He served Japan's emperor, now he's here to serve you

Yoshihiko Koezuka, master chef and general manager of the new Kuriya Penthouse, has a fairly good dinner party story. He cooked dinner for Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako while working for Hotel New Omi in Japan. And it wasn't the kind of rare guest drop-in that sometimes you hear about, with no time to prepare and no warning. No, there was plenty of warning, two month's worth in fact, and during that time Koezuka was scrutinized by Japan's Imperial Guards every day. 

They needn't have worried though. With more than 20 years of culinary experience under his belt, chef Koezuka is a master of his trade, and is now master of the kitchen at Kuriya’s new rooftop restaurant at Orchard Central. 

While Kuriya Penthouse serves up traditional authentic Japanese cuisine, chef Koezuka doesn't subscribe to the notion of signature dishes. "My strength is using the season's best ingredients to create a dish that reflects the season. But if I have to name one, it has to be kinki nitsuke (simmered thorny head fish). The best season for Kinki is winter when its flesh is fatty and you can enjoy its melt-in-your-mouth texture and naturally sweet taste," says Koezuka to CNNGo. 

With the seasonal nature of Japanese ingredients, it's a skill by itself to prepare dishes at different times of the year. Chef Koezuka shares one of his favorites, which includes hamo (pike eel), whose season starts in May and lasts till September. It requires great skill to cut out the numerous thin bones, which is a mark of the chef's ability to treat hamo well.

"You can create different seasonal flavours using hamo in different periods. For example, in May, blanched hamo can be served as sashimi. In summer time in July, hamo can be served in clear soup together with Yuzu orange. In September, hamo and fragrant matsutake mushroom are the best combination for dobin mushi (teapot soup)," explains Koezuka.

The opportunity to serve dinner to Emperor Hirohito of Japan was certainly one of the highlights of his career so far. In preparation for the dinner the menu was extensively discussed. "The hotel’s executive chef and the Imperial Household Agency discussed what to serve. Basically, I served the royal family local dishes using the local delicacies such as omi gyu (wagyu beef reared in the region)," Koezuka remembers.

Now in Singapore, he says he'd like to "serve a seasonal course menu to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew as he is a great politician."

While Kuriya Penthouse is best known for its Japanese cuisine, the drinks are also a hit, with master bartender, Koji Kitano, mixing up Japanese-inspired cocktails such as sake spritzer (sake, lime juice and soda water), samurai rock (sake and lime) or ohgiri (shochu and lime juice). Chef Koezuka explains that pairing food with the right cocktails is an art. For example, "Koji-san will prepare a soshun (meaning early spring) -- ice cubes with Japanese sake, pineapple juice and peppermint green in a rock glass -- to cut the oiliness and sweet aftertaste of kinki nisuke."