影片
更多
2024-11-07
501 瀏覽
When my friend confirmed that a dinner booking had been made with SEP to experience Vietnamese fine dining, I held my skepticism. I love Vietnamese food but having to turn what one traditionally sees as Vietnamese “street food” to fine dining is a tall order. Would love to see how the chef could put his spin on the transformation. According to SEP website, it described itself as “contemporary Indochine Vietnamese restaurant with wood-fire concept”. The restaurant is located in the high block of
According to SEP website, it described itself as “contemporary Indochine Vietnamese restaurant with wood-fire concept”.
The restaurant is located in the high block of H Code just off Pottinger Street. We were being seated by the window overlooking Tai Kwan. In that evening, one could see the lighting in Tai Kwan, quite a pleasant view.
We ordered the “VIETNAMESE OPEN-FIRE STAPLES” priced at $980 per person + 10% service charge. This was the discounted price due to restaurant week (originally $1080). The menu includes 8 items which I set out below with my tasting notes:
1.2.3. DZÔ!BÁNH TRÁNG + MỰC ỐNG + BIA
Phú Quốc dried shrimp, quail egg rice paper，
Sai Kung Grass Island squid with holy basil, and pineapple lager- the pineapple lager came in petite size😂. I could taste the pineapple and the coconut foam but the hops flavour in the drink was negligible. The dried shrimp rice paper crisp with aioli was more flavourful, bursting with umami from the dried shrimps. It somehow reminded me of those yummy Japanese dried rice crisps. The squid dish with sauce (a mix of olive oil, basil and pepper) was ringing with Vietnamese flavour. The squid was cooked perfect, a delightful dish.
KINTOA BÁNH MÌnatural yeast bread with foie gras patê, smoked sausage aioli, candied chili and fermented daikon - with much expectation, the famous Vietnamese banh mi were presented in cute mini size. Flavour-wise, it was a let down. The foie gras pate didn’t come through at all; the bread bun itself was soft though it didn’t have that needed crunchy crust. I wish there were more pickled vegetables or fresh herbs to lift the banh mi. As it was, it remained quite dull. Am a little disappointed!
CHẢ GIÒ MEKONGAlborán Sea carabinero carpaccio
Saigon rice paper net filled with Dajia taro- these prized deep-sea red prawns are known for their buttery sweet flesh and unique flavour in their prawn head. In this case, unfortunately, it was difficult to taste the sweetness of the carpaccio prawns as the rice wrap and taro overpowered the unique flavour of the carabinero prawns. I guess the chef was trying to infuse the Indochine/Vietnamese spring rolls concept into the dish but the delicate and unique flavour of the carabinero prawn didn’t quite lend itself as the right medium of the new concept.
GÀ QUAY HỘI AN roasted dry-aged HK 3 yellow chicken lemon leaf young papaya slaw, lime salt - this was by far the better dish of the evening. The chicken was delicious and not oily with very nice crispy skin ( HK3 yellow chicken is known for being fatty and the chef must have done his trick to render the fat in the cooking process so it didn’t taste fatty as all), and the green papaya slaw gave the whole dish freshness and zing. A good dish. 
BÚN BÒ HUẾ 3.0IOWA Black Angus prime ribeye
36hrs citronella pineapple broth, organic herbs a lát - the broth of this rendition of BBH was rather mild; some kind of sweetness coming through but without much aroma of the beef stock. The beef slices were cooked beautifully and was very smooth to the point of being velvety. It didn’t have that kick of spice as one would normally associate with BBH though🤔. The overall experience would be better if the soup was a bit hotter in temperature. I was too full by then to eat the fried dough that came with the noodles.
CHANH VÀNG blood orange and Aiyu infused with honey and calamansi, and BÁNH KEMIrwin mango, Gia Lai passion fruit, Anëo 34% chocolate Madagascar vanilla cheesecake, and TRÀ TẮC Hà Giang tea leaf with kumquat and lemon grass- the aiju jelly with citrus and honey balanced beautifully and brought a refreshing note to the dessert course. The s’mores on a stick, mimicking campfire was an interesting concept, however the white chocolate cheesecake was rather too sweet for my palate and the final drink helped to balance this out.
In summary, there were some good dishes but some that didn’t quite fare well. In terms of service, they are okay but if they want to make this into a fine dining venue, there is still some way to go in terms of improving service level. I was surprised too that the table (where we were sitting) was rather small for a fine dinner venue. Overall, it is always a good thing to see new ideas and creativity in the culinary scene.
張貼
