Sushi Kawasemi is a Japanese omakase with custom fish-ageing using Japan-imported ingredients

My dining partner and I headed to Sushi Kawasemi, a relatively new Japanese Omakase spot along Telok Ayer Street, which opened its doors on 1 May 2023. You could easily miss out on its location if you didn’t pay attention; with an understated wooden sliding door, a single lamp, and a minimalistic signage.

The 14-seater restaurant, helmed by chef Sam and his team, invokes a feeling of serenity from the moment you enter.

As you take a seat, you’ll be greeted by a pair of simple but pretty hand-drawn murals depicting Japanese kingfishers (also known as kawasemi) on the wall.

Sushi Kawasemi offers 3 different kinds of menu for lunch: Nigiri Sushi Course (S$98++), Akebono (S$148++) and Asahi (S$248++); each varying in quantity and quality.

Chef Sam is in constant contact with auction bidders from all over Japan to get the freshest seasonal seafood 4 times a week. The bulk of the menu consists of handmade creations that are produced from scratch.

We were served the Oboro (S$268++) dinner Omakase set. For the seasonal appetiser, a dish of snow crab dish topped with uni (sea urchin) and an assortment of Japanese veggies (edamame, asparagus, baby corn and pickled cherry tomato) were presented beautifully on a textured glass dish.

Fish-ageing is known to break down enzymes, which makes the fish more tender as well as develop palatable sweet and umami tastes. Chef Sam will either implement jukusei (wet-ageing) or ichiyaboshi (dry-ageing) depending on the fish type to bring out its full potential.

Next, we were served 3 types of sashimi: 10-day aged Mejina (largescale blackfish) from Kumamoto, 6-day aged golden bream from Fukuoka which was grilled lightly on charcoal, and 12-day aged Otoro (tuna belly) Binchotan aburi.

For the specialty soup course, we were served a huge 100g Hamaguri osuimono (orient clam) from Mie, served with water sprouts doused in a clean-tasting clear broth.

One of my top favourites that night at Sushi Kawasemi was the grilled 7-day wet-aged tachiuo shioyaki (silver belt fish) from Yokohama, served with burdock root and a  Japanese lime wedge. The fish was flakier than a piece of cod and it exuded an aromatic smokey fragrance; absolutely delicious!

We stepped into sushi heaven as we were presented with 10 types of nigiri sushi:

1. 12-day aged Akami Zuke (lean tuna) from Aomori, marinated with soya sauce
2. Shiro Ebi (white shrimp) from Toyoma, marinated with kelp for 4 days
3. 13-day aged Oomon Hata (spotted grouper) from Amakusa
4. 6-day aged Kamasa (Japanese barracuda) from Mie
5. 12-day aged Chutoro (medium fatty tuna) from Okinawa
6. 13-day aged Shima Aji (striped jack) from Kagoshima
7. 7-day aged Sawara (Spanish mackerel) from Fukuoka
8. 7-day aged Nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch) from Nagasaki
9. Bafun uni from Hokkaido
10. Shiro ika (spear squid) from Nagasaki

The tamago was like a cloud in my mouth; light and fluffy. The sweet Japanese classic is made from scratch using fish meat, sugar, egg and yamatoimo (Japanese yam).

We ended our lovely evening with a plate of Shizuoka musk melon and loquat, and homemade chestnut ice cream. Since my dining partner is lactose-intolerant, she was offered a yuzu sorbet instead.

Head on down to Sushi Kawasewi and embark on a journey with the friendly and funny Chef Sam to discover the multi-dimensional tastes of fish— I was mind-blown!

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