A sanctuary away from the frenziness - Hashida Garo はし田画廊

In Orchard Road where there is so much human and vehicle traffic, it is often difficult to find a place which allows me to feel relaxed and get some decent tea time treats at affordable prices. There are indeed many famous and good cafes and restaurants along this busy shopping belt but they may be crowded or cramped due to small shop spaces brought about by the high rents. In addition, customers who are on their own like myself tend to be assigned seats either near the entrance or at some far flung corner where it's hard to get the attention of the staff so it does mar the dining experience to a certain extent. As such, having come across Hashida Garo was somewhat like a wish come true for me especially when I suffer periodic "withdrawal symptoms" from missing Japan.

Hashida Garo which is the second restaurant opened by Japanese chef Hashida "Hatch" Kenjiro, is located on the 4th floor of Mandarin Gallery. His first restaurant Hashida Sushi is on the second floor of the same building. According to the staff, there is a waiting list of at least a couple of months so you would need to make a reservation well in advance if you want to go there. On the other hand, Hashida Garo has a very Zen-like simple feel with its pastel colours and relatively simple decor. The best thing is, you should be able to walk-in and not have to make a reservation. Of course, during the weekend, it might be a totally different situation but since my visits so far were on weekday afternoons, I can't say for sure how crowded it might be.

In case you are wondering, the word "Garo" in the name means art gallery so art is integrated into the concept of this place with paintings hung on the white walls. I don't know if there is any specific theme behind these paintings other than the fact that they are supposedly the works of Chef Hashida himself especially since I am not an art connoisseur but the vibrant colours on the otherwise plain walls help in accentuating the fashionable vibe of this place. As to whether these paintings are changed periodically, I have no idea too since I've only frequented this place twice so far and my visits were just a week apart.

The decor is relatively simple with a U-shaped table where customers sit at while the platform where the tea ceremony is performed is set right in the middle. As such, no matter where you sit, you will be able to get a good view of the entire dining area. There is a wooden counter opposite the dining area where you can see the staff preparing your tea and making arrangements to serve your wagashi. You can't really see the exact actions though since the front of the wooden counter prevents this. Somehow, seeing the steam from the boiling water rise above this counter is therapeutic when combined with hearing the soft music in the background. Maybe it's just me but I think it took my mind temporarily off the things which bothered me and made me settle down physically and psychologically to a certain extent. Of course, I stress again that you might not feel the same way if your visit is on a weekend when it should be more crowded and has a higher noise level.

Based on the photo I took of the tea ceremony tatami platform as shown here, it looks as if not all of the equipment to be used are placed in open view. I suppose this means that the other items will only be brought out when the tea ceremony is to be performed. I heard that you can pay $30 to have a tea master perform the tea ceremony in front of you but I have yet to confirm that with the staff or if that's something which can only be done during specific timeslots or on the weekend. Maybe I should ask them that when I go there next time.

Even when there is no action happening on the tatami platform, just looking at the few items placed there reminds me of the time when I saw the tea ceremony performed before me for the first time at Sankeien at Yokohama. It felt especially special since there wasn't anyone besides me at the time of my visit so the lady who was there was actually preparing the tea for me exclusively. That was such an eye-opening and of course tasty experience because the tea came with some really nice-looking and delicious wagashi. Of course, the price for that kind of luxury is much cheaper in Japan than here where tea ceremonies performed in restaurants are relatively rare. It might be worth trying this for once just to see what the fine art of sado is all about and appreciate the charm and beauty behind this.

At first glance, the lighting in the restaurant seems really ordinary but on closer look, you can see the Wa-inspired patterns on each of these lights which either have black and/or red lines or pictures. Each of these lights don't have the same pattern (there may be repeats which I may have failed to notice) so it's a good way to integrate art and design into the lights which many places do not really put a lot of effort into since the primary purpose of the lights is to provide illumination after all. On the other hand, the understated charm of this is that you won't notice this feature unless you've paid some attention to the lights so in a way, this becomes a hidden treasure for customers to discover for themselves.

Before the meal begins, you will be handed the oshibori in a dainty-looking glass bowl which looks very pretty. The Japanese restaurants in Singapore (especially those major chains) tend to put the oshibori in sealed plastic wrappers which I can perfectly understand since they have a lot more customers and it's probably more cost-effective and hygienic to do so. Then when you come across restaurants like Hashida Garo who hands this rolled hand towel to you in a glass bowl with patterns, it makes the experience feel different after all. It's a nice-to-have although not compulsory feature but it sure feels good to start the dining experience with a small treat for my eyes. And a good thing about the oshibori, it does not have a strong artificial fragrance so I'm thankful for the fact that it doesn't irritate my nose.

Note that the items featured from this point onwards were consumed on two separate occasions with the second visit being one I did with my friend so we could order more items than when I was alone. As I was there during the quieter weekday afternoons, there were no meals served other than the beverages and wagashi. Thus, there will be nothing about their lunch and dinner items in this review.

First up was the yuzu macaron. I must admit that I am no fan of macarons. The first macaron I had was fairly recently at Salt Tapas & Bar where I tried the Japanese purple sweet potato macaron. I guess that somehow set the standard for me so I was looking forward to something like that i.e. light and not overly sweet. However, I found the version here not to my liking. In particular, I thought that the cookies were too dense, moist and a bit chewy that they felt as if they were somewhat sticky. As for the filling, although there was the slight aroma of yuzu which was identifiable, the cream was a bit too sweet for me. Much as there are other flavours which are offered here, I guess I won't be trying any of them soon. Guess it's just my taste buds not being too appreciative of macarons and failing to understand why they are popular. ^__^

The mizu manju is such a beauty that I couldn't help but take many pictures of it before eating them. The outer skin is made of translucent kanten jelly and wraps the white bean paste and seasonal fruit within. The light blue syrup is made of mint and slightly chilled before the entire dish is served. On hot days, this will be a truly refreshing treat. Visually, it should also evoke squeals of excitement from the customers. Besides its very appealing appearance, I think that the charm of this wagashi is that it combines several different textures together with the jelly being slightly chewy, the soft white bean paste and the comparatively harder fruit cube and yet maintains the uniqueness of each item while allowing their individual flavours to come together in a coordinated manner. This is a definite must-try item if you are here.

The maccha financier was served in a very special way where the metal plate, sheet or foil (not sure how to term it) was slightly bent at one of the edges. As the financiers are made on the spot, they take at least a 15-minute wait so the staff would actually ask you if you are OK with it before they proceed with the order. The dish is served slightly warm with the 5 financiers nicely arranged and you can see some white powdery-like substance sprinkled on them. I didn't actually ask the staff about this but from the scent and taste, I felt that they were coconut shreds. If you happen to know what exactly the white substance is, please share the information with me. In any case, eating the financiers on their own is perfectly fine but do remember to take it with some of the red bean paste which I think was cooked in some sugar syrup. As such, the red bean paste was slightly moist so it was easier to eat it with the financier which had a nice maccha aroma but wasn't that sweet on its own. Usually, the financier I see tend to be long and rectangular so these little round balls here have won me over in terms of its novelty and unique flavour. Never knew that a French dessert like financier could go so well with the very-Japanese red bean paste.

Next up is also another highly-recommended wagashi called yubeshi. The ingredients are somewhat similarly to the mizu manju but this is more citrusy, there is no fruit with the white bean paste and the jelly is more transparent. I was really bowled over by how good this tasted and too bad, there were only three pieces in each serving. Compared to the mizu manju, the texture is a bit on the slippery or slimy side as in the yubeshi slides smoothly in your mouth and down your throat. On the other hand, the mizu manju needed a bit of chewing so texture-wise, these two items are pretty different. Even without an accompanying sauce or syrup, the yubeshi is very moist and the tiny bits of yuzu in the jelly accentuate the taste by reducing the sweetness contributed by the white bean paste. This has got to be one of the best wagashi I've tasted by far.

The fu manju is actually a mochi wrapped up in a leaf. On the surface, it can be difficult to imagine what's within but once the leaf is removed, the mochi with its translucent white skin is revealed. The filling is white bean paste. Personally, I felt that the mochi skin was rather chewy, not too thick and soft so in that sense, I liked this wagashi. However, the white bean paste when paired with this mochi seemed a bit ordinary for some reason. That doesn't mean that it was not tasty but somehow, there is a lack of a wow factor to impress me. I would say that this mochi is above average as compared to most of the offerings we can find locally but there needs to be something more unique to this dish. Not sure what kind of leaf was used as the wrapping but if the purpose of the leaf was not merely for aesthetic reasons and there was an intention to let the scent of the leaf permeate the mochi skin, I wasn't able to detect that so that was a pity.

This is the mochi here which combines contrasting flavours of sweet and sour i.e. sweet chocolate vs. sour raspberries. To date, I have never eaten any mochi which has a mixed filling like this so I was very intrigued by the possible synergy brought about by this special filling. However, the raspberry proved to be too sour to my liking and overpowered the chocolate to a large extent. I am also guessing that the chocolate probably also had its sweetness toned down. Perhaps if the raspberry was not as sour or the chocolate was sweeter, I might have enjoyed the balancing of these extremely different flavours in this mochi. As for the mochi skin, I thought that this was slightly more chewy that the version in the fu manju but in terms of thickness and taste, there was nothing I had issues with.

Yokan is generally hard but there is another softer version called the mizuyokan which has water added to make it softer and resembling a firmer version of the usual jelly. The chocolate yokan here resembles that of mizuyokan rather than yokan because it is rather soft with a similar texture-like pudding. There is a white substance sprinkled on the yokan which I am guessing should be salt. Upon tasting the yokan, the sweetness from the chocolate and the saltiness are surprisingly matching even though the saltiness came as a surprise to me initially since I wasn't expecting it. I am guessing that the salt was added to accentuate the flavour of the chocolate. In terms of presentation, this is rather no-frills but the black dish does help in making the yokan look rather elegant while the salt crystals look a bit like snow flakes falling in the dark night.

I'm not exactly sure what drinks will be served in the chawan but based on what I've ordered so far, the maccha and sencha are the teas which will be served in this manner. This is the sencha that is said to be handpicked by Chef Hashida himself which has a light green colour and is relatively clear since you can see the bottom of the chawan. When paired with the wagashi, it clears the palate of the sweet aftertaste left behind by the wagashi and leaves a nice aroma in the mouth. I have tasted sencha before which causes the mouth and throat to be rather dry after drinking but this is very smooth on the throat and doesn't leave behind any dryness or bitterness. I'll probably check if their retail store just beside the restaurant sells this in the form of tea bags or powder or leaves.

As for the maccha, I chose the iced version. Compared to sencha, maccha is cloudier and has a much darker green colour. In terms of taste, I thought that the maccha was deeper and lingered longer in the mouth compared to the sencha. Both types of tea have its strengths so it's not a matter of which is better than which. On a hot day when you are looking for something more refreshing, the lighter sencha might suit you better. Otherwise, if you are looking for a richer flavour, maccha might be good for you. It sure feels a bit odd to have ice swirling around in a chawan but in terms of taste, I didn't think that the melting ice affected the maccha adversely. Conversely, it might suit people who may find maccha a bit too concentrated and overpowering so the ice could potentially make the taste of the tea more palatable to them.

Last but not least, I just couldn't resist buying a box of the 6-piece mochi which looked so pretty with its translucent and snowy white skin. It was no doubt pretty pricey at $24 per box ($4 per piece) but given the quality and the appearance, I could understand the rationale behind the pricing. The filling is different from the eat-in version where there's supposed to be chocolate and red bean filling within. Due to the fact that there are no preservatives, the mochi has to be consumed within 2 days. Frankly speaking, I preferred the skin which was chewy and soft but not so much for the filling. I couldn't really taste the red bean and thought that the chocolate was a tad too sweet. Likewise about the mochi mentioned above, I don't have any major complaints about the quality of this item but I need a stronger pull factor to make me a fan of this mochi. For people who prefer sweet mochi like this, you might want to give this a try.