It’s one of Japan’s biggest cultural exports that has spawned many creative interpretations from the popular California Roll to the innovative sushi “burrito”. But for chef Damien Tan, creative sushi needn’t be overly complicated.

The sushi sous chef at Hide Yamamoto aced the inaugural Global Sushi Challenge 2015 Singapore Nationals in July with a winning recipe of non-traditional marinades. “Traditionally, we use soy sauce and vinegar to marinade the fish, but I’ve used olive oil and yuzu sauce to complement the toppings while still keeping it traditional,” he explains.

Even though the chef of more than 13 years presented 20 pieces of his original sushi creations moriawase-style combination platter, the taste test was based on one—fresh Norwegian salmon marinated in yuzu sauce with pickled tomato and onion. Five of these creations are highlighted in Tan’s Premium Five Kinds of Sushi, available at Hide Yamamoto (02‑05 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, tel: 6688 7098) till end November. This comprises tuna marinated in soy sauce with toro tartar; botan shrimp marinated in olive oil with caviar; salmon marinated in yuzu sauce with pickled tomato and onion; seared scallop and foie gras with miso sauce and king crab with homemade plum vinegar jelly. Savour them in that order to get the best out of the carefully curated combination of flavours.

Two creations stand out thanks to their homage to the restaurant’s namesake, chef Hide Yamamoto, who trained in French and Italian cuisines. Tan explains, “French and Italian cooking uses a lot of olive oil, but we rarely use it for sushi. Chef Yamamoto suggested I use olive oil to marinate the botan shrimp, which I found to be a good combination. I also replaced the traditional shrimp roe topping with caviar and a sprinkle of Himalayan sea salt.” The result is a delight on the palate as the fragrant olive oil brought out the shrimp’s natural sweetness.

Our favourite is the seared scallop and French-favourite foie gras with miso sauce, although it had mixed reviews from Tan’s Japanese sushi chef colleagues for being “non-traditional”. Yamamoto tried it for the first time that day and his verdict: “I like how the creaminess of the foie gras complements the nice balance of vinegar in the sushi rice.”

Yamamoto has only praise for Tan, “He works hard and is always experimenting with new creations.” Tan will pit his skills against 13 other countries’ finalists at the Global Sushi Challenge 2015 international finals in November, the largest competition of its kind organised by the Norwegian Seafood Council and World Sushi Skills Institute of Japan.

His game plan? To infuse local flavours such as chicken rice chilli and chilli crab sauce into the seasonal harvest such as buri or yellowtail that will be in abundance that month, said to be the best season for any kind of seafood.

Part of the itinerary for the competition includes a trip to Tsukiji Market. Yamamoto has also lined up a list of top sushi restaurants such as Sushi Kanesaka and Sushi Saito that they will visit together.

Till then, Tan will be busy experimenting and getting feedback from customers at Hide Yamamoto, so feel free to share your thoughts when you are there. Yellowtail marinated in ginger garlic sauce with spring onion, anyone?