I have been meaning to check out Shoukouwa for the longest time ever. It was especially intriguing when Shoukouwa was awarded 2 Michelin stars just a few months after opening in 2016. 4 months to be exact. And we are talking not 1 but 2 Michelin stars! SAY WHAT!!! However, the head chef that led Shoukouwa to their first Michelin is no longer with Shoukouwa. But it’s assuring to know the current head chef Kazumine Nishida has been with Shoukouwa for a while now, and has maintained Shoukouwa’s 2 Michelin stars.

Reservation was made via Chope for mid January ’22. Be careful though. Chope offered many time slots, but raality is that Shoukouwa only does 1 seating (12.30pm). However a week before my lunch, Shoukouwa informed me through WhatsApp-ed me that it had to be rescheduled because they received notification from Toyosu fish market (Japan) that there will be a delay in shipment. Hmm… So my meal was rescheduled to mid February ’22 instead.

I was unfortunately 10 minutes late on the day of my meal. Was so stressed because I took the bus instead of the train, and the bus was crawling! Please be punctual because there’s only 1 seating and chefs start everyone at the same time (12.30pm). And yes, there’s 2 chefs at Shoukouwa. Each with their own sushi counters in different spaces. I specifically requested for head chef in my reservation and was thus seated at head chef Nishida san’s counter.

Upon seated, the staff went through the menu and explained there are 3 options; Miyabi ($320), Hana ($480) and En ($650). I was contemplating between Hana and En. The staff went on to explain En, which was $170 more expensive than Hana, had 2 additional ‘Chef’s Special’. 1 of which was chef’s signature steamed abalone. I usually opt for the most expensive menu, but I decided not to this time round. And with that, I started my Hana menu, $480 with:-

1) Dish #1 (above) – Rock seaweed (mozuku) with sea urchin.

2) Dish #2 (above) – Steamed snow crab (matsubagani) with gazami crab sauce.

3) Dish #3 (above) – Smoked young tuna (meji maguro) with seaweed sauce. Was told this was smoked with straw from Japan and skin seared with binchotan charcoal. And this was really good; The smokiness and how the seaweed sauce paste complemented the tuna. Would have been perfect if the tuna was sliced thicker. Each slice was gone with just 3 bites.

4) Dish #4 (above) – Fourth dish was supposed to be rockfish (kinki) soup. However, we were informed by the staff that head chef Nishida san wasn’t pleased with the outcome. As such, he replaced it with his signature steamed abalone dish. And the abalone was amazing! Cooked for 10 hours and served with sauce made with the abalone liver, miso and sea urchin. And it was an interesting observation that head chef Nishida san was preparing the abalone dish not just for our counter, but also for the other counter.

5) Dish #5 (Chef’s special) (above) – Monkfish liver (ankimo) with dashi-ponzu sauce.

  
  
  

6) Dish #6 (above) – Sushi assortment of baby seabream (kasugo), needlefish (sayori) with ginger, spanish mackerel (sawara) topped with what’s made with grated white radish and ponzu sauce, rosy seabass (akamutsu) with sweet plum sauce, white tilefish (amadai) with yuzu zest, and Japanese spotted prawn (botan ebi). If I could ask for seconds, I would have definitely gone for the baby seabream and spanish mackerel. So good.

  

7) Dish #7 (above) – Fatty tuna (toro).

8) Dish #8 (above) – Tuna handroll (toro maki).

9) Dish #9 (above) – Black throat sea perch (nodoguro). Topped with thick dashi gravy, I really enjoyed this. I normally skip the fish skin if the fish is braised or steamed, but I finished everything in the bowl.

10) Dish #10 (above) – Miso soup (misowan).

11) Dish #11 (above) – The egg omelette (tamago) was like soufflé. Loved its airy texture.

12) Dish #12 (above) – Instead of the usual roasted tea, Shoukouwa surprised us with bobo tea; Tea made with burdock and 4 other vegetables.

13) Dish #13 (above) – Seasonal fruits (mizugashi).

Head chef Nishida san didn’t speak much during the meal. Most of the dishes were introduced by the staff. And it was pretty cool that the staff used tablet to show pictures of the ingredients. I could recognise some fishes in its sliced form, but definitely not in its fish form. Haha. So I thought that was a nice touch. And they did it for every dish.

  

I was glad I didn’t opt for the most expensive menu. The 2 additional ‘Chef’s Special’ were stuffed squid (replacement for the abalone dish) and rice bowl with cod milt (shirako) and sea urchin.

Would I recommend Shoukouwa? Well, there were a good handful of dishes that I enjoyed very much from my lunch. But I didn’t think the meal was worth $480. One can definitely get an equally good meal but for lower price elsewhere. So I say… Go to Shoukouwa if money isn’t a factor of concern, or if Shoukouwa is a place that you want to try at least once in a lifetime… But for the latter, don’t go beyond the Hana ($480) menu. And in all honesty, I didn’t quite think Shoukouwa was worthy of 2 Michelin stars. At most, just 1. But that’s me, and taste is subjective.

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