☆ Gaggan Anand at Mandala Club (Pop-up in Singapore)

Covid restrictions had curtailed most leisure travellers’ holiday plans. Over the past 2 years, we only dined out on rare occasions as we tried to mitigate the risk of contracting Covid. Following my last visit to Mandala Club for the Mirazur pop-up in June a few months ago, I’m back at the same venue! Albeit this time round the place had been re-decorated and ready to host Chef Gaggan for at least half a year’s residency (which got extended to 8-months eventually).

The key difference between the Mirazur pop-up and Gaggan pop-up was that we did not eat at the former’s original home restaurant in France before. Whereas we had dined at Gaggan’s restaurant in Bangkok on 2 occasions (2015 & 2018). Therefore there was a tendency for me to draw comparison between the latest menu with our past experiences. Naturally there were also a certain level of expectations in terms of wanting to taste his signature dishes (dubbed as the “Greatest Hits”) again versus new creations that the Chef would be conjuring up.

I must say Chef prepped the guests well as we passed by this lighted display (above) while walking to our table!

Although Chef continued to adopt his emoji-style menu, he added a new twist to the game. Instead of presenting guests with a printed emoji menu, we were given a “Passport” along with a set of stamps on the table. Guests were encouraged to use our creativity to design the blank pages within the passport by documenting what we felt were the dishes served. So many a times the staff would only explain what the dish was after we finished it.

First up was the signature Yoghurt Explosion, we instinctively knew the emoji that represented this was the 💥. Instead of serving it on a spoon, this upgraded version was served on a green chutney crisp, adorned with more embellishments (including citrusy lemon, spicy chilli, a tint of coriander). You can feel the amalgation of flavours once you stuffed this into your mouth. Thereafter wait for the usual popping candy sensation. It literally felt that there’s a party in my mouth~

Up next was something that looked gory…. but fret not…this was not the real brain of any animal, just made to look like one. We could easily identify the corresponding stamp to use 🧠

The dish fit for Halloween party was introduced to us as Chlorophyll (brioche) and (brain) foie gras ice cream.

The 3rd dish required guests to point their middle finger 🖕 to receive the cone-shaped receptacle used to hold the ring shaped snack. Ingredients used include coriander, white chocolate and chilli.  We were advised to eat it quickly before it melts and in one mouth – which was a bit of challenge for ladies due to its size. 

After tasting two new dishes, a familiar looking dish made its appearance. The black charcoal ball was something that we ate before at his restaurant, however they always change up the filling inside so it requires a bit of guesswork to get this right. And the answer was Chicken Tikka Masala with butter tomato. Initially I couldn’t find an emoji that could represent this dish well…there’s no Dark Moon 🌑 stamp though… But I recalled that during our previous visit, we were told the black exterior is made from the skin of the eggplant 🍆.

Moving on was another dish which had the “same same but different” feel. The same Ghewar (crispy deep fried tart) was served with a different topping – truffle mushroom 🍄. 

Up next was something which looked like a “cigar”. It was made with Thosai (or dosa), 🌴coconut meat, sichuan pepper, abalone served with Peking duck hoisin sauce. I reckoned you get the concept, its a Indian+Chinese fusion creation. 

Well, we were told that this next dish was actually inspired by a character in Star Wars. Any guess? From the claws you might have guessed that it’s a kind of bird? Then you are right – it’s a tribute to Porg. This “drumstick” 🦴 was made from minced duck meat. 

Sweet potato leaf, shiroi raw shrimp🦐, coconut meat

Chef is known to love Japan and you can trust that he knows his fishes well. The next dish was 🐟 Rosy sea bass (akamutsu aka black throat seaperch), pandan, coconut and ikura. A perfectly executed dish that ticked all the right boxes in terms textures and flavours, and what stood out for me was that it was created with a fusion touch. 

Nothing goes to waste as Chef used the Fish bones to concoct a soup broth with addition of tamarind, tomatoes and herbs. 

If there is a Best Food Presentation Award, it would go to this next dish – 🦆 Duck, pop rice, curry leaves. I loved how they plated the duck dish on a slate that resembles the terrace rice fields (like those in Bali). I hope I’m not overthinking but this seeks to reflect the agroecology of growing ducks and rice together in irrigated paddy fields? 

❄️ Frozen cheese dome with seafood, uni, squid – wished the dome has prints of Death Star as it would make it look cooler than it already was. 

A rice dish towards the end of the meal but this was the best dish of the night! White corn, peas, 🦀 crab curry, pandan. It looked deceptively plain and simple, but the curry was fabulous! I had to apportion the curry with the right amount of rice in each mouthful to avoid finishing the curry too quickly. 

🍂 Autumn passion fruit, sake kasu (sake lees) ice cream

☕ Tiramisu coffee

There were both wine and juice pairing options available, we opted for one pairing each. Here’s the juices served: Apple fennel and ginger bulb, Dragon fruit and tongka, Pear juice with cardamom.

Beetroot hibiscus and Osmanthus kombucha with nectar honey.

For the wine pairing, there was a good variety. We started with Marie Courtin Résonance Pinot Noir Extra Brut (aperitif), Piquentum Teran Istria (Croatia wine), Envinate Paolo Blanco Vinos Atlanticos (Spain wine), La Ferme des Sept Lunes Saint Joseph Syrah wine, Sebastien Riffault Skeveldra, Loire Valley Sancerre wine and Meinklang Graupert Zweigelt Burgenland (Austrian wine).

My personalised emoji menu completed.

Recap of our visits to the restaurant and looking forward to visiting them again when they re-open in Bangkok.

Other Related Posts:

• ★ Gaggan, Bangkok (Revisit 2018)
• Gaggan, Bangkok

☆ Mingles at Art at Curate, Singapore

For some reasons, Korea had not been on my wanderlust list. There hadn’t been any pull factor which made me feel like visiting the country. But I do keep abreast of the dining scenes there. Notably some of my colleagues had lunch at La Yeon during their trip to Seoul.

Took the opportunity to experience Michelin-star quality Korean cuisine when the chef of Mingles came to Singapore for the Art at Curate series. Chef Kang is the 7th guest chef to grace the CURATE kitchen, located on Sentosa island.

For a start it certainly feels kinda out of place to be dressed for Sunday lunch when most of the other visitors visiting Sentosa were in their beachwear or casual outfit – all geared up for fun and adventure rides in Universal Studios.

There was only 1 seating and we presumed that every other diners would arrive punctually. To our surprise, when we arrived 10 mins before the stated time, the hall was quite empty! Although guests were still streaming in slowly, the short 4-course lunch for us commenced right on time. Starting with small bites of Fluke ‘Hoe’ (Korean-style Sashimi), Dongchimi (Radish Kimchi) and Egg Custard with ‘Sancho’ pepper paired with Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Brut NV.

My immediate reaction was that the portion was really small…though we enjoyed the appetizing cold dish made of thinly sliced fluke with crunchy seasoned radish. The custard was soft and topped with a light sprinkle of the robust ‘Sancho’ pepper.

The first course was Scallop Carpaccio, ‘Makgeolli’ Ceviche, Korean Bottarga. The fresh scallop was paired with paper-thin pickled cucumbers. Due to the strong flavours of the condiments, it was apparent that the amount used was very measured and well-controlled such that it doesn’t overshadow the mildly flavoured scallop.

The 2nd course was one of my most anticipated dish – Abalone Porridge with ‘Gim’ (Korean Nori) Chips. Several travel programmes on TV had featured this as a must-try dish when one visits Jeju Island. The porridge was flavourful and filled with rich umami goodness. I would be willing to pay to get a full size bowl if that’s available as an option!

Steamed Tilefish with Potato Roll and Doenjang Bearnaise Sauce was paired with Chapoutier Schieferkopf Riesling Lieu-dit Buehl 2011. Freshness of the fish is a must when it was to be prepared by steaming it. The firm texture with mild flavour was well-complimented with a measured amount of doenjang (Korean soybean paste) added to the bearnaise sauce.

Very quickly we reached the final course of our meal. Dessert of Jang trio – ‘Doenjang’ Crème Brulee, ‘Gan Jang’ Pecan, ‘Gochu Jang’ powder, served with Puffed Grains and Vanilla Ice Cream. I was eager to try this interesting dish as it combines 3 types of Korean traditional pastes into 1 dessert. It was also unusual to feature the pastes in sweet dessert as the condiments are typically used in cooked dishes. The ingenious attempt resulted in an end product which was pretty extraordinary. Not only was there complex flavours, there was also a good mix of textures packed within the tiny cup. From the creaminess of the vanilla ice cream to the nice crisp of the puffed grains and nutty crunch of the pecan; each component had a part to play.

We round up our short lunch with Coffee/Tea and mignardises of Raspberry jelly, Cinnamon cookie and Pine Nuts.

Post-meal during our quick chat with Chef Kang, he shared that he had to replace some ingredients with locally sourced ones when he could not find similar quality produce in Singapore. No wonder we could taste familiar flavours such as preserved radish in one of the dishes.

Last but not least, we were presented with a parting gift of Jayone Sesame Seaweed Popped Rice by CURATE. I’m not sure if this Korean snack was specially designed for this event or it’s a pure coincidence that the featured Chef this time is a Korean. If it was the former, I must commend CURATE for this thoughtful gesture of presenting something that relates to the featured Chef.

Other Related Posts:

• ★ Joël Robuchon Restaurant, Singapore

★ The Kitchen At Bacchanalia X ☆ Grace

My previous visit to Bacchanalia was when they were still located at the historical Masonic Hall on Coleman Street under another head chef. It was timely that we could visit them at the Hong Kong Street premise during their Four Hands Collaboration Dinner with Chef Luke Armstrong and Chef Curtis Duffy from Grace based in Chicago, USA. Grace together with Alinea would be the 2 restaurants which I would visit if I had the chance to travel to Chicago. 

It was apparent that since Singapore published our own Michelin Guide, there had been an explosion in number of collaboration dinners here. Bringing creations from other Michelin-starred Chefs right to our shore. However depending on the set-up and ambience of the host restaurant, dining at these collab dinners certainly cannot replicate the exact experience compared to having the opportunity to dine at the actual place. Nonetheless it is a chance for us to evaluate whether we would pay a visit to the Chef’s home ground in future.

For our dinner we started with appetizers of Beef tartare with mushroom and Chilli crab with urchin. While the beef tartare dish was simple and straight to the point, I was puzzled by the chilli crab with urchin item. Where was it? Turned out that hidden in the tiny crispy puff was a cream-like filling which tasted of tints of chilli crab flavours and urchin umami. That was Chef Curtis‘s attempt at incorporating local flavours into his dishes.

We were also served a refreshing Gazpacho consommé with olive oil before we commenced our first course by Chef Curtis King Crab butternut squash, tapioca, papaya, Vietnamese mint. The julienned root vegetables were pickled and had strong resemblance of typical Vietnamese cuisine. The slightly tart salad paired well with the rather tiny but fresh piece of crab meat.

The second course is by Chef Armstrong and was my favourite and I ranked it as the best dish of Chef Armstrong. I would return to Bacchanalia for this dish! Foie gras Kyoho grapes, Apple, Almonds with brioche toast. The golden brown toast was crispy on the outside and airy on the inside. The magical moment happens when I paired the aromatic toast with the creamy foie gras and juicy slices of sweet kyoho grapes.

Chef Curtis‘s course was up next with Scallop Nasturtium Blooms, Sesame Milk. The scallop was said to be hand-dived and I felt that it tasted slightly cured when served.

Chef Armstrong served the next dish Turbot Spicy tomato Compote, Herbs, Fino Sauce to guests personally. He further explained that the turbot was line caught which I suppose highlighted the restaurant’s value of choosing sustainable food sources? This dish was also superbly executed with the perfectly cooked firm flesh. The spicy tomato compote was something rather interesting and it’s the first time I ever saw it. The peppery, sweet and sour components helped accentuate the mild flavoured fish.

Just when we thought that Chef Armstrong seemed to have an upper hand in this collab dinner, Chef Curtis last course blew us away! Beef Dill, Dates was undoubtedly the star dish. I understand that this dish was also served during the Michelin Guide Singapore Star Event.

The Miyazaki beef had an aromatic nice brown crust on the outside but still pink in the centre. The texture was amazing! I wished they could be slightly more generous on the portion. I alternated between the sweet dates puree and the pickled vegetables as I chewed on the precious beef cubes. This was the dish that truly left an impression in me.

Prior to desserts, we were served a small cup of fragrant musk melon juice with coconut mini melts. The beautiful dessert of Pistachio Caramalised white chocolate, lime and raspberry was prepared by Chef Armstrong. Sitting around the parfait were wild strawberry, white chocolate, raspberry, lime and green tea.

There were even petite fours to end our meal: Dark chocolate with whiskey orange and gold flakes and White chocolate curry mango. The latter sounded pretty exotic to me, a combination which worked out pretty well as the curry was not too strong, mainly tasted the mango.

As we walked past the open kitchen to exit the restaurant, we received a firm handshake from Chef Armstrong thanking us for the visit while Chef Curtis was behind the counter busy with his dishes.

I am glad Bacchanalia hosted this collab dinner which allowed me to re-visit them under the helm of Chef Armstrong while having the rare opportunity to taste Chef Curtis‘s cuisines. *I’m not even sure if we could secure a seat at Grace even if I get to travel to Chicago.

Other Related Posts:

• ☆ Takazawa X ★ Odette

☆ Liao Fan Hawker Chan

Liao Fan Hawker Chan is a joint partnership between Mr Chan – Chef of one-Michelin-starred Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle and Hersing Culinary. So to put things right, Liao Fan Hawker Chan is not Michelin-starred. The Michelin-starred establishment is the existing stall in Chinatown Food Complex. However the new air-con establishment offers a much comfortable dining place as compared to the hawker centre. [Update in 2017: this outlet was awarded Bib Gourmand]

I’ve long heard of the legendary soya sauce chicken stall in the hawker centre and have witnessed the snaking queue. It was perhaps the relatively affordable pricing at the hawker stall in addition to the juicy, succulent chicken that attracted hordes of foodies. However the long queue deterred me from trying them out until Hawker Chan Restaurant was introduced.

The queue at Hawker Chan Restaurant is definitely much shorter than the one at the hawker stall. But it doesn’t mean it was easy to get my hands on a plate of the chicken rice. It took me 3 visits before I managed to taste the chicken. On my first 2 attempts, the chickens were sold out by 6pm in the evening although the shop is supposed to operate till 10pm (Now their official hours is till 8pm).

For my 3rd visit, we got there by 5+pm. The queue was relatively short, extending over 2 shophouse units.  Waited in line for about 45 minutes but the wait was still bearable given the cloudy weather. With the queue system in place, customers are advised to get seated only after placing order for their food at the counter. Thankfully most people seemed to adhere to the rules instead of chope-ing for their seats way in advance to enjoy the aircon inside. However those in larger group size such as more than 4 pax may find it more challenging to get 2 tables side-by-side. Based on my observation most customers didn’t face the problem of not getting a table by the time their food is ready.

Over at the restaurant, the chicken meat is served on proper plates instead of styrofoam ones at the hawker stall. As the stall uses smaller birds, we have no problem finishing half a chicken between 2 pax. In fact, a group of guys sitting next to us ordered half a chicken per pax!

The meat was tender and juicy. The soy sauce chicken gravy style is closer to the type with a hint of rose-flavored rice wine (mei kwei lu).  Those who are familiar with soy sauce chicken would know that there is another style which is the darker and more savoury type (e.g the 2 shophouse stalls along Upper Cross Street). The chilli sauce provided seems pretty ordinary and nothing to shout about.

While I wouldn’t mind visiting the shop again, I probably won’t invest more than 30 mins of my time waiting in line.

78 Smith Street Singapore 059872

Mini Bar by José Avillez, Lisbon

It’s our last day in Lisbon and we wanted to end with a good meal. Unfortunately Belcanto is not opened and we settled for Mini Bar opened by the same chef – Jose Avillez. To a certain extend, our visit to Mini Bar might be a prelude to a place we are visiting for the final meal of our trip that will end in Barcelona – Tickets.  Both are similar in nature, in fact Mini Bar is said to pay homage of sorts to Tickets as Chef Jose Avillez once worked for Ferran Adrià at El Bulli. Ferran‘s younger brother, Albert, now runs Tickets which is a casual and fun, cinematic-themed bar.

Mini Bar, being a gastro pub, serves food in small bite sized portions. Instead of choosing the items ourselves, we opted for the “Epic Menu” which includes a total of 11 items decided by the chef.

While we were enjoying our cocktails of Pomar Amarguinha, Apple and Lemon and Pessoa Absolut Blue Vodka, Triple Sec, Lemon, Pineapple; we were served the first item which is “Mini cocktails to bite”. They are actually green apple and spearmint Margarita in solidified state. So we got to “eat” our Margaritas instead of drinking it.

Up next was El Bulli olives 2005 XL-LX size. The legendary liquid olives is one of the first reverse spherification dishes that was introduced at el Bulli. Although I’m not an olive lover, I had to try this iconic snack. I would love to compare the ones served here versus the ones at Tickets =)

As expected, after slipping the sphere into our mouths, we felt the “pop” sensation before tasting the olive juice flowing out. It was notable that reverse spherification resulted in a sphere with a thicker membrane than with basic spherification. We could feel the membrane after it pops. After tasting this olive, I realised that it’s not that I don’t like olives, I only don’t like pickled olives!

Moving on, we had the Ferrero Rocher, not what it appears to be! Belcanto 2011. It may look like the dessert chocolate from the outside but it’s filling tasted salty because it’s foie gras mousse.

Algarve prawns in ceviche was the 3rd snack we had, it has fresh prawns marinated in citrus juices resulting in a perfect sweet and sour taste. The 4th snack was a cracker, literally…“Roasted chicken” with avocado cream, cottage cheese, piri piri and lemon. Crispy chicken skin cracker with several different sauce toppings on it, sprinkled with a dash of the spicy piri piri. It’s an explosion of flavours and textures in my mouth.

Didn’t get a clear shot of the Beef tartar cone with mustard emulsion and Tuna tartar temaki cone with spicy soy. Interesting presentation as well as the fusion element of having diced tuna wrapped in crispy seaweed cone.

In a wink of an eye, we reached the 8th dish – LT egg with parmesan. I have no idea why its called “LT egg”, but it tasted like our soft-boiled egg covered under a pile of parmesan cheese. We are supposed to mix it up before eating.

Another Asian flavoured dish came – Pan seared scallops with Thai flavours. The scallops were chewy and incredibly fresh, placed on a mini hot-plate and served with what tasted like green curry gravy. An aromatic and spice-filled dish.

The last main dish was a typical American food – JAburger with PDO beef. Though it appears to be a simple, straightforward dish, I luv the potato croquette with spicy mayo. Something different from the typical fries =)

Dessert was what looked like a green ball sitting on a lettuce plate. Hmmm…I think it would be better if they could serve this on a oyster shell~ Making it looked like a jade pearl? Anyway this Globo lima-limão tasted like a giant lime sorbet! My facial muscles spasmed multiple times while trying to finish this…I’m extremely sensitive to anything sour… (>_<)

Bill came in a wooden box and we finished our meal with petit fours. Noticed how Mini Bar’s card looked like vintage tickets? A reflection of the fun, theatrical theme of the eatery.

Other photos taken:

Spent our afternoon exploring Alfama area. Waited a short while for the iconic Tram 28 to pass in front of Cathedral Se so as to replicate a classic scene always seen on postcards. We also marvelled at the colourful tiles used in the external facades of the buildings in the Alfama area. These walls make excellent backdrops and we had fun posing in front of them – trust me, they make great artistic portraits!

Getting disoriented and exploring Alfama to discover the numerous Miraduoros (lookouts) is part of the fun. We stopped by Miraduoro da Graca (top) and Miradouro das Portas do Sol (bottom) and for great view of the town.

The weather was cloudy on the day we visited Alfama or we would have climbed further uphill to Miradouro da Nossa Senhora do Monte to see sunset. We reckoned that we couldn’t catch nice sunset views that day (it started raining when we headed back to our hotel). Although tiring, it was certainly fun to explore Alfama on foot instead of taking tram and we also found a pretty graffiti wall in the area. Once again we had fun posing for photos as the vibrant colours makes it a great photo spot.

Other Related Posts:

• Mercado da Ribeira, Lisbon
• Mar do Inferno Restaurant, Cascais
• Pasteis de Belem, Lisbon

Antonio, Macau

After watching “The House of Dancing Water” show in City of Dreams, we returned to Taipa Village once again for our dinner. Since Macau used to be a Portugese colony up till 1999, we reckoned we should look for a restaurant to enjoy a Portuguese meal. Was down to A Lorcha, Fernando’s and Antonio.  Decided to dine at Antonio largely due to its location and also read about it from Anthony Bourdain’s Guide.

We sat on the ground floor dining hall next to a window overlooking the small alley outside. The tables were pretty close to each other, but the decor of the restaurant was warm and homely.

Read about the good range of wine available at the restaurant, so we ordered a bottle of white wine by Antonio Private 2012 from Duoro Region. The white wine from Duoro region are from a grape varieties which I have not tried before.

Ordered a salad thinking that we would need some fibre since we hadn’t eaten much veg during the trip. Although the Salada de Polvo Português Portuguese Octopus Salad had more octopus than veg, we enjoyed the refreshing dish. It was appetizing and octopus was nicely cooked. The other starter we tried was Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato Sautéed Clams with Garlic, Coriander, Olive Oil and White Wine Sauce. We could tell that the clams were fresh as it had an ocean-fresh aroma. The flesh was tender and chewy, the wine sauce was flavoursome.

The key highlight of our meal was the Arroz de Marisco à “António” Servido em Tacho de Barro 2 pessoas Wet Seafood Rice “Antonio” Style (crab, mussel, clams meat, prawns) Style Served in a Ceramic Pot – 2 Persons. The bright orange gravy filled with umami of rich prawn stock was tantalisingly good.  Unlike paella or risotto which is slightly drier, the Portuguese seafood rice is much more soupy. The portion was also pretty filling for the two of us, we had no choice but to leave behind some rice which goes soooo well with the gravy!  Combined with the fresh and juicy seafood, this dish is simply fantastic! Glad that we ended our day with this fabulous meal.

Not forgetting the entertaining a table-side dessert service of Crepes Suzette (2 unidades) Crepes Suzette (2 Units).  It’s definitely a dessert of choice for those with sweet tooth like me.

At the end of the meal, we were served a glass of Port wine each with compliments from the restaurant. Port really tasted much better than the other ultra-sweet dessert wines (some taste like cough syrup). We also enjoyed the white wine so much that before we left, we purchased a bottle of red Antonio Private 2010 back.

Antonio is definitely a restaurant which we would highly recommend to visit when in Macau.

Other Photos:

Grand Lisboa hotel is one of the tallest building in city centre, visible from almost everywhere in old Macau town. The hotel lobby has countless treasures on display, including a 200 carat diamond, the Horse bronze head of the chinese zodiac from old Summer Palace etc. These treasures are prized possessions of Macau’s gambling kingpin Mr Stanley Ho who owns the place. While he may have placed the treasures at the lobby to allow common folks like us to get a glimpse of the rare artworks, it’s also perfect stage for him to showcase of his wealth. Would loved to capture some photos but the lobby is as busy as a train terminal…packed with curious visitors here to admire the treasures.

To escape from the afternoon heat, we booked tickets to watch a fascinating show at City of Dreams (instead of go shopping in the resorts filled with the same-old international brands…). “The House of Dancing Water” is performed in a purpose-built theatre with a gigantic water tank that can transform into dry area in matter of seconds!

Performers possessed amazing skills and ability to execute acrobatic stunts in this well-choreographed show.

One of my favourite activity in Macau is to explore the different malls and capture the extravagant displays. Seen here is a golden dragon reaching for it’s pearl in City of Dreams.

It had been a long and fruitful day exploring Macau. There’s so much to see and experience that it would be a waste for visitors to only visit Macau as a “by-the-way” kind of day tour from HK. Although its a small city, it has many unique characteristic stemming from their Chinese-Portuguese history including architecture, road signages, food and not forgetting the exciting array of entertainment resorts.

Other Related Posts:

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• ★ The Eight 8餐廳, Macau
• Leitaria I Son 義順牛奶公司, Macau
• Tsui Wah Restaurant 翠華餐廳, Macau

Dill Restaurant, Iceland

Our reservation for Dill Restaurant was made in early Jan 2015 after Chef Tom Kerridge from UK was seen visiting them during his trip. We had a pleasant surprise, when we realised that they were one of the participating restaurants for the Food and Fun Festival in Reykjavik from 25th Feb to 1st Mar 15, moments before we make our way to the restaurant.

The core element of the festival involves world-acclaimed chefs travelling from France, Italy, Scandinavia and the USA and collaborating with some of Reykjavik‘s finest eateries. Each chef is assigned to a participating restaurant and collaborates with the host Chef to prepare a special menu made from Icelandic ingredients only. Chef Even Ramsvik from Norway was the chef at Dill Restaurant for the week-long event. His restaurant- Ylajali in Oslo, Norway had been awarded 1 Michelin star in 2014. We are excited to be able to enjoy a dinner by 2 established Chefs in one seating.

Dinner commenced with 3 snacks starting with Pickled carrot, fresh cheese, caraway seeds. The toast was crispy and went well with the cheese. It was followed by Beetroot, chicken  liver, roasted yeast. The staff reminded us to hold the chicken liver using the leaf which was used to wrap over the beetroot which will otherwise stain our fingers. Lastly, the crispy chicken skin, smoked eel, onion powder which was like a light and airy cracker.

For the dinner menu, there were 2 options either the small menu with 4 courses or the big menu with 7 courses. Since its our one and only proper dinner in Iceland, we went for the 7 courses one.

The first dish was Raw shrimp, frozen seatextures, miso, parsley. The raw shrimp was succulent and very fresh. Next was Salted cod, celeriac apple, fried cod cream. Iceland is one of the main producing countries of salted cod and is mainly produced in the town of Grindavík. While fermented shark seems too obnoxious for us, we were happy to try salted cod as it is also a very iconic Icelandic cuisine. The salted cod we had was cured and not the dried type, hence the flesh remained pretty firm. Unlike the Chinese salted fish, this salted cod doesn’t taste that salty afterall.

Third dish was Leek, hazelnuts, löjrom, seaweed, sour cream. The leek was first thrown into the charcoal fire and cooked till its outer layer became charred. It is then stripped down to its inner core before serving hence it has a char-grilled aroma. I particularly enjoyed the Löjrom (Swedish delicacy, roe of the bleak fish) with the sour cream.

I had to google to find out what a “Rutabagas” was, in case its something that we don’t eat. Turns out it is a type of turnip. So we went ahead with the dish of Rutabagas, cream cheese, sweet and sour DILL oil, millet. The rutabagas has a texture that is somewhat starchy like a potato, with a slight nutty taste.

Fried pork belly, kale, black garli, salsify, pork jus, sol was our main course. The pork belly was rich, juicy and so tender that it almost melts-in-the-mouth. A well-executed dish that doesn’t have much of the gamey taste.

After 2.5 hours, we finally arrived at the desserts. First being Skyr, celery, roasted oats. When we saw Skyr on the menu, we were thinking “Oh well, we’ve tried this. We know what this is.“. It didn’t cross our mind that it turned out to be so different from what we had in mind. The skyr mixed with celery and topped with crushed oats, turning it into a totally different dish. I liked the resulted texture of crunchy celery with nutty oats.

Lastly the Winter apples, green juniper, frozen buttermilk. I liked how it has a crisp thin layer (akin to the layer on creme brulee) and the frozen buttermilk. A nice refreshing end to our meal.

The check was delivered in a nice Icelandic wool pouch…how I wish I could bring this home…

P.S Chef Even Ramsik went on to win Food & Fun Festival Chef of the Year 2015. =)

Photos from the previous nights, our trip to the magical Ice Cave in the morning and the trip back to Reykjavik from Hofn:

1st night at the countryside with clear sky but no sight of the Northern Lights…But guess what, the next morning the staff at the guesthouse asked “Did you see the lights last night? There was a little at around 11pm.” We were both stunned as we were so tired that we only woke up from 12am onwards to wait for the lights…. =(

The 2nd night…when I woke up and saw the dazzling stars in the sky when I peered through the window, I decided to go out and snap some nice starry sky photos when “Voilà! I saw the green hue from the camera photo!”. That’s how I got my first shot of the Northern Lights. The lights were not exactly visible to the human eye despite having an activity level of 3-4 that night. I quickly changed the direction of my tripod and attempted to take a few more shots.

Though its not a spectacular display, at least we can say that we’ve seen the Northern Lights before and get it checked on my bucket list. But after seeing this, I yearn to visit Norway or Finland in hopes of catching a more visible and stronger aurora… (I know…greed is a sin). Stayed 2 days at Guesthouse Skalafell for 2 big reasons – Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon and the chance to catch sight of Northern Lights.

There’s so much to take in during this trip, many firsts for me. First time seeing Geyser, Northern Lights and now the Ice Cave! Went to one in the Vatnajökull with Ice Walk. It was AWESOME…the group almost didn’t want to leave when the time’s up!

A hard time choosing which photos to use here.

Chose one with a man in it to show the size of the cave we were in. After finishing the tour, we made our way back to Reykjavik and stopped by the Black sand beach at Reynisdrangar. We didn’t get to see the beach 2 days ago cos it was too foggy when we arrived. The sky was clear today but it was still very windy.

The basalt sea stacks holding strong fighting against the relentless pounding of the raging waves. Our tripod almost toppled from the wind force…while other photographer’s sturdy tripod managed to hold its ground.

The black sand actually looked more like polished pebbles upon closer observation. Really liked the many geological sights in Iceland which presented great photo opportunities. A pity that my photography skills couldn’t capture the full spirit of the majestic landscapes here… Iceland is undoubtedly a wonderful place for photographers to visit, they’ll be guaranteed to have a whale of a time here.

[Update in 2017]

Dill Restaurant becomes the first Iceland Restaurant to earn a Michelin Star!

Other Related Posts:

• Kaffi Hornid, Iceland
• Bernhoftsbakari, Iceland
• Geysir Glima Restaurant, Iceland

★ Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London

This is perhaps considered a belated Valentines’ Day dinner for me. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal housed in Mandarin Oriental of London, ranked No. 5 in World’s 50 Best Restaurant 2014 and a 2-Michelin starred restaurant. I’m having high expectations since this is the highest ranked 50 Best Restauarant I ever visited.

There weren’t tasting menu available at their dinner service, all ala-carte except for the Chef’s table. The set lunch is at £38 for three course and none of the signature dishes are in the selection. Therefore we had to go during dinner.

We were shown to our table which was near the large windows overseeing the park but there wasn’t much of a view since it was pitch dark outside. The restaurant was bustling with activities and pretty much packed, with no empty tables.  Although it’s in World’s Best Restaurant and Michelin-starred, it should be noted that they are not a fine dining establishment. They are often referred to as the younger cousin of The Fat Duck (currently closed for renovation and Chef is having pop-up in Melbourne).

Started our meal with white and brown sourdough bread. At 7.30pm, it’s 3am Singapore time, we were starting to feel sleepy, though we arrived the day before, as we haven’t fully gotten over the jet lag. While the others surrounding us were in lively conversations, we were pretty much zombified. My eyes brightened when my Meat Fruit Mandarin, chicken liver parfait & grilled bread arrived. The meat fruit reminded me that Chinese New Year is just round the corner, and I still get to eat the “festive fruit”.  After cutting the “fruit” in half, I get to taste the ultra smooth chicken liver parfait inside. The taste was well balanced with the subtle taste of Mandarin coating covering the chicken liver parfait. 

The other starter we tried was the Roast Marrowbone. It’s another “what you see is NOT what you get” dish as it comprised of Snails, parsley, anchovy, mace & pickled vegetables. The snails were chewy and nicely flavoured.

It was quite a long wait before our mains were ready, expected since the restaurant was packed. We ordered the Powdered Duck Breast Smoked confit fennel & umbles and Roast Iberico Pork Chop Spelt, ham hock & Robert sauce. After having pork for lunch we initially didn’t wanted to eat pork again (not a fan) but had to try their signature item. It also gives us a chance to determine which celebrity chef does pork dish better. Hee.

The duck was tender and juicy, with a crispy layer of the skin. I particularly enjoyed the savory gravy. The pork was not as soft as I would like it to be, some effort required to chew it; and I didn’t liked the gluey spelt – but that’s just me as I don’t like gluey stuff…

With a semi-filled stomach and reduced blood flow to the brain, our eyelids now seemed to weigh a ton… struggling to finish our meal faster… Our desserts finally arrived. The Tipsy Cake Spit roast pineapple being another highly raved about dish (beside the meat fruit) didn’t disappoint. Although it has a bread like cake which was very filling, I managed to mobilise alise my other dessert stomach to gobble it down! I absolutely luv this item, the aromatic grilled pineapple was equally stunningly good.

In my opinion the Sambocade Goats milk cheese cake, elderflower & apple, roast figs & smoked candied walnuts pales in comparison to Tipsy cake. Okay, it’s all about personal preference. The Sambocade is more of a savoury taste with earthy nuts tone.

The service staff then came by to ask if we would like to see her perform making the ice cream on the large trolley that had been making its round all over the dining hall (at additional charge, minimum of 2 pax). We gladly opted for it, after all we were expecting some theatrical performance since we are at Heston’s restaurant~

With liquid nitrogen used as a coolant to superfreeze the mixture, our ice creams were ready in a minute. We were allowed to customized our ice cream with 2 of the 3 toppings available. Frankly I enjoyed the show more than the taste of the ice cream…

Afrer struggling to finish the ice cream, to our surprise we were served petit four to end our meal. Surprised, because we didn’t have amuse bouche so we weren’t expecting petit four and secondly we were simply too full (& tired) to finish it…

While I enjoyed the meat fruit and tipsy cake, the overall dining experience didn’t wow me. Not exactly memorably wonderful. The place felt too busy especially with that many service staff moving around so frequently. Looking forward to my next highlight meal of the trip at The Ledbury.

Photos taken earlier:Rare sunny day during winter, perfect for great shots.

Other Related Posts: 

• Waku Ghin
• Steirereck Restaurant, Vienna

☆ Chef Mads Refslund @ 4xFOUR Singapore

For the 2nd edition of 4xFOUR Singapore, I’ve made a booking for Chef Mads Refslund’s dinner. This year’s event is held at Temasek Suite in F1 Pit building but not much of a view to enjoy as it was pitch dark outside. In fact it felt weird getting there as the F1 Pit building was not lit and looked as if we were walking towards a restricted zone.

We were more assured after entering the lift that has posters of the featured chefs plastered inside. Voila~ When the lift doors opened, we were greeted by the 4xFOUR backdrop. =)

Even more pleasing was the complimentary Reyka Icelandic Mule cocktail offered to all guests.

We had a bottle of Little Beauty Black Edition Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Marlborough, New Zealand as most of the dishes had seafood in it. The wine was excellent, crisp and had mild sweet tone. Was initially pretty happy with our table arrangement as we were seated at table 2, near the demo kitchen area. However Chef Refslund only did an opening speech at the stage area and didn’t spend much time at the demo kitchen area.  He explained that the first 3 dishes were sharing plates and the dinner started with Mackerel Tart with Black Truffle and Salmon Tartare in a Rye Taco with Juniper. The presentation method used for the mackerel tart was pretty interesting – on fresh wrap covering the bowl. Luv the beautiful juniper structure used to hold the salmon tartare. Most importantly both items tasted great~ From the fragrant black truffle to the fresh and juicy salmon tartare that has roes popping in our mouths.

3rd sharing dish was Brown Farm Eggs with Corn, Amaranth & Aged Cheese, placed in a dim sum bamboo steamer laid with chicken wire and hay – making the eggs looked as if they were freshly laid. The warm savory egg custard was silky smooth and richly flavoured with cheese.

Chef had to made slight tweak the the next dish – Scallops with cucumbers & buttermilk horseradish, as he couldn’t find cucumbers he replaced it with daikon. The dish tasted very natural, a simple yet tasty dish.

Broth of Mushrooms with Egg Yolk & Seaweed had Japanese influences as shared by Chef and it was totally like an Asian dish so it didn’t wow us.

Seeds & Grains with Oysters & Beach Greens received mixed reviews from us.  The ladies found it too briny while the guys seemed to enjoy this dish. I liked the seeds & grains combination but didn’t liked the warm oyster.

Last main dish was Pork Neck with Mushrooms & Black Garlic. The pork neck was juicy and tender, the cut has always been one of my favourite. I luv the pork neck served in Japanese ramen too.

Dessert was Frozen beets with yogurt and rye and Ice cream of Almond with crispy sun chokes and acacia honey. Both were fantastic. The first created a visual impact as it looked like blood splattered on white snow – very nordic indeed. The sweet and sourish flavours were well-balanced. After tasting the fruity dessert, the 2nd one was nutty and earthy. Aromatic sun choke flakes complemented the  honey that had a mild sweet aftertaste.

Other Related Posts:

• ☆ Chef Alvin Leung @ 4xFOUR Singapore
• ☆ Chef Tom Kerridge @ 4xFOUR Singapore

☆ Chef Paco Pérez @ Ikarus, Salzburg

Hangar-7 is owned by Red Bull founder and is the key reason why I arranged a stop-over in Salzburg. Its an extraordinary place of pilgrimage for food, architecture, planes and car lovers. The hangar itself is an unique architectural work of art, housed inside the multi-functional building is a one Michelin-starred restaurant – Ikarus. The restaurant operates under a one-of-a-kind ‘guest chef concept’. A different top chef each month takes turn to run the kitchen and serve their culinary creations in this sleek-looking hangar.

The hangar has a spectacular view of the mountainous snow-capped alps nearby. The Ikarus restaurant is located on the 2nd storey of the building adjoining the hangar, the interior of the restaurant is equally impressive as the views outside.

The guest chef of the month was Paco Pérez from Spain. Chef Paco Pérez was the protégé of one of the world’s best chef: Ferrán Adriá, owner of the world-famous el Bulli restaurant.  Back in Spain, he runs Restaurant Miramar which is a two Michelin-star restaurant as well as Enoteca (also two Michelin stars), the La Royale and the Mirror in Barcelona as well as the Restaurant Cinco (one Michelin star) in Berlin. With such stellar background, I’m certainly excited to try his molecular gastronomy dishes.

There were 2 menus available for the lunch session: (a) a twenty-three course menu (b) eighteen-course menu (€135). The exceptionally high number of courses might sound rather intimidating but this is because Chef’s dishes were typical Spanish Tapas style, mainly comprising of small bite sized items. We opted for the eighteen-course menu as the staff informed us that it would take more than 3 hours to finish the twenty-three course one. Given our tight schedule in Salzburg, we had to opt for the shorter menu so that we have sufficient time to explore the aircraft museum later.

Interestingly the guest chef for January was Andre Chiang from Restaurant ANDRE, Singapore. We excitedly told the staff that we were from Singapore too and had also dined in his restaurant before. * The service staff doesn’t change, so they still have fresh memories of Chef Andre. It also meant that they have a challenging task of memorising new menus & ingredients for each dish every month..*

The first dish was Pine nuts comprised of pine seeds stuck onto a thin strip of paper, sitting pretty on a bed of cannot-be-eaten wheatgrass.  Followed by Apple which was made of refreshing green apple.

Third dish was Char Toast which was Meringue with emulsion of seaweed and salmon roe topped with char (fish similar to trout). The snow-white meringue really looked the part of toast, with bits of pinkish char and bright orangey roe as toppings. It not only looked enticing, it had a fantastic combination of various textures in 1 bite – crisp meringue, pop-in-your mouth roe and melt-in-your mouth char (texture was a bit like raw salmon).

Fourth dish was Thyme Soup which had Sea urchin, soy sauce with quail egg. The savoury soup was bursting with umami while the taste of uni was well-balanced by the quail egg.

Fifth dish was Anchovy presented like Japanese gunkan sushi with seaweed wrapping over the “rice” which had a soft dough-liked texture. Sixth dish Nigiri also had Japanese influences as its a deconstructed Nigiri, with the fish wrapped under the layer of soft dough-liked textured “rice”, adorned with dot of wasabi and seaweed.

Seventh dish Coconut “thai” had coconut freeze-dried at -100 degrees Celsius for 48 hrs, topped with thinly sliced shrimps.  Eighth dish was Chicken beer which I guess should be some chicken broth cooked for hours. Ninth dish was Andalucia, its also one of the most interesting dish so far. At first look one would be tempted to tear open the clear bag containing the fried bites inside. But the server told us that the clear bag can be eaten as well! The contents inside the bag were somewhat like a mixture of battered seafood such as calamari, shrimps etc.

We usually see edible translucent rice paper but seldom see transparent ones, can’t help but wonder how the transparent paper was created.  Out of curiosity I went to do a search on it. Found out that the edible film discs are made of potato starch and soy lecithin. It does not dissolve when in contact with oil or liquid ingredients with low water content. Chef Ferrán Adriá created an iconic dish called “disappearing transparent ravioli” allowing diners to see what is wrapped inside.

Such was the fun of enjoying molecular food, as it sets you thinking…while your visual and taste sensory play tricks on you.

Within 30 mins after commencing our meal, we were onto the tenth dish – Truffled cloud. The “cloud”- fluffy candy floss was littered with earthy mushroom, aromatic truffle and nutty macadamia.

If there is an award for best presentation I would give it to the eleventh dish named Sea. This dish is also served at Chef’s own restaurant but I think what made the dish looked exceptionally striking here was the use of the “Hangar 7” design glass plate. The plate coincidentally looked like a flattened globe with the lines being the longitudes and latitudes of earth. Now laying the various elements of “seafood” on it, isn’t it a well-composed visually pleasing piece of art? Not only that, we were given a pair of tweezers each to pick up the dainty morsels comprising of scallop with salmon roe, cod tar tar, mussel, whelk, tuna, lobster, razor clam, prawn, clam etc.

After Sea, we had Peas made up of marinated prawn, peas and jelly. Despite not being a pea lover, surprisingly I had no issues taking this dish. This dish had different forms of peas – the molecular peas, normal cooked peas and the dehydrated peas all mixed into one bowl.

The thirteenth dish was Octopus “seoul” Grilled Octopus with beef tendon cooked for 18 hours into gelatinous form. Scrambled eggs was next and it was explained to us as eggs with truffle. The yellow yolks were probably made using the spherification technique.

Moving into the main courses Calamari risotto and Duck. The risotto had intense octopus flavour, the risotto texture was cooked perfectly as the grains were supple, added aroma from the black truffle topping. Duck was served with beetroot and onion, wonderfully plated as well. The duck had a crackling crispy skin yet retained its juiciness and tenderness in the flesh.

At last we reached the last 2 dishes – desserts. Mango and citrus fruits had chocolate, raspberry with passionfruit and caramel. Being a mango lover, I can’t have enough of this superb dessert. We end our lunch with a amusingly playful dessert “Nevada” cake by Tarantino that requires us to break the cake and see the crimson “blood” oozing out, an epitome of Tarantino’s gruesome movie style.

We finished our meal in 2.5 hours, slightly faster than the 3+ hours needed for the 23-course menu. We were delighted that we made the right choice to stop-over at Salzburg to visit Ikarus inside Hangar 7 and having the opportunity to taste Chef Paco Pérez’s culinary creations.

Now for Part 2 of our Hangar 7 visit – admiring the futuristic architecture and historic collection of aircrafts, racing cars and motorbikes. I think this is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Hangar you can find in the world.

 In the morning, we did a short city tour around Altstadt.  

Before leaving the Aldstadt area to catch a late train from the main station to Munich, we still had some time to spare so we decided to go look for a Michelin-starred restaurant near our hotel along the main shopping street – Carpe Diem Finest Fingerfood but unfortunately it was closed for renovation.

We did a final walkabout in the old town before bidding goodbye to Salzburg.

Other related posts:

• Maier’s Gastro, Salzburg
• Steirereck Restaurant, Vienna
• Nordsee, Vienna
• Wien & Co., Vienna
• Veltlinerkeller Restaurant, St Moritz
• The Pizzaria @ Kulm Hotel, St Moritz
• Le Mandarin, St Moritz
• Glacier Express, Zermatt to St Moritz
• Whymper-stube Restaurant, Zermatt
• Sprüngli, Zurich