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Photo: Mandala Clu
Mention comfort food to famed Japanese chef Yoshihiro Narisawa of his eponymous two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Tokyo and the salivating sight of golden brown menchi katsu, or deep-fried panko-crusted minced pork and wagyu cutlet served with potato salad and Worcestershire sauce, comes to mind.
The popular Japanese dish is one of the main courses at Bees by Narisawa, a casual restaurant at private members’ club, Mandala Club. This marks the fourth concept by the chef, who is best known for his sustainability-led Satoyama cuisine at Narisawa in Tokyo, which opened a Shanghai branch last year.
Also on the menu are springy inaniwa udon drenched in sweet tomato juice and indulgently laden with scallop and uni, and a lush brioche carpeted with top-grade Yamayuki tuna tossed with egg yolk. The tuna cubes, where are a mix of akami and chutoro, are crowned with caviar on a shiso leaf for a refreshing zing.
For desserts, diners can tuck into luscious slices of white peach and rhum baba (rum-soaked yeast cake), made from a recipe by Narisawa’s father, who owned a bakery and tea salon. While Narisawa provides a thought-provoking, innovative dining experience, dining at Bees by Narisawa is all about kicking back with comfort food and tried-and-tested flavour combinations.
Bees by Narisawa, which marks Narisawa’s second dining establishment outside of Tokyo, may share a similar name to his Bees cocktail bar in Tokyo. However, the concept is entirely different, with a mostly new cocktail line-up for the Singapore concept.
The restaurant will be open to the public as a five-week long pop-up till late September, before it officially opens in October only to Mandala Club’s members. The space, which is a former event space at Mandala Club, will be spruced up with more seating options (up to 60 seats) and an a la carte menu.
Narisawa is no stranger to Mandala Club; he collaborated with the club to host a five-week pop-up restaurant with Porsche last year. That experience spurred him on to do something more permanent in the city-state.
“I have always been very interested in Singapore, a country with a positive mix of multinationality and multiculturalism,” Narisawa shares. “I wanted to create a restaurant with a new style of ‘diversity cuisine’ based on Singapore.”
When Narisawa says he wanted to create a restaurant for Singapore, he is serious about it. The entire culinary planning for Bees by Narisawa is done by the chef himself. He speaks to the local kitchen and service staff, and the management team at least once a day to ensure that everything is carried out smoothly. He also orders all the ingredients himself.
Will Bees by Narisawa pave the way for a full-fledged fine-dining restaurant in Singapore in the future? He shares that he is not thinking about opening another restaurant at the moment, focusing on providing a fresh experience to diners.
“I hope that this new concept restaurant, which is completely different from both my restaurant in Tokyo and the pop-up at the Mandala Club last year, will become a beloved restaurant in Singapore,” he adds.
Inside the beehive
The concept behind Bees by Narisawa is an elevated take on street culture – fusing elements of Japanese street culture, with a contemporary twist in the form of the music, art, and fashion. When the restaurant officially opens in October, the interior will be divided into various zones, with some parts of the decor inspired by natural scenery.
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Bees by Narisawa has a wide selection of drinks to go with its menu. The dining experience includes a 700-bottle wine list of terroir-driven Old World labels, Dom Perignon champagne, and sake from the Masuda Sake Company. This hand-brewed sake from Masuda Sake Company is the only sake served in Narisawa’s restaurants.
Cocktails-wise, there are modern interpretations of traditional cocktails, such as the Kuromatsu Houjicha Gin and Tonic, which adds Houjicha tea to the classic G&T. Non-alcoholic options include the Shiso Smash and Bees Matcha Sling. Besides the classics from the Tokyo bar, Bees by Narisawa will have a number of Singapore-exclusive cocktails.
Narisawa says: “It will be a place where people can enjoy high-quality Japanese fruit cocktails, so that they can enjoy the seasonal flavours of Japan in Singapore.”
For the pop-up, the lunch menu starts from $148, while the dinner menu starts from $208.
