The Reawakening Of Hashida

Chef Kenjiro ‘Hatch’ Hashida on finding a new home for his namesake Japanese omakase restaurant and drawing parallels between design and food.

- Allisa Noraini

WHEN CHEF KENJIRO HASHIDA, affectionately known as Hatch, shows up at his namesake Japanese restaurant, he settles in rather quickly with a cup of coffee that’s possibly bought from a local Chinese eatery.

“Is this your go-to coffee?” I ask.

“Not really. Yesterday, I had drip coffee at Twenty Eight Café on Wilkie Road. The coffee there is excellent. The coffee beans are left to rest with dry fruits. After roasting and blending them, you’ll get a nice fruity taste.” The fact that Hatch dives straight into the details of his drip coffee, even before I can ask, convinces me that the 42-year-old takes food and flavors seriously. And he’s also serious about running the show, for good, at his new modern omakase outpost on Amoy Street. Over a span of seven years, Hashida has called several locations its home; it moved from Mandarin Gallery to Mohamed Sultan Road in 2018, before operating as a private dining concept at OUE Social Kitchen in September last year. The restaurant then was forced to shutter when the pandemic hit.

“We moved a lot. Almost every day, many customers ask me, ‘Hashida-