THE Japanese restaurant Shintaro at the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is usually not open at noon, but that will change for a short while for guest chef Sawada Satoshi, who has come over from Bangkok to show off his culinary skills to Shanghai diners.

Originally from Japan, Satoshi has spent most of his life in foreign countries. For the past seven years he has been living in Thailand and his cooking style has been influenced by Thai cuisine, although he also insists on traditional Japanese ways.

Also named Shintaro, the restaurant in the Four Seasons Bangkok was not very successful before Satoshi arrived on the scene. It has since become a popular place for celebrities, Thai princesses and movie stars like Angelina Jolie.

Jack Ji, Japanese chef of Shintaro Shanghai, said Satoshi's creations are more intensely flavoured than typical Japanese food.

Nice presentation is important in Japanese cuisine, however, Satoshi said, he did not want to make beautiful garnishes that can only be appreciated for their appearance. Everything on the plates Satoshi creates is edible.

In the Toro tarter, tarragon with wasabi cream and Osetra caviar, curly chopped radish decorates the whole dish and relieve the palates from the pungent wasabi cream. Diced tuna is too soft and bland to leave any impression on your tongue or your mind unless served with wasabi cream.

The oil-seared thin yellowtail sashimi with garlic-lemon flavour, which is served on a shining golden plate, is appealing, with a slight bit of pink on top of each fish slice. The fish is soaked in soy sauce, spring onion and ginger, which tastes a little like Chinese food. The sourness given by the lemon persists for a long time in the mouth.

When the sushi plate is served, you can easily find many Thai elements in it. Assorted sushis are placed on a palm leaf and there is subtle scent of lemon leaves in the air around the table. The lemon leaves are found in the spicy cream designed to go with the seared scallop sushi, which has been fried to make it crispy and less pungent and sun-dried for two days. Satoshi brought them specially from Thailand for fear of not finding them in Shanghai. The flavour of this sushi is complete so it doesn't have to be eaten with mustard.

The crispy spring roll wrapper outside the roasted eel sushi made it different from any other sushi dish I have ever tried.

Yuzu orange is one of the ingredients that Satoshi frequently uses in his innovations. He dices the skin of the orange finely and adds it to various sauces. When he puts it into the miso paste used on the beef skewer, the taste of the grills tops the rest of the dishes.

I felt a little lost after tasting Satoshi's food because he obliterated my expectations of Japanese food. He blends two totally different flavours, Japanese and Thai, in one dish.

The all-you-can-eat menu in the restaurant has become a-la-carte for the two week period.

Shintaro

2F, 500 Weihai Lu

Tel: 6256-8888

Average cost: 200 yuan(US$24) per person