Shisen Hanten’s third-gen chef on 10 years in Singapore and making his late Iron Chef dad proud

One-Michelin-starred Shisen Hanten by Chen Kentaro reopens this month, after nearly half a year of being closed, with a big, shiny facelift that includes all-new interiors, a new chef’s table room and wine cellar, new tableware, new art by Japanese and Chinese artists and, of course, a new menu and revamped beverage list.

The major refresh coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Singapore restaurant that was opened in 2014 by Tokyo-born Chen Kentaro and held two Michelin stars from 2016 to 2023.

But while a decade in business is nothing to sneeze at, it’s really a continuation of a 66-year family history for Chen, a third-generation Shisen Hanten chef whose forefathers were celebrities back home: His late grandfather, Chen Kenmin, is known as the father of Sichuan cuisine in Japan, and his late father, Chen Kenichi, was Japan’s longest-serving Iron Chef on the popular television show.

PIONEERS OF SICHUAN CUISINE IN JAPAN

Singaporeans may know Shisen Hanten as a Japanese-Chinese restaurant, but what it really serves up is what’s known in Japan as “Chuka Szechwan Ryori”, a distinctive style of cooking that approaches Sichuan Chinese food from a Japanese perspective.

The story began in 1952, when Kentaro’s grandfather Chen Kenmin, the youngest in a family of 11 children, left his native Sichuan in the midst of the Chinese Civil War and settled in Japan. He had some experience in cooking – he loved Sichuan dandanmian in particular – but recreating his favourite dishes faithfully was impossible due to the lack of authentic Sichuan ingredients, Kentaro told us.

So, he improvised, substituting miso for doubanjiang or fermented broad bean paste, and sansho peppers for Sichuan peppercorns.

In 1958, he became a pioneer in the Japanese dining scene by opening the first Shisen Hanten (meaning, literally, “Sichuan Restaurant”) in Tamuracho, Tokyo, becoming known for his Prawns in Chilli Sauce and Mapo Tofu.

But, Kentaro said, it was his Japanese grandmother who supplied some of the best business advice: She pointed out that while Kenmin’s dandanmian was a dry noodle with sauce, the locals were more used to noodles in soup. “She said, ‘If you make it a soupy noodle dish, the Japanese will accept it more readily’.”

Kenmin, whose fame grew as Japanese media began to feature him, went on to open more restaurants in Tokyo and even founded a culinary school in Ebisu in 1966, training upwards of 15,000 students over the next 24 years.

Today, Shisen Hanten restaurants are found all over Japan, including Kure in Hiroshima, Matsuyama in Ehime, Hakata-ku in Fukuoka and Tokushima city in Tokushima Prefecture.

Kentaro’s memories of his grandfather include being gently teased. “When I was five or six years old, I went to his house. His friends would come over to play mahjong and he would cook them meals with his wok. That day, they had caught a carp at the river. I thought it was terrifying. Grandfather butchered it with a knife and fried it in a sauce. The sauce was so spicy, they all laughed at my reaction. They did that a lot, at the restaurant, too. They’d give me spicy mapo tofu and make fun of me.”

He also recalls enjoying family meals at the restaurant, and spending time in the kitchen at Christmastime with his mother, baking cakes for the staff. “She would wrap up S$4 or S$5 and bake it into the cake, as a surprise.”

But the standout memory is of his grandfather’s generous character. “At home or at the restaurant, he would greet people not with a ‘hello’ but with, ‘Have you eaten?’ If suppliers came by to drop off goods, he would say, ‘Have you had lunch? Have some dandanmian.’ My father was like that, too.”

Kentaro’s father, Chen Kenichi, was an economist, but found himself joining the family business, refining his father’s recipes as travel to China became an option. Under his baton, for example, the signature mapo tofu saw the addition of authentic fermented spicy bean paste.

Kenichi is best known, however, for being one of Japan’s most celebrated Iron Chefs. As “Iron Chef Chinese”, he competed for six years and was the only Iron Chef to remain for the entire duration of the show’s run. Professionally, he was also hailed as Japan’s “Szechwan Sage”.

When his father began appearing on television, “I was 14. I loved the programme. It aired every Sunday at 11pm. That was the only time I was allowed to stay up to watch TV,” Kentaro recalled.

Although he admired his father, it was Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai, who caught his eye. “He wore glasses, and he looked so cool as he sauced the plates. I had never seen that before.

“On my father’s day off, he’d ask what I wanted to eat. I said, ‘French food by Chef Sakai.’ He said, ‘No. You’re too young to drink. I don’t drink, either. If you go to a French restaurant, you have to have wine. So, no.” In the end, their meals were the usual: Yakiniku; tonkatsu; Chinese food.

The last battle of Iron Chef’s final season took place when Kentaro was 20. “The final round was my father against Chef Sakai. I thought it was really cool. The Shisen Hanten team went out for a yakiniku meal. I told my father, ‘I want to go into cooking.’”

His father wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea at first, but later relented. “He said, ‘I’ll give you one year’” to spend a few months staging in France. “‘But, you have to come up with the money yourself.’”

So, that’s what he did. But, when Kentaro returned from France, and even after studying French in university, his heart led him back to the family business. “Shisen Hanten is my home.” Besides, he added, “At age 20, watching my father on television, the influence was too great!”

CHUKA CUISINE IN SINGAPORE

When Kentaro took the restaurant to Singapore in partnership with the OUE group, it was established as an entity separate from Shisen Hanten in Japan. Shisen Hanten by Chen Kentaro was awarded two Michelin stars two years after its opening, making it the highest Michelin-rated Chinese restaurant in Singapore maintaining the two-star status until last year.

As befitting a restaurant that bears both his own name and the name of his family business, he’s kept some recipes exactly the way they have been since his grandfather’s time, while adding his own touches to others, including Singaporean influences, such as using local products like soya sauces.

At the same time, he incorporates modern techniques, like applying a low-temperature sous vide method to A5 Miyazaki Wagyu beef sirloin before stir-frying it in a dish of beef with Japanese green peppers.

He’s also made the unique Japanese-Chinese characteristics of chuka cuisine more pronounced, for example, by using sake in combination with huadiao wine in cooking. On the new menu, there’s a xiaolongbao with a filling of monkfish liver. And, in a Chinese-tinged sashimi course, seasonal sea bream from Shikoku is dressed with fermented chilli pepper soya sauce.

Perhaps the best example of his chuka cuisine is a new dish of Steamed Kinmedai with Hot and Sour Sauce and Fresh Yuba: Kinmedai, a fish popular in Japanese cooking but rarely used in Chinese cuisine, receives the textural boon of Japanese beancurd skin and the tangy heat of the Chinese sauce.

Simultaneously, Kentaro aims to showcase the best of Japanese produce. He’s the only chef in Singapore, for instance, to cook with Hokkaido Tokachi Mangalica pork, used in a dish of twice-cooked pork.

Another new, seasonal dish features extremely rare, prized Hokkaido Hiyama sea cucumber that is packaged and exported dried; here, Kentaro taps on Chinese cuisine’s unique expertise in using super-premium dried seafood to the best advantage with a top-secret, three-day-long rehydration method, for a superior texture you won’t find in regular, fresh sea cucumber.

Although Kentaro’s personality is jovial and laid-back, the gravity of bearing his father’s and grandfather’s legacy into the future is never forgotten.

When his father died last year, “I opened his wallet and found a card”. On it were printed the principles of Shisen Hanten: “No matter what rank you hold, you must respect others. Show appreciation and gratitude, because we are a team. Smile, because we are professionals. The heart of cuisine is love – cook with your heart.” It is tattered around the edges, but Kentaro now carries the card around in his own wallet as a precious keepsake and everyday reminder.

Shisen Hanten reopens Dec 16 at Level 35, Hilton Singapore Orchard, 333 Orchard Road, Singapore 238867.