) is very tender on its own, and my preference is to enjoy it without any additional condiments though some light salt would do just fine as well. This is also served along with ponzu sauce with grated radish and peanut butter garlic sauce.

The last savoury dish served was the Kyoto-style okonomiyaki inspired Garlic Rice and Pasta. The mix and combination of rice and pasta is unusual and is cooked with bits of homemade bacon with pork from Kagoshima.

For desserts, the classic French Crepe Suzette is flambéd in yet another theatrical fashion using the teppan grill. Grand Marnier is added very generously before the dessert is served along with housemade vanilla ice cream.

Another highlight of the 8-course menu is Chef’s desserts at the end of it where we were served an assortment of cakes like cheese cake and strawberry cotton soufflé. It was too much of a sweetness overload for me and I will be more than happy to swap this for another savoury dish.

Rants As with most celebrity restaurants at RWS, the price at Teppan by Chef Yonemura is not cheap with only two dining menus available at the moment.

Will I Return Again? The part I enjoyed most about Teppan by Chef Yonemura is the private dining experience due to the intimate setting, as well as the opportunity to interact with the chefs as the meal unfolds. Thinking of your next anniversary treat? This might well be that well-deserved Japanese treat without physically jetting off to Japan.

This was an invited tasting, though all opinions expressed are our own.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4.5/5
Hole in the pocket: 4.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Overall Experience: 4/5

Teppan by Chef Yonemura
Resorts World Sentosa
The Forum, Level 1
Singapore 098269
Tel: +65 6577 6688

Opening Hours
Tuesday to Saturday: 12noon to 230pm, 6pm to 10pm
Closed on Sunday & Monday except Public Holiday

Ranted By The Ranter