Homemade: Earl grey tea sorbet

 

 

 

I browse through groupon everyday like a housewife in search of great deals. They have some pretty surprising items that are worth buying at times, case in point, I found them selling a cuisinart ice cream maker for S$200. I pounced on it.

This was my first creation, one of the best sorbets, and possibly best sorbet Ive ever had in my life was the earl grey tea sorbet at Guy Savoy, which I first tasted at Guy Savoy paris. There arent many things as refreshing and versatile as it, as a palate cleanser, at the end of a heavy meal, it is delicious either way. When I eventually ended up staging at Guy savoy Singapore a few months back, I used to pray that the dessert station would have extras, but alas, the only ice cream I got to try during my time there was a strawberry ice cream. Nevertheless, I wanted to attempt to replicate the sorbet at home, and the moment the Cuisinart was delivered, I knew this would be my first creation.

The sorbet failed on my first attempt, it wouldn’t set up and didn’t even get to a slushy point. I started troubleshooting and concluded that my freezer wasn’t cold enough. I reattempted the sorbet a couple of days later, churning the ice cream in my air conditioned bedroom(Singapore is incredibly hot). It worked, the question was what to serve it with.

The make up of the sorbet is simple- earl grey tea, sugar, lemon juice(I added a little leftover yuzu as well), pinch of salt. Serving it with a lemon curd seemed glaringly obvious, the curd providing a creamy mouthfeel that the sorbet would quickly wash away, as well as reinforcing the lemon flavor. It was perhaps a fortunate coincidence that just a week ago, I attempted to make Christina Tosi’s(of Momofuku) arnold palmer cake, and one of the components of the cake was an almond tea crunch(feuilletine, almond butter, powdered sugar, iced lemon tea powder, toasted almond slivers), it was truly one of the most delicious things Ive ever put in my mouth. I could spoon that tea crunch directly into my mouth over and over until I reel over from the amount of sugar. This was another obvious addition, crunchy, nutty, and backing up the tea-lemon flavor, a winning combination.

The final dish: Almond tea crunch, lemon curd, earl grey tea sorbet, toasted almonds, microwave fried mint, black pepper

Homemade: Seared threadfish

Seared threadfish, cooked on a saute pan till an internal temperature of 50C.

Potato cut outs cooked in duck fat, constant basting

Thyme

Ratatouille(baked)

I recently had the tasting menu at Pollen, one of the mains was a beef dish, it had three sauces on the plate- a pesto, a jus, and a parmesan cream. There was no major flaws with the dish, and it tasted well, but it got to a point where it was confusing as to how the dish was meant to be eaten, do I mix the pesto with the condiments, and eat the beef with the jus and parmesan cream? Or does it work the other way around. There were too many permutations. It made me re-evaluate the food I cook, if the diner cannot see the vision and message of the dish in 1-2 bites, then perhaps the dish is too noisy.

Homemade: Scallop Garden

 

Paste: Roasted walnuts – Anchovies – Fish sauce – Water – Sugar – Mascarpone cheese

This is a variation off of David Chang’s variation, I added mascarpone cheese to tone down the ‘fishiness’ of the paste, also to give it a more creamy, melt in your mouth kind of mouthfeel. The paste binds the dish together

Edible ‘Soil’ : Dehydrated black olives

Idea was that tapenade is one of the first condiments I think of when I think of eating scallops, just borrowing flavors that I think work well together

Radishes

Fresh radishes, refreshed in ice water. Brings a freshness and textural crunch to the dish

Scallop carpaccio infused with yuzu vinaigrette

Yuzu vinaigrette is made from yuzu juice, yuzu powder, yuzu gel concentrate, ginger, splash of sesame oil. Scallops are sliced fairly thick, about half a centimeter so that they do not get lost in the midst of all the components. They are tossed in the vinaigrette and put into a iSi whipping cream canister, charged with N2O, this is basically nitrogen cavitation, marinating the scallops in a matter of seconds

Miso Tuille

Sweet, salty, umami bomb. This is just downright fucking delicious. Works with fish, shellfish, chicken, on its own etc…

Chive Oil

Olive oil blended with blended chives, strained

Ham&Bacon Gelee

The idea to use this is based on a very classic appetizer, bacon wrapped in scallops. I am simply borrowing flavors from dishes that already exist. Ham and bacon pieces put into a pot, covered with water and boiled till you get a ham&bacon stock, set in gelatine

Spring onion ‘grass’

Spring onions sliced lengthwise, refreshed in ice water

Homemade: Seared red snapper

I really don’t cook fish often enough, I find it tougher to cook compared to say, steak, where I can more or less gauge the doneness of the meat by pressing on it. I really wanted to use grapefruit since it ranks highly on the pairing chart, but it is out of season in Singapore. So I went with the one of the first ingredients that popped into my head when I thought of tamarind- Pineapple. This didn’t show up on the pairing chart but I think they work very well together

Seared red snapper, braised leek, caviar and quinoa, diced pineapple, coriander, tamarind and green tea broth

Le Jardin

Inspired by Bras Gargouillou

 

 

Liberty private works, Hong Kong

Helmed by chef Vicky Cheng, who has staged at placed like the now closed L2O, Alinea, Momofuku and having worked at Daniel Bouluds main restaurant, the young chef has since brought back an invaluable wealth of culinary experience to Hong Kong, and developed a menu that is largely Asian-inspired using modern techniques. As you will learn at the end of the blog post, the restaurant is run by a very small team, but still manages to put out a lot of dishes for a lot of people. It really does go to show how much more efficient kitchens are able to run using equipment like sous vide and soda canisters, which revolutionizes the workflow of kitchens and allow much more food to be prepped beforehand and fired up for plating very quickly.

Tasting of melon- Compressed melon, yuzu curd, thai chili yogurt

The yuzu curd really tied the whole dish together, the tartness and wonderful citrusy aroma paired well with all the different melons on the plate. The melons were compressed under vacuum, giving it a more intensified flavor, while altering the texture to make it more dense, despite this, it still retained a ‘crunchy’ texture. I really liked the flavor of the olive oil with the mozzarella cheese as well. Refreshing plate of food with very clear individual flavors despite the multiple components. Good

Tuna, Sea Urchin, Espelette pepper, puffed rice

One of their two signature dishes which never ever changes, this was right up my alley. You start on the left of the plate by first eating the frozen grape that has been poached in riesling, this is supposed to lower the temperature of your palate to prep you for the tuna tatare(I really can’t tell if theres a difference). The combination of the oily, soft tuna with the crispy puffed rice was incredibly delicious, the oil from the fish sort of eased the dryness of the rice, the portioning of each component was spot on as well. I liked that they reconstitute the basic ingredients of sushi but the textures are completely different, the tartare itself was perfectly seasoned. The caviar gave the dish a complex briny flavor. The one criticism of the dish is that the flavor of the uni was a little lost amongst the heat coming from the spices in the tuna, I think it could have been chilled colder to contrast some of that heat on the tongue. But the longan, served as a palate cleaner, did just that. Very well thought out dish, doesn’t hurt that it looks amazing as well. Superb

Scallop, Iberico ham, Dashi, egg white

This was a dish strewn with problems. The scallop didn’t taste very fresh to begin with. The individual components just didn’t really taste that good, case in point, the dashi jelly with cubes of iberico. The fishy broth and the iberico didn’t work well together at all, I couldn’t tell if the components were meant to be eaten separately or otherwise, and despite trying to mix them, I couldn’t really find a strong link between each of them, the whole dish was more confusing than that thermodynamics class I failed in college. The best thing on the plate was the daikon which was nicely cooked and had a soft texture while retaining its pleasant root flavor. It was easily the worst dish of the night. Bad

Market fish (Amadei), chanterelle, peas, vanilla

The amadei was seared with its skin on, I thought it was a little dry but the skin was decently crisp. The pea-vanilla purée was the star of the show for me, the aroma of the vanilla tells your brain that you are going to eat something sweet, and the pea purée provides that sweetness, but the sweetness obviously deriving from the peas, and not sugar, very cool. I like the contrast of flavor of the chanterelles with the peas, I do wish that there were more chanterelles on the plate. The pickled onion cut through the sweetness of the pea purée nicely. Good

Egg, truffle, parmesan, caviar

The other of LPW’s speciality dishes, the yolk sealed into the raviolo is meant to be broken and stirred into the sauce, giving it more body and a much richer mouthfeel. The Parmesan foam is made by infusing the the Parmesan rind into heavy cream, then aerating it in a whipping cream canister. I found the combination of all these strong flavors to be a little too overpowering, the truffle oil was very strong as well(I’m not crazy about truffles to be fair), there was nothing to cut the richness apart from the caviar, and there was barely any caviar on the plate to begin with. I can understand why people would like this dish, but it didn’t do all that much for me other than bloat me up. Okay-good

Pigeon, barley, beets, chocolate

The duck breast was expertly cooked, and the flavor paired very nicely with the earthiness of the beet, and bitterness of the chocolate- it seemed to retain its game-y flavor without getting lost in the purée and chocolate sauce. The duck confit was nice as well, soft and unctuous, contrasted in texture with the crispy, buttery brioche tuile(dehydrated maybe?). The duck fillet was smoked in a container using the smoking gun, and it surprisingly retained quite a strong smoky aroma, I think this was my first experience with the smoking gun, according to the chef, only the filet is smoked because he does not want the smokiness to overwhelm the dish. Can’t argue with that. The issue I had with the dish was a disparity in the level of seasoning, the confit was much more heavily seasoned compared to the breast and filet, this would otherwise have been a very good dish. Good-v good

Pork, Cauliflower, rhubarb, macadamia nut

The rhubarb was a genius addition to the dish, I don’t think I’ve ever had rhubarb paired with pork, but it really works well to balance out the rich pork flavor. The curry carrot purée had a wonderful spiced curry aroma, although I’ve had this combination before and it has never disappointed, the cauliflower sauce was very smooth. The letdown of the dish was the protein, the belly had soft, falling apart texture, along with a crisp skin. Not something that is easy to achieve, so I definitely appreciated that, but it was a little on the dry side. The tenderloin, on the other hand, was very dry, strange considering that it was cooked sous vide and then quickly sautéed. An inferior product with low fat content maybe? A real letdown in an otherwise good dish. Okay

Pineapple, coconut, olive oil, black pepper

There were many components on the plate that I’m too lazy to list, but I’ll talk about those that stood out: the best thing on the plate was a mochi with a creamy, cold, sweet coconut mousse embedded within. It was a wonderful little surprise when you but into it and the mousse oozed out. Delightful. The piña colada foam was fizzy(CO2 charge into heavy cream), it was quite an amazing sensation, eating a fizzy foam. Hardly an inspired pairing of flavors but hard to really fault anything in the dessert. Okay-good

Chocolate, Honeycomb, Creme Fraiche, salt

The chocolate ganache was very rich but the tanginess of the creme fraiche ice cream helped to offset that nicely. The honeycomb was a little too big and should probably have been served in two pieces(it was a little too brittle and a little tough to break with a fork), I couldn’t get much vanilla from the crumble but it did provide a nice crunch to the dish. Not particularly impressive, just like the previous dessert, but I did like the creme fraiche ice cream, so this just about edges it. Good

I quite enjoyed my meal at LPW, what impressed me the most was how much value you get for your money. For the amount you’re paying, you’re getting an incredible amount of food, with some surprisingly premium ingredients like uni and osteria caviar(twice!). The place is run by a team of young, motivated, and very talented chefs. You can feel their ambition just from reading dishes on the menu, but I feel that they have made their life needlessly tough. 1, or maybe even 2 dishes could easily be culled from the menu, and the effort/time/money saved could be better spent on refining other dishes, especially those with issues with protein(fish,pork,scallops), regardless of whether the issues stem from improper execution or inferior ingredients.

If memory serves me right, there were 5 chefs serving 20+ covers that night, which made the dinner exceedingly long at 3+ hours(and we were the second group in the restaurant that night), courses started to slowdown drastically when a large group came into the restaurant about halfway through our meal. This is a lot of work for a small group of chefs to handle.

What I did enjoy was the bar type concept of the restaurant, where food is finished and plated in full view of the diner. It seems that many restaurants have now taken on this concept, along with a fixed degustation menu; I have personally always believed that this is the truest way to judge a restaurant and I’m glad the chefs have chosen to put themselves out there. The restaurant phases out and replaces a dish on their menu every month, with the exception of their 2 signature dishes, so steps are in place to make sure that the restaurant remains creative and allows room for it to evolve.

The food at LPW is good, not great, just good, and I don’t think the food is as good as many other blogs make it out to be; be that as it may, I would recommend LPW to anyone visiting Hong Kong without hesitation, it offers incredible value and a glimpse of fine dining in a relatively relaxed setting. The are innovative and I thoroughly look forward to what the kitchen will be able to come up with the next time I visit. Be sure to make reservations early and bring a cushion, because those bar seats get pretty damn uncomfortable after about 2 hours in.

Orange madelines to end the meal

Bo Innovation, Hong Kong (**)

I first heard about Bo innovation years ago on an episode of No Reservations. When Bourdain visited the restaurant, he referred to head chef Alvin Leung as the ‘Ferran Adria’ of the east. This piqued my interest in the restaurant and I have since been keeping up with news about the restaurant. Chef Alvin has since gone on to be somewhat of a tv personality, appearing and promoting his restaurant on numerous shows, including the most recent segment I saw of him on Bravo’s Around the world in 80 plates. In the show, he lambasts his wait staff with a volley of vulgarities that even Gordon Ramsay would be proud of, although they were seemingly not doing anything wrong, apart from being a little slow to react to his demands. Although I feel that he is needlessly abusive, whether or not he takes on this personality for the camera is of little importance to me, what matters to me is the food

Dead Garden - Morel, Caterpillar fungus, green onion, lime

What looks like a miniature garden turned out to be the best dish of the day. A  morel powder sitting over a green onion and lime cloud(more of a mousse texture), with chinese caterpiller fungus completing the (slightly gruesome) illusion. The enoki mushrooms were dehydrated till crisp and had a strong umami flavor, I remember seeing Wylie use this technique somewhere, to make them look like twigs.  The combination of the spring onion-lime cloud and crunchy morels was brilliant, both in terms of flavor and texture. The refreshing spring onion foam brightens up the palate, adding a citrus lime note to cut through the richness morel. The caterpillar fungus added a nice crunchy mouthfeel to each bite. I thought the dish could have been plated to look a little more appetizing, but maybe this was done intentionally to shock the diner? Regardless, a good start to the meal. Good-v good

 

Saba - Sesame, ponzu cloud, ginger, parfum de hong kong

Served over a metal bowl with the smoky effect of dry ice carrying the “perfume of hong kong” eminating from within. I would like to think that the perfume might have contained drain water that was procured near the harbour, metane, fermented fish, or maybe even a combination of the three. Considering how ‘extreme’ chef Alvin Leung is, I wouldn’t consider it impossible. The oiliness of the Saba fish really melted well with the sesame oil to form some kind of delicious, wonderfully fragrant mutant oil. The ponzu foam actually carried a good amount of ponzu flavor, and of course it worked nicely with the fish. Ginger cleansed the palate at the end. An artful balance of Chinese and Japanese ingredients. Good

Xiao long bao
I love the idea of this dish, a molecular version of a xiao long bao, with the stock used to make xiao long bao spherified and encapsulated within itself, with no need for any of the pastry, served with a sliver of ginger to pay homage to the way the classic dish is eaten. Despite so much anticipation around the dish, I found it to be largely disappointing= it wasn’t particularly well spherified, either made with too much alginate or it sat too long in the calcium bath, which lead to it being too gummy and viscous for me, plus it was under seasoned as well. Okay

Black Truffle Cheong Fun

I ordered this as a side without realizing that it would show up later in the meal. The texture of the Cheong fun was good, but I’ve had better in Singapore. What I like was the they bothered to roll small pieces of diced truffle into the Cheong fun, so that when you cut into it, you could see tiny pieces of truffle embedded within each layer. The truffle sauce wasn’t overpowering and the Cheong fun was actually a very good vessel to carry its flavor. Okay-Good

Har Mi - Lo Mien, Chili, Kankio

Har mi noodles had a much punchier dried shrimp flavor than the version I had in Singapore during the savour event; its a pity that I wasn’t crazy about the texture of the noodles. The noodles were a little dry as well, although in their defense, an entire teapot full of (tasty) oil was provided, to be added as and when the diner sees fit, the clogged arteries come as a freebie. The spiciness from the oil was present but never overpowering. Despite its faults, I did quite like the dish, it felt comforting and familiar. Okay-good

Cod - Saffron Miso, sauterness, seaweed

The saffron miso sauce tasted a lot like something fruity, almost… Passionfruit-like, and I couldn’t figure out why. Its a strange combination of flavors. and they didn’t really work well for me either- the crisp seaweed added a pleasant burst of salty flavor, but the (strong) alcohol in the Sauternes jelly didn’t really go well with anything and just completely wrecked the dish because it was so pungent, to make matters worse, the cod wasn’t particularly well cooked either. Bad

Foie Gras - Mui Choy ice cream

The foie gras was cooked in a ‘shao ya’ (roasted duck) style, and it did take on a nice glazed effect, while retaining a bounchy texture.. The concept behind the dish is sound, the saltiness from the mui Choy ice cream balances the sweetness of foie, the sharp pickled/briny taste of the mui Choy cuts through the richness of the foie, the cold ice cream contrasts the warm roasted foie, but the portioning of the dish was imbalanced and despite rationing the amount of foie on my plate, I was left with a big chunk of ice cream left, which doesn’t sound like it is a big deal, but it is so strong and salty that it was almost inedible on its own. Okay-good

Saga-Gyu Beef - Black truffle, soy, cheong fun

The beef was expertly cooked- soft, a medium rare, and a very thin seared layer on the edges, unfortunately, it still had a bit of connective tissue within the meat which made it a little tough to break down when chewing. Despite this, it had the most wonderful nutty flavor, everything I’d expect from A5 grade beef. The soy sauce was gelled with some kind of hydrocolloid, and gave the sauce enough thickness to be lathered onto the meat. The truffle and the soy worked well together, it wasn’t a bad dish. It just felt a little one dimensional, pairing soy sauce with beef and truffle, it just felt a little too…. simple? Okay-good

Strawberry - Wolfberry, Pineapple, Chinese Green tea

This consisted of a strawberry jelly, wolf berry sauce, pineapple granita, freeze dried pinapple, and Chinese green tea ice cream. The jelly had a wonderful consistency, very wobbly and melted almost instantaneously on the tongue. The soft texture contrasted the crunchy freeze dried pineapple as well. The green tea ice cream tasted good on its own, but no matter what I tried to eat it with, it just clashed and didn’t work with any other component for me. Its a pity because it felt like this could’ve been a great dish. Okay-good

Mandarin Orange, almond foam

Before the waiter could explain the dish, my impatience got the better of me and I stuck my face straight into the smoking pot. Right as he said the words ‘served with the smell of incense’ I immediately got hit with the strong aroma you get when you visit temples. Not the least bit appetizing, but at least they saved it for the end of the meal.  The almond foam was dense and had a surprisingly strong flavor, but  hardly anything to write home about. Okay

 

My meal at Bo has been a long time coming, it’s almost as if I have observed the restaurant and chef from afar for a long time before getting the opportunity to dine here. It seems that there are two schools of thought about Bo, you either hate it, or you love it. And while I can say that I didn’t have a bad meal, I did leave feeling pretty disappointed. The only dish that really impressed me was the lime-spring onion cloud dish, it showed innovation and it followed through with execution.

All the other dishes were either well executed, but weren’t particularly interesting (beef), or had an interesting idea, but fell short on execution(mui Choy and cod). I has always had doubts about the place, but after holding onto their two stars for two years in a row(after dropping to 1 star in 2010), I assumed that they had finally found their footing(despite the reviews still being very mixed)- unfortunatel, the food I had didn’t reflect this, it doesn’t feel like a polished product, and some of the techniques used seem to be geared to shock and awe diner, and these these techniques don’t necessarily serve to make the meal a better experience.

I wouldn’t return to Bo, a bulk of their menu hasn’t changed over the years, and if the meal I had is an indication of quality of the rest of the menu, then doesn’t really warrant a return. Back when Bourdain visited Bo, it was one of the pioneer molecular gastronomy restaurants in asia, these days, there are far too many other molecular restaurants in Asia, perhaps chef Alvin had better cash in on his fame soon.

&made by Bruno Menard, Singapore

The ‘B’ burger- Dry aged beef, onion confit, caper/garlic sauce and comte cheese

The beef was aged beautifully and had a distinct nutty, slightly game-y, strong beefy flavor to it. The tenderness of the beef should not be understated despite being grounded down, it had that fall apart texture that a lot of recent chefs like Blumenthal have worked towards and popularized. The onions gave the burger a sticky, caramelized sweetness that was present with every bite, but never detracted away from the flavor of the beef. The beef was near perfectly cooked for me and retained a nice pinkness in the center. I also enjoyed the sharp tanginess of the sauce. The bun was the real star of the show, unbelievably soft, with a strong buttery flavor, one of the best burger buns I’ve ever had, the only small gripe being that the bun was so soft it got squashed a little when you ate the burger, although this is a small compromise to make for an otherwise excellent burger. I had the truffle fries with this, very mediocre. Good-Very good

The 3 little pigs – Bacon, pork filet and chorizo patty, shitake mushrooms, japanese cabbage, shibazuke pickles, yuzu-kosho mayonnaise

The chorizo was too faint and a smoky oily paprika would have really made the burger pop, despite this, the burger had a strong porky flavor, that paired really nicely with the mushroom, kosho added a tiny bit of heat to the burger. The yuzu was a surprisingly nice addition as well and I thought that it contrasted the pork flavor nicely, but again, the yuzu was actually quite faint and could have been stronger. Although some of the condiments are heavily inspired by Japan, it doesn’t have the inherent delicate nature that Japanese food possesses, it should have been a rugged burger(I felt that the beef burger was) and yet it was not. Good

Lychee, rose, raspberry smoothie(Blended with yoghurt)

Severely lacking any semblance of flavor. The rose was not present, there was barely any lychee, and the raspberry was faint. The whole thing was a pretty watery mess. Bad

Molten hot caramel lava cake with vanilla ice cream coated with paillete feuilletine

The texture of the cake wasn’t great(thick, very dense, almost like is was steamed) but I’ll write that off as having been spoilt at catalunya. The caramel was quite sweet on its own, and when combined with the vanilla, it was a little cloying on the tongue; I think the caramel could have been darkened a little to introduce more bitterness. I did, however, appreciate the paillete feuilletine coating the vanilla ice cream, it added a pleasant crunchy texture to an otherwise disappointing signature dessert. Okay

Lollipop waffle with white chocolate, dark chocolate and caramel sauce

I usually love waffles but this was one of the worst I’ve had. It was slightly undercooked and retained a strong flour-y taste, it also didn’t have a particularly crisp exterior. The ergonomics of the waffle was also a little confusing, if you serve a waffle on the stick, shouldn’t the container holding the sauces be large enough to accommodate some form of a dipping action with the waffle? (It wasn’t) Or, if the container holding the sauces isn’t large enough for the waffle to be dipped, in which case you expect the diner to pour the sauce over the waffle, then shouldn’t the waffle be served without a giant skewer running through the center so that it can be cut with a knife and fork easily? (It wasn’t) Okay, I know I’m nitpicking, this isn’t a three star meal, but another issue was that the white chocolate sauce was far too thinned out and watery, the dark chocolate and caramel sauces were fine though. Bad

I don’t need to tell you about Bruno Menard or the 3 michelin stars he used to own at L’Osier. It was actually one of the highest rated French restaurants in Tokyo prior to closing, but I think the chef has let himself go with his new establishment in Singapore. Thats not to say that I expect 3 star food, far from it, but I do think its reasonable to expect a menu where dishes are well executed and taste good, this was not the case at &made. What confuses me the most is that- to a chef of Menard’s stature and palate, some of the glaringly obvious mistakes on his menu should stick out like a sore thumb, shouldn’t he know that these have to be rectified? My only guess would be that that Menard is rarely in the &made kitchen often, which makes sense since he is starting up his other eatery: a bistro called La Cantine; although to be frank, I think he doesn’t have a strong enough kitchen team at &made to let it function on its own, especially if it is unable to serve food that would pass his standards.

Despite all its shortgivings, &made does serve up a pretty damn good burger, it is very petite for a $19 burger, but it is the best item on the menu by a mile.

Catalunya, Singapore

It seems that every.new restaurant has a head chef that boasts a CV that reads like the St Pellegrino top 50 list. With names like Noma, the Fat duck, Alinea and the like automatically drawing attention to a chef and his new establishment. And perhaps there is no restaurant that generates quite as much excitement as el Bulli. The restaurant commands and aura of exclusivity and secretism that is only exacerbated by the fact that you will now never be able to dine at el Bulli. Those who have missed their chance will probably grasp at any opportunity to be a part of the el Bulli ripple effect, to savour and be part of the widespread zeitgeist of modern gastronomy fame that the restaurant seems to have pioneered. Catalunya opened its doors on mid July with much of this el Bulli hype, before I even knew the restaurant to be ‘Catalunya’, I knew it as ‘the restaurant run by the el Bulli team’, that was impression I felt the  media was trying to drive home when I had read an article about its imminent opening at the beginning of this year. Finally managing to secure reservations.for dinner at 9pm on a Sunday, my family and I entered the restaurant with an open mind but high expectations for the food.

Deconstructed omelette

The only dish we had on the night that would have been on the el Bulli menu, circa 2009(I think), the same year we went, although this wasn’t on our menu. The omelette is deconstructed into three main components, the potato foam, onion confit, and  egg sabayon. The potato foam had a surprising amount of body and intensity of flavor, it was more of an aerated, fluffy mash potato than a foam. The onion confit was expertly caramelized and provided a hint of smokiness with a refreshing sweetness, I would’ve liked the diced onion to be a little bigger in side though. The sabayon was silky and rich, it retained the creaminess of the yolk and carried the egg-y flavor well. The dish is served in a martini glass with 2 main layers, the sabayon on the bottom and the foam on top, the diced onion confit embedded within the sabayon, you dug all the way to the bottom to ensure that you were getting a mixture of all layers with each bite. This is truly one of the most well thought out (and delicious) deconstructed dishes I have ever had the pleasure of having. How much credit should go to the kitchen team for this? I’m not sure, but I’m glad there is a place in Singapore where I can get a well made rendition of this el Bulli classic. Good-Very Good

 

Pa Amb Tomaquet – An iconic Catalan dish, bread with tomato and olive oil

I remember having this at many small eateries throughout my trip in Spain, this was quite a nostalgic dish for me. The bread was slightly over charred for me, but it did carry an assertive smokiness. They did not scrimp on the quality of the olive oil, and the tomato was fruity and sweet, with no hints of acidity at all. I would’ve liked the tomato to be rubbed a few more times to balance out the smokiness of the bread. Okay-Good

Jamon Iberico croquette

A celebration of the best ham in the world, this dish should have been destined for greatness but it fell flat. The bechamel was too viscous and gummy, almost paste like(too much flour?). The flavor of the iberico wasn’t assertive enough, this was the most mediocre dish of the night. Okay

Cod fish “Esqueixada” –  Cod served with olive dressing, tomato, spring onion and olive paste

This was the most surprising dish of the night for me. I usually hate bacalao because of its intensified fishiness and saltiness, but rehydrated and desalted, it can easily be turned into a real treat. The one I had at L2O stands out for me, and this dish doesn’t fall short either. The unctuousness of the oil elevated the natural oils of the codfish, the astringent raw onions cut through that oil, the olive paste seasoned the dish and added a slight hint of smokiness. There were a lot of flavors going on, but they all came together beautifully. Very good

“Escalibada” with foie-gras and smoked eel – Grilled vegetables served with foie gras and smoked eel

The grilled peppers were so soft you could cut through them like butter. The taste of the foie was a little lost in the dish, as was the smoked eel. It seems that the grilled pepper seemed to be the only thing I could really taste and I’m not sure if this was the intention of the dish, although to be fair I didn’t have a very big bite of this. The apple puree worked nicely with the dish, as did the balsamic reduction. Okay

Traditional suckling pig “Segovian style” 2-3 pax

This was the star of the entire meal. The maitre’d enthusiastically told me to come over and try cutting up the pig, I obliged with a smile on my face, but in actuality I really just wanted them to do it so I could dig in. I kid, who doesn’t love cutting up a sucking pig with a plate? Thats right, the pig is hacked apart by a plate, a true testament to how soft this pig was. The skin was crisp to the point of shattering, the the meat took on a texture of soft, melting braised meat, a cooking process that I can only guess would be slow roasting. A lot of the fat underneath the skin, as well as the connective tissue in the meat, had both melted down into oil and gelatin, keeping the pig incredibly moist as it is being cooked. The meat was flavorful(full of pure pork flavor, no fancy spices), unctuous(from the rendered fat), and it had a rich, almost sticky flavor(from the gelatin), a wonderful and delicious combination. Did I mention the skin was unbelievably crisp? Crisp enough that you could hear the crunch when you could bite into it. This was everything that I had hoped Ibu Oka would be, Im glad I got to experience porky heaven. The dish is served with a delightful pork jus, with a consistency that is just right, and a few springs of thyme. There is something therapeutic about eating this, pulling thyme flowers off the sprigs, pouring the jus over the moist pork, and digging in, its the kind of dish you wish you could eat with your fingers, but you quickly realise you are sitting in a posh restaurant floating above a water and quickly hold back, bummer. Superb

Fried aubergines with black olives

This was a side dish that we ordered along with the pork, the aubergines had more of a soft braised texture than a fried one, it was perfectly cooked for me, silken smooth, with a tapenade smeared over it to act as seasoning. The sweetness of the aubergine and the saltiness of the olive paired well together. Good-Very Good

 

Smoked mashed potato

This carried a good amount of butter flavor, not too heavy and thick like the infamous Robuchon one. The addition of the smoky flavor did seem to make the mash feel ‘heavier’ or more substantial. The texture was smooth, almost like a sauce. I’ve achieved a similar consistency of mash using Blumenthals method of making mashed potatoes(ricer + tamis 2x), I especially liked the addition of the roasted hazelnuts, it added a surprising crush when embedded within the mash, actually most of what I ate during the dinner was a surprise because the restaurant was so damn dark and I couldn’t really see what I was eating. Good

Wood roasted pineapple

When this came, I had high hopes that it would be similar to the pineapple dish I had at Chateaubriand, however, this was nowhere near as good. The pineapple came in big chunks, which I appreciate, but they were cut a little too close to the rind. The pineapple could have taken on a little more spices and aromatics for me, although there was a red spice that had a strong pepper taste but a lingering pleasant berry aroma that I particularly enjoyed. Okay

“Torrija” with milk ice cream – Fried milk bread with spices served with smoked milk ice cream

The caramelized coating of the fried milk bread made the dish for me, it was thin enough that it shattered when you bit into it, and that crisp shell contrasted the soft, almost custard like texture of the bread pudding, the fact that the bread pudding was very moist didn’t hurt either. I loved the pairing of the nutty, slightly bitter, slightly smoky taste of the caramel with the milk bread. I wasn’t too crazy about the smoked milk ice cream, I would have preferred it to be made with less sugar so that the taste of the milk is a little clearer. Very good

 

Warm creamy almond tart

A bit of a misnomer with the title, this is hardly a tart. I actually thought they had given us the wrong order until I had a bite of the ‘tart’, wrong dessert or not, this dish is staying. It turned out to be a almond-caramel based lava cake. The texture of the cake was ethereal, the softest and fluffiest lava cake that I’ve had. The caramel wasn’t cloyingly sweet either, which I greatly appreciated. I enjoyed the pairing with the orange sorbet, it had a very assertive citrus aroma, almost lingered on the border of being slightly bitter(use of peel?), the bitterness paired well with the taste of the almond, and the caramel cut through all of that. Lovely. Good- Very Good

A cheese cocktail, made by a mixologist, which is a pompous term for ‘bartender’ 

Catalunya has generated a lot of hype due to its ties with El bulli. As far as i know, only 6 members.of staff were from the original el Bulli , not all of whom are chefs. Whether or not the decision to draw this comparison was a decision by Catalunya staff, or the media; its a comparison that should quickly be shaken off- Catalunya stands firm on its own and doesn’t need to stand in the shadow of el Bulli. The restaurant seems to recognise this that doesn’t fall into the trap of doing too many el Bulli replicas, all of which I’m sure would sell very well. There is a strong sense of back to basics about the restaurant, roasted peppers, roasted pig, smoked mashed potatoes, and at the core of it all, the dishes work. The food isn’t over complicated and flavors are strong, crisp and clear, yet the food still retains the ability to surprise, the addition of crunchy hazelnuts to a mashed potato, the pairing of a sorbet with a molten cake; perhaps this is the best characteristic that Catalunya should adapt from el Bulli.

That isn’t to say that the restaurant is perfect, while service staff was very friendly, the dining room could have used a few more wait staff, it was a little tedious trying to catch their attention at times, we were given a gigantic table big enough to hold a reunion dinner for 3 generations worth of a family, that is simply over excessive for a party of four. We were eventually only moved when some dubious liquid started dripping onto our table from the ceiling. And the darkness of the place, my goodness the restaurant was dark enough that even Bane would have felt uncomfortable having dinner there, and he was born in the darkness so don’t doubt my exaggerated description. The confusing thing about this, is that the management clearly knows about the issue with the luminance of the restaurant, since they provide mini lamps so that diners are able to read the menu. These issues aside, Catalunya serves some of the best food I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting in Singapore, the dishes aren’t innovative in comparison to many Singaporean restaurants that I’ve been to, but they don’t have to be when they taste this good. I might have just discovered my new favorite restaurant.

Garden of Eden, Singapore

Bread with garlic butter

The bread had a surprisingly good flavor, although it was a little on the dry side. I love garlic butter but the garlic to butter ratio was tipped way too much towards the garlic side, plus the garlic was also raw and retained that very sharp, pungent taste; strangely, I found myself going back for more… Okay

Foie Gras
Foie gras mousse, chicken crackers, sherry gel and herb salad

Placing a strong emphasis on contrasts, this starter consisted of a cube of  foie gras, contrasted by a pureed foie gras mousse, crisp chicken skin as well as a crisp meringue. Sweetness and acidity provided by the sherry gel and dates compressed in sherry vinegar. It was a sound dish that worked on many levels, cold/warm, crisp/soft, acidity/sweetness/unctuousness. I thought it was a pity because if the foie used had a better flavor, the dish would have been incredible, nevertheless, the addition of roasted chicken skin was brilliant and rounded off a well thought out dish. Good

Pork Belly
BBQ pulled pork, apple sauce, pork skin, spinach and mash potatoes

We quickly moved onto mains with this pork dish, the pork belly was cooked sous vide for 48 hours in cider, whose flavor tied in nicely with the apple sauce. I personally think that the addition of pulled pork in any dish can only make it better, but the BBQ flavor did add a sweet richness that cut through the acidity of the apple sauce expertly. The pork skin, which cannot be crisped up effectively after being cooked sous vide, was instead removed before cooking, and turned into a Chicharrón, this is something I do as well when I cook salmon(remove the skin and crisp it up in the oven while I SV the fish). Criticisms are that the mash could have used a little more butter and the dish was slightly lacking in sauce. Good-Very good

Beef Cheek
Tender chunks of 48 hour poached beef cheek in a twice cooked goulash sauce with confit potatoes, radish, mushrooms and mirepoix with a big chunk of home made bread

I’m not entirely sure why this had to be cooked twice, my guess would be that the cheek was cooked sous vide, then reheated in the goulash sauce to warm through and soak up its flavor. This was reminiscent of half the meals I hate in eastern Europe, it hit the key flavors for me, namely the smokiness of the paprika and sweet/tartness from the tomato paste. Not terribly inspiring or innovative, but a classic dish updated with a modern cooking method. Okay-Good

Jelly n ice cream
Chocolate poached in liquid nitrogen, strawberry jelly

One of the main reasons why I came to the restaurant in the first place, this turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the night. The main attraction of this was a 66% Valrhona chocolate mousse dunked into liquid nitrogen, then plated with raspberry gel, coconut cream, and chocolate sponge cakes. This is very reminiscent of the Alinea dessert that is plated onto the table itself. Cold foods tend to lose the intensity of flavor and that was exactly what happened with the frozen chocolate mousse, after the smoke had settled, what we were left with was an overall bland-ness; the most prominent flavor on the tongue was the tart strawberry jelly(which was actually very nicely made), I did like the crisp dehydrated chocolate cake as well. Okay

I enjoyed my meal at Garden of Eden, I’ll say I enjoyed it as much as Keystone, although I found Keystone to have more interesting food in terms of flavors, the food at Garden of Eden felt much better executed and a more complete/refined overall product. To be honest, Garden of Eden serves the kind of food that I would serve if I had my own restaurant. You get a strong sense that although the restaurant has been given a ‘modern cuisine’ title, the chefs understand the strengths and limitations of cooking methods being used, and this comes with experience and familiarity with equipment and cooking techniques. Unfortunately, the irony is that the one dish I wasn’t crazy about was one that employed the most modern of techniques- liquid nitrogen, which was the main reason why I was drawn to the restaurant in the first place.

While it is unfair to classify this as a restaurant that is truly pushing the food boundaries, since the menu sticks to classic flavor profiles- Foie and fruit, Apple and pork, goulash, an update through texture and workflow is always welcome, especially when it is done in an intelligent and well thought out manner; it is about taking a dish and refining it, altering it so that looks or feels different, but tastes familiar.

The food was a little on the pricey side, but well portioned and worth the money. For some reason they aren’t listed on Hungrygowhere, and the Maitre’d mentioned that they had intentionally removed their listing, don’t let this deter you from visiting, and be sure to note down the address, the restaurant is not well marked and you could easily walk past it multiple times without realising, trust me, I know.