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Donabe is essentially a traditional Japanese earthen pot – typically brimming with fresh ingredients and simmered over low fire. Many omakase restaurants in Singapore will offer donabe at the end of the meal just before dessert. The following places serve their respective versions of perfectly cooked Japanese rice steeped in richly flavoured dashi and seasonal ingredients.
1. Esora
Credit: Photo: Alex Ang
Esora is currently offering diners its new Spring 2023 menu. Head chef Takeshi Araki prepares his signature donabe with hokkigai (surf clams) from the coast of Aomori, one of the most popular clam varieties of the region. Rice is first steamed in the donabe with clam stock made with clams and konbu. Young ginger, chives and fried kureson (watercress) pickled with soy sauce are placed on top, followed by bincho-grilled hokkigai and uni.
The chef changes the donabe ingredients based on the seasons. For his last winter menu (pictured), he prepared premium koshihikari rice in a crab stock made of konbu dashi, crab shell, carrots, celery and onions. The rice is topped with sweet, delicate Matsuba-gani (snow crabs) from Tottori prefecture, and a sprinkling of chives and yuzu zest. The donabe is covered with a crab shell and presented to guests before being portioned out into individual bowls. Winter white truffle shavings are available as a top-up option.
In summer, he drew inspiration from the Natsu Matsuri (summer festivals) in Japan, where popular snacks like yakitori are brushed and grilled with tare-sauce with egg yolks. Here, the rice is cooked with konbu dashi, then covered with oba leaves, chives, sesame, and young ginger. Kinmedai (golden eye snapper) is grilled tataki-style on a skewer, and brushed with house-made tare-style yakitori sauce with egg yolk. The dish is finally crowned with seaweed and uni. In autumn, Esora’s donabe features items like akamutsu (blackthroat sea perch) lightly-grilled over binchotan.
2. Ichigo Ichie
Chef Akane Eno changes her donabe regularly depending on the micro-seasonal produce, and special ingredients she receives on the day itself. Ichigo Ichie’s donabe rice is accompanied by miso soup with shijimi clams as well as pickled turnip and burdock root.
Examples of donabe creations that Akane has served include minced Japanese wagyu, spiced up with Arima sansho. The rice from Nagano is cooked with konbu in Hokkaido water. Fried diced potatoes, minced Japanese wagyu, and finely diced carrots are mixed into the rice before serving, and topped with negi.
The chef may also serve rice topped with grilled black throat sea perch fillet and lotus root. Or matsutake mushroom donabe elevated with Hokkaido kegani (hairy crab) and fukahire ankake (shark’s fin). The kegani is first blanched in dashi made with its shell, while fukahire is cooked in dashi. The crab meat and fukahire are then combined with dashi, sake, mirin, and shoyu. This is served with the matsutake rice, and livened up with yuzu zest before serving.
3. Hazuki
This hidden gem at Ngee Ann City, which focuses on Kyoto-style cuisine, changes its donabe based on the seasonal ingredients available. For instance, you may be served fatty melt-in-the-mouth nodoguro (black throat sea perch) partnered with kinoko (mushrooms) and manganji togarashi (Japanese pepper). Or other premium ingredients like sakura ebi, saba, kinki, and wagyu beef.
Chef Kenta Yamauchi uses Yumepirika rice, one of the best grades of rice from Hokkaido characterised by rich sweetness and soft, springy texture. The rice is cooked in dashi made of katsuoboshi from Kyoto, konbu, usukuchi shoyu and mirin. The preparation takes about one and a half hours, and the outcome is deeply flavourful rice grains. If you like, request to have your meal paired with sake.
Find out more here.
4. Imamura
Chef Hirofumi Imamura’s unique gohan creation is luxed up with aromatic truffle. Nanatsuboshi rice from Hokkaido is chosen as it has larger grains and is less sticky. As the rice is less sweet too, the flavour of the truffle is allowed to shine. French Echire butter and dashi stock are added to grains to give it gloss and texture. The chef prepares the truffle dashi by simmering truffle in fish stock so that the rice absorb the delicious earthiness of the black truffle which is sourced from Aragon (west of Barcelona) in Spain.
Tsukemono (preserved vegetables) is also presented with the donabe to balance its rich flavours. Depending on what’s available, the chef may serve radish, burdock, napa cabbage, lotus or cucumber with chilli pepper, soy sauce and konbu. This rice course is also accompanied by miso soup made with white miso from Kyoto, red miso from Osaka and brown miso from Nagano, combined with gluten, tofu and seaweed. Presentation is key in Imamura’s kaiseki cuisine – the bowl used for the rice and chrysanthemum flower-shaped plate for the pickles are around 70 years old.
Find out more here.
5. Fleurette
For Fleurette’s winter menu, Chef Tariq Helou serves donabe of crab with Koshihikari rice. The chef meticulously sources the Sri Lankan crab by working closely with farmers to ensure that only the highest quality are selected. The produce is freshly flown in daily. His team carefully handpicks chunks of crab meat that lend exquisite texture and a sweetness to the dish. The crab is paired with Koshihikari rice from Akita, which is cooked in crab dashi. A touch of kaffir lime butter and fresh watercress vegetables provide fragrant aroma and welcome texture to the donabe.
Find out more here.
6. Rhythm
Chefs Jordon Lim and Sean Tan prepares their version of wagyu donabe which features three components: rice, beef and tamago croquette. Placed in a donabe, the rice is carefully cooked in flavoured dashi and mushroom duxelle which is later finished with lard, ginger sauce along with some pickles and fresh greens to achieve a balance. A flowy egg cream croquette is served on top of the rice to add richness and creaminess. The rice is served alongside with Yamaguchi wagyu striploin which is seared until nicely caramelised with a fragrant crust and then sliced.
Find out more here.
