Sokyo at The Star.

I have a confession to make, of the food kind. Up until last year or so, i was under the false impression that “fusion” cuisine was nonsense and that in reality, was just a shortened term for food confusion. The idea of it came across as amateur chefs mixing elements from two (or more) cuisines together (not knowing how to cook either properly), passing their dishes off as “fusion” or as a “modern” style of cooking. But my first proper fusion experience at Sokyo a year or so ago, proved me wrong. Very wrong.

I’ve been back to Sokyo a few times since then, but the reason for my recent visit was because they were doing an “Absolutely Crab-ulous” Special Seasonal Crab menu for the month. I love seafood and i love crab, so i definitely didn’t want to miss out on this one.

The Sashimi platter arrives to impress with cuts of different types of fresh fish, four different sauces and a smoking cup of dry ice for the visual effect.

The next was our first dish from the special crab menu, a Chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) with burnt butter and spanner crab (15).

We ate this in complete silence, the silky savoury egg custard with generous chunks of crab meat was just too good for words. We were later informed by the waiter that there is only one dedicated chef in the kitchen who is allowed to make this and this is the only dish he makes all evening. This was definitely the best Chawanmushi i have had so far, all thanks to the one dedicated Chawanmushi man in the kitchen.

I dont usually like the idea of uni (sea urchin) and the Robata special came at an expensive price tag of $40 (for two bite sized pieces), a lot for something i usually wouldn’t like. But it was amazing. The King crab meat was topped with smokey creamy uni seasoned with shiro dashi and Japanese Pepper.

Our dinner continues with the rest of their usual menu with the John Dory as the first main to arrive. The interesting and slightly humorous part of this dish is that  the star of the dish is not the fish itself, but the vegetables underneath. The fish is good but for some reason, the sauteed vegetables underneath is so incredible it could be served up as a dish in itself.

The “Kobe Cuisine” Wagyu Tenderloin follows with tender melt-in-your-mouth pieces of wagyu beef.

Apart from the two mains we also ordered sides of tamago (because we couldn’t get enough of the egg,) and as recommended by the waiter we ordered grilled mushrooms, which were so simple but delicious.

Between two, we had a lot to eat and dessert was out of the question. Apart from being very full, usually we are not too much into sweets or desserts but having seen another tables order we caved in and decided to share the Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondant….

And there was absolutely no regrets.

The fondant flows out with peanut butter accompanied by a scoop of sesame icecream. My friend tells me over dinner that Sokyo recently gained a hat and i can definitely see why. I’ve left behind my confusion over “fusion”, and i’m definitely a very happy convert now. Food was good, dessert was delicious and service was excellent.

To follow this post, will be an experience of Black’s version of the Absolutely Crab-ulous menu.

E.