One-Michelin-starred Shisen Hanten by Chen Kentaro has reopened after a five-month-long renovation. Besides a fully revamped dining area, the restaurant now has a chef’s table room, as well as four private dining rooms, two of which can be combined to seat 30.
Specialising in Japanese-Sichuan cuisine (known as “chuka Sichuan ryori”), Shisen Hanten interprets classic dishes from the Chinese province with Japanese ingredients. The fusion is one pioneered by Kentaro’s grandfather, Chen Kenmin, who settled in Japan from Sichuan in the 1950s and set about recreating his favourite foods in his new home.
Kenmin would go on to start the first Shisen Hanten restaurant in Tamuracho, Tokyo. Some seven decades on, Kentaro is continuing and further developing the techniques pioneered by his grandfather at this Singapore outpost, which opened in 2014.
To complement the restaurant’s new look, Kentaro and his team have introduced an updated menu that brings back some of his iconic dishes with some new creations.
Among the classics that remain is the foie gras chawanmushi ($38++), where the rich egg custard is doused in an even more decadent crab roe soup. We can’t even begin to imagine what the dish is doing to our cholesterol levels, but it’s so good we can hardly bother to be worried.
See also: Afternoon feasts
We also like the braised Hokkaido Hiyama sea cucumber ($108++), a newly introduced creation that comes in a hongshao sauce with blanched broccoli and a massive round of deep-fried braised leek. (It’s certainly a labour of love; rehydrating the dried sea cucumber alone takes three days.)
The sea cucumber, along with the chawanmushi and others, are available on the restaurant’s a la carte menu, as well as on a chef’s table menu that’s priced at $288++ per person.
Kinmedai ($34++ per 100g) is steamed then drizzled in a sour, spicy sauce. This new a la carte menu dish combines ingredients on either end of the Japanese-Sichuan spectrum: the fish is a staple in Japanese cuisine, while the pickled Hainan chillis and huadiao wine in the sauce call to mind classic Chinese cooking.
Hokkaido Tokachi Mangalica pork ($58++) is twice-cooked, Chengdu style. Shisen Hanten is the only place you’ll find the unique protein, which comes from a Hungarian breed of pigs that are raised in Hokkaido. The meat is juicy and soft, soaking up the rich flavours of house-made doubanjiang (fermented bean paste) and sesame oil.
It has been just over a decade since Kentaro first set up shop in Singapore. That’s a long time, especially in an industry where openings and closures are practically a daily affair. Shisen Hanten’s updated menu — with all things old and new, familiar yet unique — shows exactly why the restaurant has held up well for so long.
Shisen Hanten by Chen Kentaro
333 Orchard Road
Level 35, Hilton Singapore Orchard
Singapore 238867
Tel: +65 6831 6262 (call), +65 8901 3089 (WhatsApp)
Email: shisenhanten@ouerestaurants.com
Opening hours: Daily, 12pm – 3pm; 6pm – 10pm
