Omakase is a Japanese phrase that means “I’ll leave it up to you”. In Japanese Omakase cuisine, you basically order a set course meal with no prior information on what you will be served. In every Omakase meal, the chef will determine the menu for the day or night based on the fresh ingredients for the day. Teppei is a full Omakase restaurant and is owned by the very fun and jovial Chef Yamashita who always tries to engage his customers in the most delightful way.
The entire restaurant is bar counter style where each seat will get a full view of the open concept kitchen and what every chef is doing while preparing your meal. The restaurant sits approximately 20 pax per time slot and for dinner there is 2 time slots which is the 6.30 pm and the 8.30 pm.
The first course is like a tester plate where you have 6 different bite sized dish to savour. The top left is a pickled root vegetable, the middle fresh seasonal greens and right is carrots and the stems marinated with miso. The bottom 6 from the left is the crispy skin of pork with edamame followed by pork belly with cucumber and onion in a light mayo sauce and cream tofu in light orange sauce. All the dishes are very simple but yet very refreshing to the palate and provided great explosion of flavours.
The next course was fresh sashimi and there were 4 different kinds of fish served on top of a grilled eggplant. There was Salmon belly, tuna, snapper and flounder. There is absolutely no doubt on the freshness of the fish but my only complain is that the slices were too thin and too little.
Next we were served chawanmushi and it was a bomb of umami flavours. The next dish which I absolutely loved was the negitoro handroll which was minced tuna topped with tempura fried batter for a good crunch texture.
The next few courses came fast and furious in tiny spoons and servings so I lost touch on their taste to properly review them and did not manage to take pictures of some of the dishes. I will just give a description of the dishes for the next few pictures. The next was a generous amount of uni topped on a slice of grilled tuna with a dash of fresh grated wasabi.
This was the fried lotus root on top of grated radish
Grilled beef
Crunchy sweet corn imported from Japan
Chicken in light consommé
Grilled chicken with teriyaki sauce.
As part of the 2nd last course, you get to choose a main dish from a selection. I chose the chirashi don which came with a generous serving of uni and ikura on top of scallops, seared tuna and fresh fatty tuna. The dish was one of the best of the courses although by now, everyone is pretty full in our bellies.
The last course is dessert which is ice cream and you can choose between Yuzu, green tea and sesame flavours. The ice cream is fantastic and very smooth and creamy. If you are taking the 2nd seating, the chef might just let you have 2nd or 3rd helpings of the ice cream if the tub is nearing the end.
What is my overall thoughts on Teppei? At this price range of $80 per pax, this is not an everyday meal. At the end of the day, I feel that you are paying for an experience and not so much of the food itself. It is not that the food is not good, the food itself is of very good quality and flavours. What makes Teppei unique is the experience you get from interacting with the Chef and his team. Can I get the same food from elsewhere? Yes but the same enjoyable experience from Chef Yamashita and his team probably not. Like they say, food is about all 5 senses and at Teppei, it is about what you see, hear, smell, taste and feel.
Teppei strictly do not entertain walk-ins and bookings are open on the first weekend of the prior month in advance. You can book your seats with Teppei here . Do check their Facebook as well for any last-minute seat release.
Address: 1 Tras Link, 01-18 Orchid Hotel, 078867
Operating hours: 11.45 am to 2.30 pm and 6.30 to 10.30 pm
Photo Credits for featured image on top of the post : https://sethlui.com/teppei-japanese-restaurant-omakase-singapore/
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