One-Michelin-Starred Shisen Hanten Reopens With New $88++ Weekend Brunch

Shisen Hanten reopens with an all-new interior and menu items

Any chef or restauranteur in Singapore can tell you that a decade of weathering our city’s fast and furious F&B landscape is no small feat. That, coupled with a Michelin-starred track record earned by a concept as novel as the marriage between Japanese and Sichuan cuisine, places Shisen Hanten by Chen Kentaro in a league of its own.

To celebrate 10 years, the restaurant has recently undergone a full makeover—the first in its history—sporting refreshed interiors and a medley of new menu offerings, including a private chef’s table experience and an $88++ weekend brunch. While Michelin-tier omakase is not foreign to local gourmands, brunch under $100 at a restaurant of Shisen Hanten’s calibre is a welcome novelty. 

For the uninitiated, Shisen Hanten is a family affair, its heritage stretching from China to Japan, and now to Singapore. The story begins with Chef Kenmin, who was born in China in 1912, and moved to Japan in the ‘50s because of the Chinese Civil War. There, he tried to recreate the Sichuan dishes of his motherland, only to find that the authentic ingredients he needed weren’t as easily available. With both savviness and innovation, Chef Kenmin decided to reinterpret Sichuan fare for the Japanese palate, reinventing familiar dishes like the humble mapo tofu with native ingredients. 

From there, the first Shisen Hanten restaurant was established in Tokyo’s Tamuracho, becoming ground zero for chuka Sichuan ryori, or Japanese-Sichuan cuisine. His son, Chen Kenichi, of Iron Chef fame, eventually took the reins and expanded the business across Japan. This paved the way for the third-generation chef-owner, Chen Kentaro, to take the Shisen Hanten name to Singapore, with much success.

Naturally, we’re most excited about the launch of the Flavours Of The Orient Weekend Brunch, where an $88++ price tag gets you several free-flow dim sum, barbecue, and main courses. 

The brunch begins with a trio of appetisers, featuring delicacies like sweet and sour jellyfish, chilled chicken in spicy sesame sauce, and vegetarian Sichuan-style king mushrooms in mala sauce. Follow that with your soup of choice, or top-up $18++ for the delightfully sinful Foie Gras Chawanmushi with Crab Roe Soup.

While the appetiser and soup courses are served only once, the remaining items are available for unlimited orders. Seven types of dim sum—think Okinawan pork char siew buns and Sichuan-style poached pork dumplings—await, but save stomach space for slices of pan-seared Peking duck, crispy roasted pork belly, and Barbecued Honey-glazed Hokkaido Shirobuta Pork Char Siew.

Shisen Hanten’s chuka Sichuan ryori staples are available as well, shining through in dishes like Spicy Dry Dan Dan Noodles and Mapo Tofu with Hokkaido Rice.

Vegetarian diners are also welcome for brunch; there’s a $68++ meatless set menu too, with seven courses available. This includes a plant-based version of their signature mapo tofu, Steamed Assorted Mushroom Truffle Dumplings and the like. Note: none of these are free-flow.

The brunch is available exclusively on weekends and public holidays, from 11:30am to 3:15pm.

Beyond brunch, the updated Shisen Hanten menu includes the signature dishes that have built its legacy, now reimagined for the new chapter. Chief among them is the iconic mapo tofu—arguably the most synonymous with the brand’s storied legacy. 

As tribute, the dish now comes in two forms: Stir-fried Tofu in Hot Szechwan Pepper-flavoured Meat Sauce ($30++) and Stir-fried Tofu and Wagyu Beef Tendon in Hot Szechwan Pepper-flavoured Meat Sauce ($36++). The latter is a new addition, marrying silken tofu with a mouthwatering mala sauce and morsels of fork-tender Wagyu tendon. Both come with a side of claypot Hokkaido rice. 

While classic dishes get subtle tweaks, Chen Kentaro’s experimental chops are out in full force with dishes like the Steamed Kinmedai with Hot and Sour Sauce with Fresh Yuba ($34 per 100g), his take on the wildly popular suan cai fish dish. Here, Japanese golden eye snapper, which rarely appears in Chinese steamed fish dishes, is prepared with a Sichuan sour-spicy sauce and garnished with fresh yuba, a type of Japanese tofu skin, for texture and sweetness.

For dinner that’s prepared with the season’s best produce, with a side of culinary showmanship, consider the Exquisite Private Chef’s Table. This omakase experience promises eight courses of the finest chuka Sichuan ryori fare, prepared before your eyes by Shisen Hanten’s cadre of talented chefs. The chef’s table affair is priced at $288++ per person for a minimum of eight diners per session.

The elevated menu offers much to write home about, but don’t sleep on Shisen Hanten’s revamped interiors. 

Step into the restaurant, and you’re enveloped in a warm, artful atmosphere where every detail tells a story. The transformed interiors blend Japanese elegance, Chinese symbolism, and Singaporean soul, seen in features like a cascading waterfall-inspired centrepiece, modern art fixtures, walls dressed in jade-hued washi paper, and the dynamic interplay of wooden elements with natural light. 

All in all, the refreshed Shisen Hanten is proof that legacy and reinvention can go hand in hand. The renewed menu, especially the weekend brunch that punches well above its price point, is just an added reason for you to keep Shisen Hanten going for decades to come.

Reserve your table at Shisen Hanten here!

Address: 333 Orchard Road, Hilton Singapore Orchard, Singapore 238867
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 12pm to 3pm, 6pm to 10:30pm, Sat-Sun 11:30am to 3:15pm, 6pm to 10:30pm
Tel: 6831 6262 | WhatsApp: 8901 3089
Website
Shisen Hanten is not a halal-certified eatery.

All images courtesy of Shisen Hanten.
This post is brought to you by OUE Restaurants.