Hachikyo Group, led by CEO Noguchi Kei, has brought its Mare Hachikyo brand to Singapore.
Taking over the space in Palais Renaissance once occupied by one-Michelin-starred Sushi Kimura, the first overseas outpost of Mare Hachikyo seats just 12 at the main counter, with an additional 12 seats across two private rooms.
The restaurant has lunch sets and an a la carte dinner menu; these are refreshed every six weeks alongside its omakase offerings, where ingredients are about 90% sourced from Hokkaido and picked to ensure the best of each season makes it to the table.
Lunch sets are available in three-course ($68++), four-course ($88++) and five-course ($108++) options; the omakase dinner comes with nine courses and is priced at $228++ per person.
We begin with a temaki of hairy crab, uni and ikura atop a bed of rice and binchotan-toasted seaweed. This is a signature dish that is also served at the original Mare Hachikyo — and with good reason, too. It’s an umami bomb that kicks off the meal with a bang.
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Another classic from the restaurant in Sapporo, Hokkaido, is the kinki aonori soup, which is served, quite uniquely, in a tied-up bag. We’re asked to unfurl the twist tie, open the bag and take a deep inhale, to really get the smoky notes of the dashi and grilled fish. There’s little real benefit to the presentation in terms of taste or smell, but it’s fun enough.
Chunks of amaebi (sweet shrimp) and abalone are gratinated in the latter’s shell, with a bechamel made with Hokkaido milk and shiro miso. The dish is topped with cheddar cheese that’s actually made in Hokkaido — who would’ve thunk?
Other dishes include a trio of sashimi — bluefin tuna, red sea bream and scallop — each served with their own accoutrements, a grilled wagyu with intensely sweet-pungent onion sauce, and a lily bulb salad featuring Hokkaido-made mascarpone cheese and sweet plum sauce.
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Our favourite comes in the form of a simple kakiage fritter, filled with bits of scallop, carrot, burdock root, oba leaf, onion, shiitake mushroom and daikon. It’s crisp, light and just barely sweet, with a heaping mound of ikura on top for an extra pop of flavour.
Speaking of which, ikura lovers would be pleased to discover that Hachikyo Group is a pioneer of the “overflowing ikura” trend, having started the practice of flooding rice bowls with salmon roe some two decades ago.
Here at Mare Hachikyo, it’s part of the donabe, which is served three ways.
First, the donabe is eaten as-is, with chunks of snow crab and trout interlaced throughout the soft, fragrant rice. Then comes the main event, with the whole crew coming together as a chef scoops an avalanche of ikura from a large bowl. We beckon him to stop after three scoops, though he seems perfectly happy to let things overflow if anyone so chooses.
Even with “just” three scoops, the relatively massive amount of ikura is a lot, but it pairs well with the already savoury, seafood donabe. When we’re about halfway done, we’re handed a small pot of smoky dashi to enjoy the rest as an ochazuke.
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Wrapping things up is a monaka wafer sandwiching a morsel of warabi mochi and adzuki bean paste. We wish for a crisper wafer, but everything is otherwise fine; we particularly like the fresh strawberries served on the side.
Overall, Mare Hachikyo’s take on Hokkaido cuisine leans on the simple side, with a light shone on ingredients more than innovation. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially when the resulting meal is solid — plus, that promise of overflowing ikura is sure to thrill on Instagram.
