The Place Some of you might be familiar with Hashida Sushi when it was at Mandarin Gallery, where the previous space has since been rebranded to Sushi Ayumu. It came as a surprise to me when I heard that Hashida Sushi has reopened at Mohamed Sultan Road last October, taking up a two-storey shophouse space right beside Bistecca Tuscan Steakhouse. Upon entering the Japanese restaurant, the first thing which struck me is the sheer length of the shophouse. There is a sake bar right at the entrance, while there are three main dining areas within the restaurant, with two being private dining rooms. Level two of the shophouse is reserved for special events.

Chef-owner Kenjiro ‘Hatch’ Hashida has built a strong brand, with overseas outlets slated to open this year in San Francisco and Tokyo. You are lucky if you managed to catch him during your visit!

The Food Other than Master Chef Hatch, the Executive Chef Yuji Sato is from Hokkaido, where he served us during our visit.

Lunch menu starts from S$80, while dinner is solely Chef’s Omakase (S$300-S$500). You can set your Budget for dinner within the range, and leave it to chef’s hands with your personal preferences or food allergies, if any. In terms of ingredients, the fishes are flown in three to four times a week mainly from Tokyo, Hokkaido and Kyushu.

The first series of starters is a trio of Kyoto style turnip soup, tempura lotus roots and cabbages.

The next course is a dumpling looking tempura filled with yam. The tempura is topped with my favourite sea urchin sauce, fried seaweed along with some shaved bottarga. You get the light tempura batter here, but I would say the highlights for me are the luxe toppings.

As with every Omakase meal, the sashimi course is something I really look forward to. I had a trio of chutoro, hirame and mackerel. The fresh slices of sashimi are served along with sea cucumber, seaweed and fresh wasabi. The interesting bit for the wasabi is that it contains some traces of wasabi skin as well. The mackerel is marinated with soy sauce, which gives it a relatively heavier flavour. The chutoro remains my favourite type of sashimi here!

Moving on, the next dish is quite light. It is largely a mushroom dish, which is a combination of shiitake mushroom along with bamboo shoots, topped with mackerel and Japanese yam. There is quite a heavy use of yam as I had noticed thus far.

Before Chef Sato proceeded to make our sushi, we had a palate cleanser, a unique ginger infused sorbet-like dish. It is prepared by mixing garlic with hot water, before adding ginger juice, Japanese sour plum and apple to the concoction.

The first sushi I had is the Sea Bream. While sea bream itself has a relatively light flavour, I paid more attention to the flavour of the rice. The rice texture is soft and tasty, and I found out from Chef Sato that it is a mix of different types of rice prepared with vinegar – although he will not be giving away any more information on their secret recipe for their sushi rice.

The second sushi is Tuna, where we had a young tuna sushi which is quite tender and flavourful.

The next course is a break from sushi, but it turned it to be one of my favourite courses of the meal. It is a noodle dish, specifically Japanese yam noodles mixed with thin and deftly sliced white sheets of squid. The noodles is then topped with fresh sea urchin, before chef added some dashi broth to it. The broth makes the dish a comforting one, which is a good break for the palate after having a series of raw dishes. Needless to say, the yam noodles is delicious.

Next up is the Botan Ebi from Hokkaido, where the freshness of the prawn is evident.

Monk fish liver? I had it before at other Japanese restaurants, but nothing quite come close to the one I tried at Hashida. It is grilled over binchotan briefly, which gives it a very tender and fatty texture and flavour. This is also one of the signatures at Hashida.

Our next few sushi are the Aji, Japanese clam, Kinmedai and Kamasu.

Our next course is a seasonal ingredient, the exotic Shirako, always known as cod fish milt. Chef Sato grilled it over binchotan, which gives it a slightly charred texture. The resulting flavour is really creamy with slight hints of char, and this is one delicacy which I am growing to appreciate more along these years.

One of the last savoury dishes, the next course is a mini donburi consisting of Ikura and Sea Urchin. This two ingredients gives the rice a luscious texture and flavour, and I wouldn’t mind doing with more of the uni for sure.

The next sushi is one of my favourites, Otoro! Without a doubt, the texture is fatty and simply too tender to resist.

Our bonus course, we didn’t expect this, but we were served a final Anago sushi.

For desserts, it is a simple platter of fruits, ice cream and a Merlion looking wafer loaded with kaya spread.

Rants A meal at Hashida is no doubt by no means a cheap affair.

Will I Return Again? Hashida Sushi is one of those fine Japanese restaurants in Singapore to relive your Japan experience. The experience is authentic, while you can be guaranteed of a good meal here. This is a meal worth saving up for. And we are surprised Michelin has yet to come knocking yet.

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

Hashida Sushi
25 Mohamed Sultan Road
Singapore 238969
Tel: +65 8428 8787

Opening Hours
Wednesday to Sunday: 12pm to 3pm; 7pm to 10pm
Tuesday: 12:30pm to 3pm; 7pm to 10pm
Closed on Monday

Ranted by The Ranter