| Japanese cuisine enjoys popularity throughout the world and has come to define the style and elegance of this unique culture to the outside world. What will be immediately obvious to anyone who enjoys the delights on offer in a sushi bar or Japanese restaurant is the combination of sophisticated yet elegantly simple dishes with a presentation which is stylish and visually appealing.
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This is the essence of Japanese food and the restaurants which serve it in Singapore are better placed than most to do the cuisine and dining experience a great deal of justice.
What makes Singapore such a gourmands paradise is the concentration in the city of so many different cultural dimensions. Situated in the South China Seas, the island-city-state has always benefited from a location which places it at the heart of historic and contemporary trade routes between the West, Middle East and Far East, and each series of traders and settlers has brought their own cooking styles, favoured dishes and dining etiquette.
The most notable examples of culinary influences come from Malaysia, China and India and these permeate through all the cuisine on offer in the city, creating fusion cooking which is uniquely Singaporean.
What Japan brings to the table fits seamlessly into Singapore culture and cuisine. The staple food of Japan is rice and noodles, both of which are found in a great many other cuisines in the city, but there is another obvious similarity between Japan and Singapore and that is both are island states which have a ready supply of fresh fish and seafood.
Seafood is hugely popular in the city and there are many seafood outlets and dining environments. Any seafood lover will find exceptional dishes to suit their palette within the city’s Japanese dining options.
In Japanese food the presentation and visual appeal is very much a part of the dining experience. The staple food of rice or noodles is generally presented with okazu, or side dishes from which diners can select separately and combine if they wish. Side dishes are commonly comprised of fish, tofu, meat or vegetables, typically flavoured with dashi, a fish stock, or soy sauce, and often also miso, a seasoning formed from mushrooms and fermented rice or barley. A standard restaurant meal may consist of a bowl of white rice, accompanied by soup and three okazi.
Okazi may be served raw, known as sashimi, and not as some people misunderstand, sushi, which may contain raw fish but by no means exclusively so. The side dishes may also be grilled, deep-fried, boiled, stir-fried or steamed. Sometimes the okazi is simply dressed in vinegar or some other dressing and this is actually sushi; vinegar rice topped with a selection of ingredients and often served as individual portions wrapped in seaweed.
The menus in Japanese restaurants are typically not ordered in a similar way to others, where there may be different menu sections for seafood or meat but rather as staple food options and side dish accompaniments presented by cooking style rather than content.
Aside from rice, which typically is short grain Japonica rice rather than the long grain basmati found in Indian cooking, the other main staple food from Japan is noodles and they can take on a variety of forms and applications.
Soba and udon are thin and thick buckwheat-based noodles most often used in dishes and may be served hot or cold and usually with dashi or soy flavouring. Chinese style noodles are generally wheat noodles and these are common in Japanese food in Singapore too, often served with a meat stock.
Even when vegetables form the main ingredients there are few true vegetarian dishes in Japanese cuisine due to the extensive use of fish stocks and dashi. Shojin ryori is a vegetarian alternative developed by Japanese Buddhists. What the cuisine can certainly boast is a very low fat content, but the dishes are often high in salt.
Western influences have also helped define modern Japanese cuisine in Japan itself and also in other areas of the world. Many countries combine their own cuisine with that of Japan to great effect and in the Americas, sushi mexicano and American-Japanese fusions are very popular.
The most popular dishes outside Japan in addition to sashimi and sushi are tempura which is deep fried and battered seafood, meat or vegetables, and teryaki, a side dish in sweet soy sauce. This is certainly true of Singapore too and these perennial favourites are joined by a great many other selections which reflect the fresh availability of produce and the sophisticated tastes of the residents and visitors to the city. The traditional accompaniment to a Japanese meal is saki, a rice wine served warm, but there will be other options too, certainly including tea and often also Japanese beer.
Eating out in Singapore is far and away the most popular leisure activity in the city. The famous hawker stores found throughout turn dining into a social and cultural phenomenon and there are a great many world class restaurant facilities which take fine dining to a whole new level.
What Japanese restaurants in Singapore offer is far more than great food, but also wonderful stylish environments in which to dine with friends and colleagues. They are found throughout the city, sometimes as a feature of the top hotels and are popular within business people too for their ambience and environment in which to meet people.
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