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SINGAPORE: Turning out excellent sushi requires deft knife work, precise rolling technique and a good inner gauge to discern the perfect size for each roll.
These are skills that Chef Gunawan Wibisono has mastered with finesse - under the tutelage of Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, no less. Together with his wife Dyana Sulistyawati, Wibisono is the owner of the recently opened Zento at Dempsey Hill.
This is the Indonesian couple's sophomore restaurant. Their successful maiden Zento restaurant is located in Philadelphia, in the US, where Sulistyawati grew up and Wibisono lived for seven years.
Inspired by his time with Morimoto, Wibisono's food is a nod to his mentor's. There are pan-Asian accents all over his menu, from a Dijon-miso-marinated rack of lamb, to a toasted corn tortilla draped with slices of tuna sashimi.
Still, where Wibisono really shines is in his rolls. Each one is skilfully turned out, with excellent quality fish served at the perfect temperature.
The green river sushi roll (S$30) harboured a flawless balance of flavours and textures. It had soft and unctuous toro (tuna), eel and avocado, encased in rice cooked to just the right bite and flavoured with a piquant plum paste.
A soy paper handroll, filled with spicy scallops and avocados (S$12), was also surprisingly stunning. With their delicate flavours, the rice and soy paper allowed the rich essence of the scallops to take centre stage.
Like good supporting actors, they offered just the right texture and body to elevate this simple roll.
Fearing we would fill up on rice, my dining partner and I ordered a mango sashimi maki (S$25 per roll), which was rice-less save for the springy rice paper it was encased in.
It featured three types of sashimi and avocado. Unfortunately, while there was a nice bite to this roll and fresh, clean flavours, there wasn't the same nuanced balance of tastes that made our first two rolls shine.
So, too, the carpaccio of scallops topped with ginger, garlic and yuzu (Japanese citrus) sauce and then "simmered" in grapeseed oil ($25). While it boasted a silky texture, it lacked the vibrant interplay of flavours that we had hoped for.
A family member who had eaten at Zento had advised us to "skip the mains and just go for the rolls".
Based on our entrée of rack of lamb (S$45), I am - unfortunately - inclined to agree.
While the meat (and the almond raisin rice served with it) was deftly cooked, the mix of flavours didn't really do it for us. We could barely taste the Dijon-miso marinade and there was no depth to the mango salsa.
Now, I don't particularly like the flavour of coffee. But in the name of objectivity, I agreed to give the highly recommended coffee parfait (S$12) a whirl.
The light and airy square of ice cream flecked with delicate flakes of milk chocolate made for the perfect sweet ending. And I gush because I couldn't discern a hint of coffee in the parfait.
The menu also promised that it would come with a ginger vanilla sauce. Not a fan of ginger either (I am fussy, I admit), I only tasted soft, merciful hints of it in the last few spoonfuls.
And that kind of sums up our Zento experience: Sometimes delicious, sometimes delicate, but often just a little too subtle.
While there's no faulting Chef Wibisono's technical aptitude, a heavier hand with flavours would have elevated the food from good to great - especially given the premium prices that the restaurant demands.
- TODAY/yb
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