“I’ve always dreamt of opening a pop-up restaurant overseas,” he explains. As luck would have it, his former landlord [of the space Wild Rocket was in] was the developer behind ski resort The Maples in Niseko, and offered Willin a space to operate a restaurant there. And Willin thought, “Why not?” He adds, “I can’t sit still, I’m always looking for the next challenge.”. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that the man is an avid snowboarder. “This location has one of the best powder snow slopes for skiing and snowboarding. My snowboard is always on standby (it’s hidden behind a door in the restaurant) and whenever I get a little breather, I head out to the slopes for a run or two.” Willin plans to stay in Niseko till the ski season ends, in April. Currently, his two Relish restaurants — the newest one at Frasers Tower opened last November — are run by a team that’s been with him for over a decade. “I’m sure they're glad to be rid of me for a few months. In fact, the Wild Rocket team is now at Relish Frasers Tower serving classic Wild Rocket dishes.” As for plans to open more eateries in Singapore, Willin says: “Early last year, I told everyone that I'd take a break and rest in 2019, but I ended up opening three new restaurants in three countries back-to-back (including Jia Curry noodle bar in Taoyuan, Taiwan), so who knows?”

Willin wakes up at 8.30am each day and starts off by shovelling snow outside his home. He lives in the next town, about 14km away from the resort, in an apartment he shares with four others. “You’ll be surprised at how good I’ve gotten at it,” says Low. “There’s always some element of snow shovelling throughout the day, from shovelling to get out of the apartment in the mornings to shovelling snow off the car to head to and from work and then more shovelling to get back into the apartment at night,” he laughs.

Then, he takes a 25-minute drive to his restaurant and starts cooking, cleaning the tables, scrubbing the toilet and clearing the trash. He helps out during lunch and dinner service (he can speak simple Japanese), clears up after the guests leave and then finally heads home to cook and eat his own dinner. He only goes to bed at 2am. Why so much hardship for this towkay? Simply because finding restaurant staff here is super challenging. “Niseko is a resort town which operates only in the winter months of Dec to April, so most of the people here aren’t local and only come for the skiing season. Not many of them have proper [kitchen] qualifications — they can’t even chop an onion or mince garlic properly,” he says. So, Willin relies on mostly part-timers, and currently has a crew of eight. On Sundays, his only day off, he goes to church, the supermarket and hits the slopes. At night, he watches movies at home with his housemates. 

“I did it so there’s one less thing to worry about,” shares Willin. He adds that one of his housemates helped to shave his head. 

He muses: “I miss being able to wear shorts and flip-flops, and walking out of my house to buy my wanton mee. In Niseko, even something as simple as buying Blu Tack involves an outing to the city.”  Willin admits that the snow is both his best friend and worst enemy. “It’s the reason we love Niseko, but it’s also the cause of our gripes. That’s life on earth, isn’t it? If it were perfect, we would be in heaven”. But he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. “I know I will miss my time in Niseko when I’m not here. So I’ll live in the moment and be appreciative of everything I have now.”

We dropped by Roketto during our recent ski trip to Niseko. With its floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the magnificent Ace Family Slope, it's the perfect place to be whether it’s enjoying a bowl of noodles during lunch or sipping a glass of martini after the sun sets. The light wooden furniture against the bare-finished concrete walls give the place a sophisticated and modern alpine ski resort feel. It’s a self-service diner, so you walk up to the counter, order, then help yourself to the free-flow complimentary water and wait for your order to be called. 

Most of the customers here are Singaporean tourists, or other foreign guests who say that their Singaporean pals sent them over. “I've had a group of Singaporeans who skied their way over from Annupuri (a town 20 minutes away by bus) just for lunch! It’s been really heart-warming to see so many people supporting us, even out here in Niseko,” shares Willin. The biggest difference between Japanese and Singaporean customers? “Singaporean guests are generally more expressive and direct than Japanese guests. Japanese guests are polite and considerate. They always leave the table as clean as when they found it, and don’t need reminding to return the trays and crockery.”

For lunch, there’s a choice between one noodle dish (a rotation between Bak Chor Mee Ramen, Laksa Udon and Bak Kut Teh Ramen) and rice (Braised Pork Belly Donburi). At night, Roketto turns into a cool cocktail bar serving up small plates such as Mochi Chwee Kueh, Fried Chicken, Gyoza and a mini version of the Pork Belly Donburi. Willin adds that he may include some pau dishes soon. If you’re looking for a tipple, Bar Roketto, a collaboration with four of Asia’s top bars — Bar High-Five in Tokyo, Bar Mood in Taipei, Find the Locker Room in Bangkok and Nutmeg & Clove in Singapore — serves up classic cocktails and also contemporary variations of these classics.

“Once we decided to open in Niseko, I knew that one of the biggest challenges we'd face would be getting the right ingredients. So I had to do all my experimentation in Singapore first.” He experimented with different Japanese ingredients to see if there could be substitutes for what could be easily found in Singapore, before deciding on the staple dishes at Roketto. For instance, Low improvises with miso, dried bonito and shio kombu (salted kelp) for his sambal chilli. “Being able to replicate sambal using 100 per cent Japanese ingredients is one of my biggest achievements,” he says proudly.

The hot, peppery broth is perfect after a cold day out on the slopes. Meanwhile, the pork is tender while the springy noodles give the dish an interesting twist to a Singaporean classic. Comforting. 

Another Singaporean fave made with 100 per cent Japanese ingredients. Think dry ramen with the flavours of bak chor mee — it has a dash of chilli for heat and is topped with a wobbly onsen egg. We like.  

The flavours in this dish are spot on with the punchy rempah and creamy coconut milk. The fat, bouncy udon stands up well to the rich, lemak gravy. And the gravy was so shiok, we had to hold ourselves back from slurping up every last drop.  

“It’s not like being in the big cities, such as Tokyo or Osaka. In Niseko, we’re surrounded by mountains and snow, and Sapporo (the prefecture’s capital city) is about a two-hour drive away. So just going out to get the ingredients is an adventure in itself.” He likens a trip to Sapporo to get coconut milk to an episode of Supermarket Sweep. “Before I had a car, we had to rent one and go from supermarket to supermarket to sweep the shelves of all the packets of coconut milk they have. I’m sure people must have thought we were a bunch of crazies. And we were literally racing against the clock as we only had the car for a few hours, and with the stores closing early, we raced around to get to as many of them as possible.”

One of Bar Roketto’s signature drinks with gin, umeshu and sake.

One of the few bar snacks served at night is this cute fusion version of our local hawker dish, with crunchy chye poh sprinkled on chewy Japanese rice cakes. 

Currently, Roketto is opened for lunch and drinks, but Willin hopes to open the eatery for coffee and dessert too. “I’m in talks to work with Milk Kobo (the brand owns a popular café in Niseko and uses Hokkaido milk in its desserts, such as baked cheese tarts, soft-serve ice cream and yogurt drinks) to offer their desserts [at Roketto].”

As for the future, Low says that he’s got no expectations. “I just open my restaurants and see where it takes me. Things always evolve. Who knows, Roketto could be something that I open in different cities around the world? A Singaporean noodle bar by day and a cocktail bar in collaboration with other top Asian bars by night.”

Roketto Restaurant & Bar is at The Maples, 204-27 Aza Yamada, Kutchan-Cho, Abuta-gun, Hokkaido 044-0081. Open during the winter season (Dec to April) daily except Sun. 11:15am – 3pm; 5pm – 10pm. https://www.facebook.com/rokettorestaurantbar/

Photos: Willin Low