The renowned sushi master Masaaki Miyakawa has just opened his first restaurant outside of Japan. Yes, you guessed it, it’s here in Macao. Located within Raffles at Galaxy Macau, Sushi Kissho offers intimate omakase dining experiences for up to 10 guests at a time. The restaurant’s chic interior is juxtaposed with subtle nods towards its Japanese heritage, like artisan ceramics from Kyoto and that hard-to-pin scent lingering in the air. The latter comes from smouldering rice straws, a whiff of which has the power to transport you straight to the land of the rising sun.
Sushi Kissho’s team of sushi maestros work like a well-rehearsed orchestra. Its guests are treated to their stellar performance – where each ingredient, appetiser and piece of sushi on the omakase menu gets meticulously prepared right in front of diners, even the hand-grating of wasabi.
In expert hands
Omakase translates to “I’ll leave it up to you” in Japanese. Meaning, the chef has full control over what you’ll be served. It’s essentially a seasonal menu ensuring each component’s at its peak of freshness and flavour. From the fragrant tomatoes used in a Hokkaido corn pudding (ft. sea urchin) to the outstanding glazed sea eel (ft. a glossy sauce made by boiling down the eel’s own bones).
The menu primarily focused on seafood and black abalone is becoming a Sushi Kissho staple. For one of the restaurant’s appetisers, these tender sea snails are slow-cooked in sake and kombu before being served over a bed of umami-rich liver sauce. The result is incredibly more-ish; one of Miyakawa signature dishes from his namesake restaurant in Sapporo. Origin is incredibly important to Miyakawa. You’ll see the likes of ‘tuna from Aomori’ specified on the menu, never simply ‘tuna’. The practice is a mark of respect to Miyakawa’s suppliers – mostly small, family-run businesses deeply rooted in Japan’s culinary traditions.
“Communication is the key to my relationship with fishermen,” the chef told Macao News. “The most important customers get the best fish, and if we want to be that customer we need to keep communicating and investing into partnerships.”
Bringing Japan to Macao
Everything served at Sushi Kissho is directly sourced from Japan, then prepared using time-honoured techniques dating back to the Edo period. The restaurant’s decor is equally authentic: guests sip on small-batch sake and plum wine at a bar made from smooth Japanese cypress, curved in a semi-circle around the sushi prepping station. In true wabi-sabi style, the restaurant’s whole vibe is understated.
Miyakawa has three restaurants in Japan: Sushi Miyakawa in Sapporo, his hometown; Sushi Shin by Miyakawa in the popular ski resort Niseko; and another with the same name at Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental. His legacy at home bodes well for the SAR – the chef’s Sapporo venue achieved three-star Michelin status within three years of its 2014 opening. Miyakawa says he curated the “Raffles journey” to mirror what diners would experience at one of Sushi Kissho’s Japanese siblings. “I want to bring Japan to Macao.”
In fact, Miyakawa is no stranger to the SAR. During a stint working in Hong Kong, at Masahiro Yoshitake’s Sushi Shikon, he enjoyed the former Portuguese enclave as an escape from his very demanding job.
“I lived right next to the ferry terminal [in Hong Kong] and used to visit Macao quite often to clear my head and relax,” he shared. During his tenure at Sushi Shikon, Miyakawa added a third Michelin star to the restaurant’s rating.
In those days, more than a decade ago, the chef never imagined Macao would be home to his first overseas restaurant. This opportunity materialised after a high-ranking executive from Galaxy Macau visited Japan and dined at a Miyakawa restaurant there. Impressed, the executive invited Miyakawa to set up shop in the recently opened Raffles. The chef accepted, creating what may be the peak Edomae-style sushi venue in the territory.
Miyakawa says he’s grateful for his earlier experience in Hong Kong, as it gave him an understanding of the region’s dining landscape – and the confidence to venture into Macao when the invitation arrived. While he is currently based in Japan, he plans on visiting his new outpost every three months for its first year of operation. When Miyakawa’s not in situ, Sushi Kissho will be helmed by its highly qualified executive chef, Hironori Satake.
