The final installment in our tour of Niseko, we went to Roketto for their secret omakase dinner. Opened by Chef Willan Low from Singapore, Roketto is a casual rice bowl and noodle restaurant at lunch, but transforms into a secret Omakase restaurant at night.
Limited to 10 patrons a night, it’s always been difficult to get a reservation. It’s been around 6 years, but unfortunately, due to the difficulty of getting good labour in Niseko, they suggested that may not make it to 7th. The team is majority from Singapore and has been working together for many years, evolving with the restaurant and Chef Willan over time.
Normally, when I normally hear fusion, I make a point of avoiding the restaurant. In my limited experience, there are very few fusion cuisines that work, one of the few exceptions being Japanese and French cuisines. When I heard Japanese and Singaporean fusion, it definitely raised a red flag - Southeast Asia flavours tend to be bold and strong, while Japanese cuisine is often much more subtle and nuanced. Nonetheless, given the restaurant’s reputation, I figured I’d give it a try.
Getting to the Maples Niseko, we were told to walk a circuitous route to the back of the hotel, down through the ski lockers and almost all the way out to the back entrance where the hotel met the slopes. When they said Roketto was ski-in, ski-out, I didn’t realize that the main entrance was literally right on the ski hill.
Stepping up a set of stairs past the main entrance, we were led to a small restaurant, seating only 10 and an open kitchen inside a high-ceilinged contemporary loft, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows with views of the night skiers.
The first dish was a yuzu and tuna ceviche salad, with citrus and dried cranberries and topped with some crushed almonds. Neat, but I see little Singaporean or Japanese in this dish. Nonetheless, pretty good.
Next came a scallop tartare, thinly sliced local Hokkaido scallops topped with green onion, daikon, pickled mustard greens and a small piece of bird eyes chilli. This dish was inspired by a Singaporean steamed rice cake, but they replaced the rice with raw scallop and used all of the normal toppings. This was also quite similar to the Cantonese steamed white radish cake. The birds eye chili added a bit of a kick a bit uncharacteristic of Japanese cuisine, but very common in Singaporean. Really neat interpretation of a classic Singaporean dish.
The next dish was a black dumpling made with squid ink wrapped around poached aki ebi (sweet prawn) on top of a prawn cracker base and topped with locally caught Hokkaido uni. Really good contrast of textures between the crispy prawn cracker, the plump give of the shrimp the the silkiness of the dumpling skin.
Fourth came Roketto’s version of Oyako-don (a morbidly named Parent-child rice bowl), with deboned chicken neck and an egg sabayon sauce top on of rice mochi. Rich, thick sauce with slightly chewy mochi and well seasoned chunks of chicken. Really, really good.
Nothing goes to waste at Roketto, and the leftovers from the earlier shrimp dumpling were used to make a rich prawn stock in which a noodle made from local rice flour and soybean milk was placed, and topped with the deep fried prawn head. The prawn head adding a bit of crispiness and the rich, well-spiced stock adding some heat.
A local take on another Singaporean dish, the oyster omelette. In Roketto’s version, they lightly cured the egg yolks in a soy mirin mixture, deep fried the egg whites into a small bowl to hold the egg, gently poached the oyster and served on top of rice and small baby sardines. The trick was to break the egg yolk and mix it with the baby sardines and rice. Rich, gooey and absolutely delicious.
Chef Willian has always loved local Hokkaido pork and features it in every menu he makes. Known as Rusutsu buta, Chef Willan prepared it simply - seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, pan-fried and topped with a bit of sesame oil and lemon juice. Served on the side was a spring onion relish and local cherry tomato.
Finishing off the main dishes was a perfectly al dente paste made with 4 kinds of dish roe - Masago from smelt, Tobiko from flying fish, Ikura from salmon and shavings from pressed and salted pollock roe. They used the roe instead of cheese to add a local seafood touch and to add umami and texture to the dish.
Finally, dessert was a creation straight from Singapore. Crispy toasted rice mochi with pumpkin and sweet potato in a coconut milk and gula melaka (raw palm sugar) sauce. Very strong Singapore flavour combinations here, with the toasted mochi being a creative change. Otherwise, these flavours are straight from a Singaporean dessert hawker stall. A great dessert that brought a smile to my face.
Overall, this was probably my best experience in Niseko. A creative, well-designed menu, well-executed with well-informed staff that explained each dish, the inspirations, the ingredients and the evolution of the menu over time. While a little light on the volume of food, it was very well done, and I would definitely recommend going to Roketto if you’re ever in Niseko.
Total damage: 58k JPY/2 people