For Hachi's regular customers like I am, you need to know that the Hachi we knew and loved at Orchard Emerald has moved to Mohd Ali Lane, off Club Street. I found this out after making the reservation, fighting through orchard road traffic and showing at the dark, locked front door.

:) it was a little embarrassing too, cos i had a good friend with me and it was a treat for him.

But we called Hachi found out they moved and decided not to give it a miss. I was missing the izakaya atmosphere where we sit in front of the chef at the counter, pour him beer and sake from our bottles and attempt to chat about life in japan and sashimi in blundered japanese and english. and more importantly, i wanted to be surprised by the chef's menu. (At Hachi Orchard Emerald, you don't order the food. You eat what they bring you)

But alas. Or as the singaporeans would SMS "Haiz", the concept at the new premises has changed.

The space is bigger, more swanky and more like a usual mid-high end japanese restaurant with its lovely dark woods and cream furnishings. the sashimi counter is gone and hidden in the kitchen. The Chef from Kyushu does the serving (or perhaps that day he's on a break from the kitchen). The one thing thats taken me aback a little is THERE IS A MENU NOW. Hmm. i wonder why he's changed the concept but i was a little shy to ask.

I wasn't really paying attention to the menu cos i was busy asking the waitress if the Chef's degustation menu was still available. The moment she nodded i breathed a sigh of relief and handed back the menu. We came all this way to be fed what the chef thinks is best, not to just order another unagi don set.

We had 10 courses of delights at about $70++ per head. Whoever was cooking still had the touch of the Chef. Their understanding of ingredients came through clearly at the 5th dish - a turquoise coloured bowl with bright vermillion tomatoes roughly sliced. it had a sprinkling of sea salt on it. Doesn't sound too exciting... but that first slice of tomato got us both gasping and grinning and going "holy crap how did he know...?" The tomato was cold, sweet and with the salt it combined in the mouth in a thoroughly unique flavour. Other epiphany was the sashimi platter - key action point at this dish is the eat everything you see on the plate with the fish. There were shio leaves, chrystanuem flowers, wasabi flowers (i think) - when eaten with the sashimi next to it and a dab of soya, the condiments added another layer of flavours on top of the fish.

We also had a small bowl of clam soup- really light and flavourful, sucked at the bones of a fish skeleton deep fried and dipped in a ponzu sauce (chef left a layer of meat too!), an amazing stew of black pig, charcoal-grilled eggplant in a tasty sauce that we slurped up.

We ended dinner with skinny cold and hot udon and ice cream (red bean - soso only, black sesame- good stuff).

So the food didn't disappoint and the staff wer patient and friendly (we were the last to leave and still they didn't hound us).

But i do miss the ambience of the previous location - limited tight spaces, proximity to the sashimi slicing action and having a sake with the Kyushu chef who opens up as the night progresses - that is the kind of stuff that makes a great meal unforgettable.