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2012-02-14
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A relative of mine invited me to have dinner with a group of Japanese family friends at this pretty famous restaurant. Apparently, you'll need to book about 2-3 months in advance due to its popularity.I've tried this once at the old location near Hopewell center and the food there tasted pretty nice. The menu I had more than a year ago basically consisted of all the signature dishes recommended by other food commentators. That was quite good so I was pretty looking forward to this dinner.The res
I've tried this once at the old location near Hopewell center and the food there tasted pretty nice. The menu I had more than a year ago basically consisted of all the signature dishes recommended by other food commentators. That was quite good so I was pretty looking forward to this dinner.
The restaurant occupied half a unit in a commercial building. The unit was elongated so it felt like sitting inside a large corridor. The place was clean and brightly lit. The decorations were a bit westernized plus a little bit of Chinese decorations here and there. The seats were quite comfortable like how a private dining club should be.
I've uploaded the photo of the Chinese menu on that day here and I'll attempt an English explanation of what those dishes actually contained (which was for ten persons in total):
Appetizers:
1) Salmon sashimi mixed with jelly fish, peanut sauce, cucumber, carrot and sliced rice sheets:
- This was apparently a famous Lunar New Year dish for Filipino, Indonesian and Singaporean Chinese. Everyone was supposed to mix all the cold ingredients together with specially made chopsticks as a sign of prosperity (which we duly complied). Well, fun for tourists maybe but not for a boring guy like yours truly. Can't complaint about the individual components of the dish though. On the other hand, it just tasted like a gado gado salad with salmon.
2) Abalone marinated in sake on a puff pastry:
- Well, the abalone was marinated but I couldn't taste the sake but only some light soy sauce anyway; that may well be better cos I'm not too confident about that mix. The puff pastry was quite light but I don't really see the point of the combination.
3) This is tricky - a type of Chinese herb, namely Cordecep's Flower (if that helps):
- This cordecep's flower, contrary to cordecep (namely a worm who ate some plant seeds and then hibernate after which the seed burst through it's body and became ultra nutritious and pricey), had no worm element. Nevertheless, a cold orange plant that looked a bit like a worm mixed with some spring onions wasn't exactly appetizing.
4) Truffle slice with smoked Shanghai style egg:
- I never realized what the fuss over truffle was. Anyway, I didn't appreciate it. I'd rather just have the egg, which wasn't smokey enough.
5) Fried sliced eel in black vinegar with mustard seeds:
- Similar to a Shanghainese dish but more crispy. Interesting to those who haven't tried the Shanghai version.
6)Mustard sesame sauce with Japanese Greenhouse tomato:
- Most people seemed to like this dish. It's OK.
Main dishes:
Well, those six appetizers already took up at least 40 minutes' time with seven more main dishes to go. Here they are:
1. Chicken baked with truffle:
- In fact, this is the only dish that I'll recommend but it' highly recommended. This is one of their house dishes and probably the charismatic chef did it himself as opposed to his assistants. The chicken was very aromatic and tender. Notwithstanding my indifference towards truffles and fusion ideas in general, I have to admit that this combination was both refreshing and nicely executed.
2. Tiger prawns stewed with guava in pumpkin broth:
- Both my wife and I couldn't remember how this dish looked or tasted like. Enough said.
3. Lobster fried with kimchi, cheese and Shanghai mochi (rice cake):
- Well, that's quite creative. The colour looked nice. I never thought kimchi and cheese would work but the combination wasn't too bad. I can't say I really liked it though. There wasn't much meat on the lobster and I couldn't taste anything but kimchi and cheese.
4. Plum with Guava:
- Does what it says on the tin: It's exactly a plate of sliced guava with plum for the purpose of clearing your taste buds in similar function as a sorbet. Both fruits were quite fresh.
5. Steamed garoupa with soy bean and olive sauce on a bed of special Chan's village rice noodle:
- Pardon my strange translation but the rice noodle, which is usually at least 3 times thicker and a lot more chewier than your normal rice noodle, has always been one of my favourites. This dish was a bit more orthodox and I liked it. The rice noodles soaked up the flavour of the fish nicely. The fish itself was fine. Not exceptional but acceptable.
6. A type of shellfish with conch and chicken soup:
- Usually this type of soup is supposed to be very good for your health. This tasted like traditional broiled soup and was fine.
7. Lily bud stir fried with celery and "gordon enryale seed" (I thank the internet community):
- This was a bit cold. Basically the gordon enryale seed was quite fun to eat as it was very chewy. It tasted like barley and it also used in some Chinese medicine formula. But as a dish itself... I'm not too sure.
Dessert:
8. Finally, the dessert - Bird's nest with lotus and almond sweet soup.
- Fancy till the very end - The bird's nest was served separately in a shot glass and you're meant to put the bird's nest into the soup. I'm not expert about bird's nest. Presumably it's to prevent the bird's nest from completely dissolving into nothingness and/or as an added gimmick for customers.
One of the best things about the dinner was that we didn't have to pay for it (hence I couldn't give you the price).
Conclusion: Other than the chicken, the rest of the food was so-so. But to be fair, the service was extremely good. All the staff were friendly and polite. Very attentive and efficient. The main chef and the owner, Mr. Jacky YU, was extremely friendly to all customers as well. To err on the safe side, better ask the restaurant to prepare your menu based primarily on their signature dishes.
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