Go by Sensei of Bruce Ricketts opens at The Grid Food Market

Meet this fast-casual kaisendon pop-up with that signature chef Bruce Ricketts spin

Enter Bruce Ricketts and his band of sushi-obsessed misfits, and cue the bright, bold new entry at The Grid Food Market in Power Plant Mall. Brought to us by the talented teams at Sensei and Mecha Uma, the Go by Sensei kaisendon pop-up proudly puts forth a fast-casual concept that spotlights raw seafood rice bowls created with finesse. As the fifth concept under Ricketts’s F&B umbrella, this one hyper-focuses on the team’s obsession with sushi, putting their whimsical touch on each and every creation.

“We wanted to do something fun and accessible with the sushi expertise we’ve developed in Sensei and Mecha Uma, and we thought that a pop-up kaisendon concept would be the perfect way to do that. Go by Sensei will have a very small menu with the same integrity of ingredients and techniques that you would get behind my sushi omakase counter, but with a more casual, quick vibe. Think of it as the bridge between the more serious approach of Mecha Uma and the casual comfort of Sensei, all in a food hall that you could visit any time of day,” he explains.

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Now that Mecha Uma has closed its doors and the team is working to build Iai, his soon-to-open new omakase experience, they figured they’d sharpen their skills and make great use of their newly found downtime. So, why not create a new concept and have some foodie fun with what they love to do?

“It’s the perfect opportunity for my team and I to practice our fish and sushi rice techniques before Iai opens later this year. We don’t want to get rusty, and we want to keep on serving, but we want to have fun with a cool format that’s new to us. ‘Go’ also means a lot of things to me. It means ‘five’ in Japanese and is my fifth brand. It is also a unit of measurement for rice in Japan. There are other obvious meanings as well, and they all define many aspects of where I find myself these days,” Ricketts comments.

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What food can you expect at Go by Sensei? Well, classically, a kaisendon is a Japanese rice bowl with fresh seafood toppings (typically raw), much like a chirashi bowl. However, the main differentiating factor is the type of rice used. While a chirashi bowl uses sushi rice (vinegared), kaisendon features plain steamed rice. However, Go’s menu is distinct with its modern kaisendon offerings, which were reenvisioned by chef Ricketts. Unique from regular chirashi, his toothsome bowls are more specific in that they feature one premium topping instead of the seafood assortment found in chirashi bowls. Go by Sensei’s bowls are additionally elevated with Ricketts’ fish ageing and slicing expertise and enhanced by the use of shari (vinegared sushi rice).

“I want customers to feel like they can have Go as comfort food. Daily, easy, and familiar, but without the absence of craft, care, and quality. The signature dish is the akamizuke (shoyu-marinated maguro or yellowfin tuna), then there’s the salmon oyako, or ‘mother and child’ in Japanese, as it has salmon and ikura, which I think will be a crowd favourite. We also have more premium bowls like a smoked toro kaisendon that’s basically a big-format version of the smoked toro nigiri that was our signature at Mecha Uma. Each kaisendon comes as a set with miso soup, nori and pickles, and customers can eat it like a straightforward chirashi bowl or make their own temaki if they like,” Ricketts shares.

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The team works with the utmost care to artfully butcher whole local yellowfin and big-eye tuna that they receive at Sensei and prepare for Go. They make great use of farmed Japanese bluefin tuna, chilled salmon, and beautiful hamachi, which goes through ikejime and dry-aging until it is exactly how Ricketts wants it.

“We work with a local Japanese rice farm in Canlaon, Bacolod, that provides us with koshihikari, and we manually polish, wash and soak the rice overnight to ensure even cooking throughout the batch. We’re also really proud of our sushi rice vinegar, which is a blend of three types (rice, sake lees, and aged vinegar) that gives our shari a nice richness, colour and freshness. These are all practices that I do behind my omakase counter as well as in Sensei. We’ve developed these techniques for over a decade, and they’ve grown and evolved as I have. But how we treat the fish and calibrate the rice is dictated by how we want it to be eaten—fast and often this time around. Constantly exploring how we can serve Japanese favourites is how we keep ourselves on our toes, and we hope our customers will appreciate the careful work but still have a lot of fun and not take things too seriously with us at Go,” he voices with contentment and a tinge of well-deserved giddiness.

Make your way to The Grid Food Market at Stall 17 to experience Go by Sensei from February 5 to May 31!

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Topics

sushi japanese japanese food bruce ricketts

Isabel Martel Francisco

Deputy editorial director, Tatler Philippines & editor, Tatler Dining, Tatler Philippines

About

Isabel loves to learn, and see things from different perspectives. Connecting with people and engaging in new experiences to broaden her horizons is what inspires this storyteller, keeping her constantly curious, and excited for what's to come. An absolute love for all things F&B ignited a hunger to devour content from this world and keeps her jumping into tasty adventures around the globe. From the beauty of simple bites, to nuanced fine dining tasting menus, street food, and the art of entertaining, the multi-faceted nature of the dining experience is something she can't get enough of. A good cup of coffee or a glass of wine paired with a dash of witty conversation is a quick way to win her over. This editor loves travelling, food, music, skincare, fitness, and is only friends with people who love dogs. Guilty pleasure?: Binge-watching TV shows and movies she has already seen.

Work

Concept creation is the name of the game and branding takes centre stage in Isabel's day-to-day schedule. From producing shoots, conceptualising bespoke projects for our partners, relationship management, to cooking up features and events for Tatler Dining, this editor is a tried and tested foodie at heart. She mainly writes content for Tatler Dining, engaging in captivating discussions with restaurateurs, chefs, producers, and food enthusiasts to tell must-know stories. Aside from that Isabel manages Tatler Dining's flagship events like Off Menu, or Cocktail Festival and puts together the Tatler Dining Guide, our annual listing of the best eats around town.

Follow her on Instagram @isabelvmf.