“I’ve been looking for this place for over half an hour!” Blythe wails telling us that she had even asked the convenience store next door for directions here having overlooked China Beach. Located right on the esplanade on Manly beach in prime position with the beach across the road the room it still manages to elude those searching for it by foot or by car. The room is long and eyecatching in tones of red and white designed by Iain Halliday.

The menu here is similar to the menu at sister restaurant China Doll at Woolloomooloo wharf – some Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese. This should technically sound warning bells but we were assured by friends that this worked. The mains actually sound a little more enticing than the entrees which is a change so we order a couple of entrees and plenty of mains. They explain to us that the dishes are designed to share and that for entrees there are usually four pieces of each but they can be upsized to suit the number of people dining (at extra cost of course).

Betel leaf with house smoked trout, grilled eggplant and green chilli nam jim $4 each

We start with the betel leaf topped with a smokey house smoked trout which still retains a good amount of juiciness and isn’t smoked until it is dry. There’s some grilled eggplant which also adds to the silky voluptuous texture and a green chilli nam jim to give it a little punchiness as well as lots of fresh herbs.

Chinese 5 spice crispy prawns with toasted chilli and lemon $16 ($20 for 5 prawns)

The five spice prawns come with a little five spice powder and a lemon wedge which we squeeze onto the five prawns (upsized from four). They’re tempura battered and served hot and crunchy although if you are looking for a similar dish but larger the squid might be your choice.

Grilled lamb cutlets with green papaya salad, cherry tomato, sweet fish sauce $24

The grilled lamb cutlets end up being everyone’s favourite dish of the night. The grilled lamb is buttery soft and tenderly pink in the middle and the piquant green papaya salad redolent in fish sauce and Thai basil suddenly makes perfect sense to cut through the rich, buttery lamb.

Twice cooked free range duck with sweet tamarind, lychee, ginger and crispy eschallot $29

I had had a similar dish at China Doll and it reminds me somewhat of Kylie Kwong’s duck dish. It is a generously sized portion (indeed prices are very reasonable considering the proximity to the beach) and the sweet tamarind goes perfectly with the juicy duck pieces whilst the crisp eschallot give it a savoury aspect.

Roasted pork belly stir fried with mama’s curry paste, snake bean, lime leaf and basil $28

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I once dated a guy who halfway through our relationship was grumbling about having taken me to the best restaurants in Sydney and the expense that I had incurred on his credit card.

“I should have started in the mid price range and then I could have worked my way up to the top. Now you’ll be expecting 5 star 3 hat restaurants all the time.”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “What makes you think I would have dated you if you had started in the middle range?”*.

*it’s not strictly true. My first date with Mr NQN was bad take away pizza. But then I thought Mr NQN was much more fabulous than this guy.

But in any case, I couldn’t help thinking about this ex of mine when I arrived in Singapore to be whisked away to my hotel and to dinner at Waku Ghin, Tetsuya’s new restaurant in Singapore. With food completely unlike his Tetsuya’s restaurant in Sydney and only seating a  mere 25 people at one time, it was something that I was more than curious about. And when Mr NQN took my place at the Waku Ghin dinner in Sydney there was much gnashing of the teeth and moaning  as I was committed to another event. But no matter, I finally got to try it here! It’s no ordinary dinner costing about $400SGD per head but it has a clear emphasis on Japanese cuisine as opposed to the French Japanese cuisine at Tetsuya’s.

The swirls in the carpet echo the swirls in his custom made knives

We walk into the Marina Bay Sands complex. There are shops from Miu Miu, Gucci, Chanel and the motherlode, a Manolo Blahnik shoe shop. We make our way up to the second floor where we look down and see floors and floors of the casino. I’m not much one for gambling but because they allow for smoking here, some of the cigarette smoke does end up in all areas and that does include Waku Ghin so there was a bit of sniffling throughout the night from yours truly who is allergic to cigarette smoke.

The casino floor below

There is an illuminated sign above the doors and white drapes on the outside giving it an almost “closed” look. But then the doors swing open and a battalion of staff greet us. And given that the restaurant seats 25 there has got to be at least 25 staff in both the kitchen and on the floor.

The restaurant experience was said to be one where one moved from one table to another but in reality it is much less complicated than that. There are two seatings, one at 6pm and one at 9:30pm. The diner is lead to a room where the savoury courses are brought out (about eight savoury courses) and then you adjourn to another room for the dessert courses. I was envisaging much more getting up and down so I am relieved given my heels!

Sous chef Inoue with Wagyu (marbling score 9)

We are seated in front of a long grill plate and facing a wall with protruding wood blocks. Ghin means silver in Japanese and for this restaurant it is represented in the knives, the grill and even things like fish which features so predominantly on the menu. Even the logo of the two horizontal lines represents the grill. The courses start shortly arrive we settle in with a glass of N.V. Pol Roger to soothe the nerves after travelling.

Sayori with Nanohana and Japanese strawberry

The first course is a seasonal Japanese fish called Sayori or needlefish with Nanohana and Japanese strawberry. Now I usually run screaming from savoury dishes with strawberry in them. I don’t mind some fruit but strawberries are not a favourite with savoury. This  changed my mind completely. The diced strawberries imported from Japan (and yes they come from the South where the earthquake hadn’t affected things) are sweet but subtle and paired with a sashimi of sayori which is a firm white fleshed fish with the iridescent skin still on and it is served with nanohana which are mustard flowers which give it a savouriness that the sweet strawberries need. There are also the subtle flavours of chives and basil.

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