Hilton Singapore received an uptick in media attention last year when its current head chef, Yohhei Sasaki, joined il Cielo, the hotel’s fine dining restaurant overlooking Orchard Road. He had a great backstory — years spent refining his skills in both worlds of modern and traditional in the Michelin-starred restaurants of Tuscany and Lombardia, as well as family-run eateries in Tokyo.
Sasaki’s brand of Italian cuisine done with Japanese flair met an enthusiastic clientele here in Singapore. More recently, however, the chef has been trying out something more experimental.
Previously, il Cielo’s signature dishes or degustation menus were designed to highlight the intricacies of his techniques. Now, Sasaki says he’s ready to shift the focus to his true vision: to facilitate intimate dialogue around food and conscious dining with customers. Thus the launch of an “interactive omakase experience” that’s been running since August, where guests at the restaurant have been encouraged to interact with Chef Sasaki and fire off comments, compliments, and questions directly to him.
The nature of omakase dining is based on the customer’s trust in the chef’s skills and judgment (the Japanese phrase literally means “I entrust [it] to you”), and it’s through this format that Chef Sasaki goes all in on culinary creativity.
As soon as the reservation for an omakase session is confirmed, guests will be advised to suggest a particular ingredient, drink, dish (or even a special memory) as a theme for their seven courses. Or, they can leave it entirely up to Chef Sasaki.
His brief? To highlight the best of both Italian and Japanese cuisine with fresh seasonal produce and items. His version of carpaccio, for example, could be made with Japanese ayu fish and Hokkaido uni, while another creation could see a delicate structure of zucchini curls, scampi, and octopus sourced from the Mediterranean seas plated together.
“My version of omakase involves an infusion of Japanese cooking techniques and ingredients into Italian cuisine. It is a collaboration of the two cultures, both famous for their respective cuisines,” explained Chef Sasaki. He emphasized that the ingredients used are kept simple and straight forward to show off their freshness and original flavoring, and that “a lot of time and preparation goes into ensuring that we bring each guest something that is original and creative.”
The freedom of not having to think about things to order for your dinner starts at $158 for seven courses — and note, reservations for the omakase experience need to be made at least three days in advance.
FIND IT:
il Cielo is at Level 24, Hilton Singapore, 581 Orchard Road
Mon-Fri 12pm-2:30pm; Mon-Sat 7pm-10:30pm
MRT: Orchard
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