★ Odette

Technically speaking this is the first time I’m having a full course meal by Chef Julien at Odette. My first encounter with Chef Julien‘s cooking was when he was still helming the space at Level 70 of the hotel in City Hall (JAAN, 2013). Subsequently we visited Odette at their current premise when there was a four-hands dinner with Chef Takazawa (Takazawa x Odette). On this current visit, there was a sense of familiarity and also excitement to try newly created dishes.

On both occasions where we dined at the current Odette premise, we were seated not at the main hall but the side section which does not have a view of the kitchen. I’m not sure if it’s because most of the tables for 2 pax were situated away from the main section; or perhaps it’s crucial to make reservation in advanced and indicate the seating preference for them to try to accommodate to the requests. If you prefer cosy corner, the side room would offer more privacy away from the bustling hall which is comparatively more open. My key gripe was again the rather dim lighting at the restaurant. I had the same sentiment when I last dined here too. It felt worse this time as I had to squint my eyes to read the relatively small fonts on the printed set menu. Guess part of the reason was I’m getting on age and starting to develop presbyopia….some of the photos didn’t turned out well (which was kinda disappointing to look at while I was writing this post).

Amuse-bouche of onion tart, 36-months aged cheese, saba taco. Really enjoyed this trio of snacks filled with richness, creaminess and complimented with the crispy crusts~

More snacks served – Mushroom tea and Truffle brioche. This snack was a play of earthy flavour with the alluring umami of truffle~

Ended the snacks tasting with a decadent uni toast – which was one of the signature. Thereafter bread selection was served alongside butter with parsley and garlic.

The formal course began with Asperges Blanches De Mazan Hokkaido uni, Granny smith, Kristal caviarsus. Jaw-dropping combination of all my favourite delicacies. I swear the picture doesn’t do justice to this dish (and the other dishes too…).

The next dish was light and refreshing Normandy Brown Crab Avocado, Nashi pear, Coriander. The sweetness of the delicate crustacean meat left a lasting impression on my palate.

For the 3rd course, we opted to switch one of our set course item to a supplement dish. The standard dish was a signature of the restaurant which we had tasted before – Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg Smoked potato syphon, Chorizo Iberico, Meuniere.

Therefore we switched one dish to the Raviole De Langoustine Shiso, Black Truffle, Bisque which requires a top-up of $108. Yes…$108. If you order this as an additional course it will cost $128. But was it worth it? My answer is a resounding Yes. The entire experience began when the service staff place the plate of raviole in front of me. I could smell the alluring aroma of the umami-packed bisque. Next comes the grating of the black truffle where whiffs of the musky and oaky smell wafts towards you. All these builds up the anticipation before you scoop up the bisque and take your first sip of it. After the initial wave of euphoria, you then take a bite of the al-dente raviole and wait to be amazed by the second wave of wonder. Needless to say we slurped up every drop of the luscious bisque.

With our minds still reeling in from the stunning raviole, we were presented with a bowl of clear-looking soup. This is Bouillon ‘Paysan’ Foie Gras, Abalone, Shiitake – a signature dish inspired by Singapore‘s Bak Kut Teh. What took me by surprise was this is first time (I think) I tasted poached foie gras as typically foie gras are pan seared. The warm savoury yuzu-infused pork broth somehow helps to refresh the palate while elevating the flavours of the creamy melt-in-your-mouth foie gras; and the chargrilled chewy abalone. There was an amalgation of complex flavours in this “plain-looking” dish. Yet another stunning course~

Compared to the two extraordinary dishes earlier, the Basque Country Monkfish Stuffed morel, Swiss chard, Vin jaune may seem less spectacular. But this dish also featured exquisite ingredients such as the prized morel and the “yellow wine”.

Before the next main course, we were given a sneak preview: pigeon roasted on the crown and smoked with rosemary & thyme, which would be portioned out for us later.

Here’s the plated Kampot Pepper Crusted Pigeon Beetroot, Black garlic, Confit leg. After finishing the meat using fork and knife, guests were advised to pick up the “leg” to finish off the final bit of flesh. Thereafter we could unwrap the roll of white paper around the bone to uncover some hidden messages. We guessed that it could be the the origin or “serial number” of the pigeon…haha. Turns out we were half-right. There were fun facts printed on each piece.

• “We source our pigeons specially from Monsieur Fabien Deneour in Plounéour–Ménez Finistère, Brittany.”
• “The crust uses amazing Kampot peppers from Norbet Binot of Kampot Jewels.”

Palate cleanser of apple matcha

Calamansi & Thai Basil Tart Sable Breton, Yuzu, Coconut

Drinks Pairing

Sadie Family, Swartland, Palladius 2017

Pazo Senorans, Albarino Seleccion de Anada 2011

Domaine de Montbourgeau, Jura, L’Etoile 2017 and Cls Cibonne, Provence, Marius 2017 (for Egg & Raviole respectively)

Peyre Rose, Languedoc, ‘Oro’ 2006

Koehler-Ruprecht, Kallstadter Saumagen Auslese Trocken 2015

Herve Bizeul, Roussillon, Le Clos des Fees 2007

Ca’ d’Gal Vite Vecchia. Moscato d‘Asti DOCG, Italy 2015

Douceurs – Lychee elder flower ice popsicle

Fuji apple, musk melon kumquat and Vanilla from Madagascar canele and Tongka tart

We were gifted with a bottle of jam as souvenir. The jam was seriously good and amazing!

Other Related Posts:

• ★ Zén
• ★ Basque Kitchen by Aitor
• ★ Jaan By Kirk Westaway
• ☆ Mirazur at Mandala Club (Pop-up in Singapore)
• ★ Braci
• ★ Nouri

★ Disfrutar, Barcelona

Today we managed to tick off another restaurant left out from our 2016 Barcelona To-Eat list. Back then we had limited days to dine in BCN and Disfrutar does not operate on weekends. So this place was the 2nd reservation we add to our itinerary, about 6 months before the date of our visit.

Having heard of the relatively filling menu, we arrived hungry – ready for a feast. Opted for the (whopping 31-course) Disfrutar Classic – Tasting menu composed by creations that have become “classics” of the house.

Unlike the more formal settings of El Celler de Can Roca, Disfrutar is more known for its casual ambience and playful atmosphere.

As we commence our dinner, we were first offered “Welcoming Cocktail” of Frozen passion fruit ladyfinger with rum. This dish was extremely fragile, even with warning from the server, we destroyed one of it while attempting to lift it up. Perhaps the restaurant knew of the likelihood of having clumsy guests, they were quick to serve up a replacement when they saw the wrecked piece on the plate…

If you managed to overcome the challenge of lifting it up gently, be sure to stay focused when you place the aerated meringue-liked piece in you mouth. It will be a “blink and you will miss it” moment as it dissolves almost instantaneously. What’s left on my palate was the rum aftertaste. It felt like a magic trick.

Our second “cocktail” came in the form of Lychee and roses with gin and the server explained to us to first drink one petal filled with spheres of rosewater and gin (without eating the petal) before tasting the frozen lychee (that looked like a white raspberry) and finally to finish off by drinking the contents of the second petal.

The next magic act came when the server presented a bowl filled with the gravel-liked contents (they are in fact black sesame seeds) in the middle of the table. Just when we were wondering what the centre-piece was for, he held the bowl and made a few swirls in circular motion ~Voila, the “quake” unraveled two balls: The beet that comes out of the land.

Next we were presented with “Panchino”/ filled with beluga caviar. Panchino means “Chinese Bread” in Spanish, hence this is actually a deep fried dough with caviar and crème fraîche inside! Definitely one of the most luxurious bun I’ve ever eaten.

Guests were kept suspended as the servers presented to us a carved wooden box before opening it up to reveal the Savoury walnut candy with mango, tonka beans and whisky. We were told to eat the brown packet first before tasting the Mango. Coming from tropical country, Mango is a pretty commonly eaten fruit. But the tonka beans was something new to me. The ‘tonka beans’ are the aromatic seed of a giant tree from deep in the Amazon rainforest. However this ingredient which is coveted for its superb flavour, has been banned for consumption in the United States since 1954 because it can cause liver problems in high concentrations. Even in Singapore (where we were from), the use of tonka bean as flavouring agent is prohibited.

After tasting the multi-layered perfumed notes of vanilla, cherry, almond, spicy cinnamon, cloves, it made perfect sense as to why this was paired with the equally aromatic fruit.

Our olfactory sensory continued to be piqued by the Smoked instant apple cider prepared by the table-side. Other than adding dry ice to the apple cider in the coffee press for the smoking visual effect, the real deal was with the smoking done by burning the oak dust and placing the glass over for it to be infused with the flavour.

The apple cider was then served using the brandy sniffer glasses for the Idiazabal cheese Mille-feuille as a pairing. The idiazabal is a pressed cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk, usually from Latxa and Carranzana sheep in the Basque Country in the North of Spain.

Disfrutar’s Gilda is a spin on the iconic Basque pintxo (bar snack). Over here instead of being skewered on a toothpick, it is an assembly of guindilla (Spanish chile pepper),  mackerel and a faux olive on a plate. Not forgetting the piece of bread to complete the dish.

Another classic Spanish dish was also re-engineered into new form as the quintessential cold soup was turned into Gazpacho sandwich with vinegar garnish. Aerated tomato meringue that looked like bread was filled with gazpacho sorbet in between and we were recommended to smell the sherry vinegar sprayed into the glass in between bites.

We were introduced to a black cauliflower – at first glance it certainly looks like a cauliflower turned bad, but this is totally safe to be eaten. The caramelised Black cauliflower with coconut and lime bechamel was the result of cooking the cauliflower in a OCOO (a pressure cooker plus double boiler) for ten hours.

Crispy egg yolk with mushrooms warm gelatin require guests to first take a small bite of the crispy puff which is filled with liquid yolk and let the yolk drip into the shell filled with mushroom gelatin. It somewhat reminds me of how we eat our Singapore kaya-toast with soft-boiled egg seasoned with dash of dark soy sauce.

The next trio was probably my favourite dishes as it featured fresh seafood. Starting with the Deconstructed Ceviche. The idea was to first taste the cold refreshing carrot and aji pepper sorbet before mixing it with the rest of the sauce including creamed monkfish liver and coriander oil to experience the different textures and flavours.

Next the staff brought a plate covered in salt and slowly removed the salt to unveil an oven bag. He explained that the razor clams were cured for 5 mins and then placed in the fridge for 24 hours.  After unwrapping the oven bag, he drizzled olive oil over the razor clams and finished it with a few spritz of sherry vinegar before presenting to us –  Razor clams with seaweed in salt. Alongside was the Crispy seaweed ravioli which had sea urchin and seaweed on a cracker. We were told to first take the canapes first then the razor clams. With lingering umami of the sea urchin on my palate, it further brought out the freshness of the succulent the razor clams!

Now for one of Distrutar’s Signature Dish – Our macaroni carbonara which featured translucent pasta made of congealed ham stock with pancetta and Parmesan, topped with carbonara foam, grated Parmesan and Truffle~ Yup its real truffle. I jokingly asked the staff to confirm that – cos it’s so crazy eating here as what you see is NOT what you think it is

Visit my IG #yummydelightsg_disfrutar to see the video.

I tried savouring a few mouthful of the “pasta” with my eyes closed just to feel its texture compared to real carbo-loaded pasta. My verdict? I can’t tell the difference with the cheese and truffle coating it.

After a flurry of table side services that got us excited, our meal reverted back to a more relaxed mode with serving of Tomato “polvorón” and arbequina Caviaroli (Encapsulated extra virgin olive oil) and Liquid salad with cucumber and tomato foam. This seemed like an interlude snack in-between the courses as the polvorón is a type of heavy, soft, and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk, and nut; while the fresh green juice acted as an energy booster for us before continuing with the 2nd half of the course menu i.e another 15 courses to go. Bring it on!

Proper course resumed with Our green peas, could you spot which are the real peas vs the spherification peas made with pesto?

Another dish featuring traditional Catalan dish, potato-based seafood stew – Suquet, was introduced to us as we were served the Langoustine in “”suquet” along with a cup of “Suquet” Cappuccino. This is the 3rd seafood stew/soup we had during this trip as almost every city we visited (Stockholm, Tromsø, Barcelona) has its own version of seafood stew. And everyone of them is packed with rich crustacean flavours.

We didn’t opt for wine pairing for this meal as we reckoned we might be too full to fill our stomach with drinks…so we were surprised to see the staff setting up the table side service to prepare a drink again (remember we had apple cider earlier).

Instead of a cocktail, this turned out to be Hare consomme with Armagnac which is paired with Hare and foie gras bonbon and Hare Laksa. Our attention was immediately drawn to the Laksa – which is an Asian cuisine we are familiar with! Inside the clam shell is a mouthful of spicy broth with rice vermicelli.

Disfrutar’s most instagrammed dish finally made its appearance – Multi spherical tatin of corn and foie. Other than scoring full marks for its brilliant disguise, I also luv the sweet corn/foie taste combination and the texture as a result of the spherication.

Our final savoury dish was the Pibil Squab. Pibil is a Mexican style cooking using seasoning of achiote. The squab was served with corn spheres and baby corns.

The Chefs certainly draws inspiration from diverse cuisines around the world as we kick-off our dessert course with Pandan. It is of course an ingredient we are familiar with and the Pandan chiffon cake (aka green cake) is one of the most popular must-try confectionery for foreigners visiting Southeast Asia. They created this dessert using pandan, mango and coconut.

After the bright yellow and green dessert, we were served the sweet pink coloured Cheesecake cornet served in a mini pot.  Paper-thin red fruit crispy cone was filled with cheese and topped with cherry sorbet and mint.

Continuing with the visually stunning presentation of desserts, we were served a plate of red and green pepper. Once again, guests were deceived by its looks as they are in fact made with chocolate. The Chocolate peppers, oil and salt comprised of a green peppermint chocolate and a red chili chocolate and salt.

Chocolate and coffee is a classic combo hence the next dessert was Coffee swiss roll meringue, coffee, hazelnut.

“Tarta al whisky” was a rather complicated dish for both the server and diners as they had to give detailed explanation to us for this multi-component dessert. First, several drops of 16-year-old whisky were poured on our hands, to be rubbed together and inhaled, as an olfactory pairing to the dessert. Next we were told to pick up the caramelised egg yolk to be eaten after combining it with the vanilla creme and yuzu. Finally we were told to finish off with the hazelnut and hazelnut oil encapsulated in sugar, to be taken in one bite. Just when we thought they have explained everything, the server added a liner before he left – the corks are NOT to be eaten.

Time flies when you were enjoying an entertaining meal. We had spent more than 3.5 hours in the restaurant when we reach the last course – Cocoa and mint cotton. When I saw the stalk of cotton plant being brought to our table, I recalled that my first encounter with a real live cotton plant was at another restaurant in Spain – Azurmendi. This time round, I get to pluck and eat a “cotton ball” dusted with mint flavored chocolate powder  

Before we leave the restaurant, I made a trip to the washroom in the basement and was impressed with this rather dramatic “waterfall” tiles.

Other Related Posts:

• ★ El Celler de Can Roca, Girona
• ★ Tickets, Barcelona
• ★Azurmendi, Larrabetzu
• ★ Arzak, San Sebastián
• ★ Restaurante Villena, Segovia
• StreetXO, Madrid

★ El Celler de Can Roca, Girona

On 2nd March 2018, we were excited to secure our table at El Celler de Can Roca, Girona to celebrate Valentine’s Day 2019. Been wanting to eat here since 2016 when we last visited Barcelona – was on the waitlist that didn’t’ clear… This reservation was the anchor of our winter holiday that resulted in us planning a trip to Barcelona.

Took an early train from Barcelona to Girona and took time to explore the town centre in the morning and work up an appetite for lunch. We arrived pretty early (& hungry) and even waited at a nearby park until 5 mins before our 12 noon slot before entering the compound.

Nonetheless we were led to wait at the lounge as the staff and crew were not ready yet. We rewarded ourselves for waking up early and making our way to Girona ahead of scheduled lunch time with a glass of Albet i Noya El Celler Brut Rva D.O. Classic Penedes.

While waiting for our table, we were offered to browse the menu. There are two options available: the smaller Tasting of our classic menu (7-course) and the bigger Feast menu (15-course). The choice was clear for us…given this almost once-in-a-lifetime experience, we had to try as much food as possible.

Before commencing on the proper courses, we were treated to a series of snacks~

Starting with Memories of a bar in the suburbs of Girona: squids, kidneys with Sherry, gentian and orange bonbon, Montse’s meat cannelloni, Cod brandade Love the way the small bites were placed over the pop-up stand with photos of the 3 brothers when they were young.

The presentation continued to impress us with Coral: Cockles à la royal with lemon and fermented pepper air and Tuna belly with ginger. We enjoyed every bit of the fresh seafood featured.

Next is probably one of the signature dishes of the restaurant Green olive’s ice cream and black olive tempura. Can you spot the 2 olives hanging on the plant?

While we were enjoying the snacks that continued to wow us, we can’t help but had our eyes glued on an elaborated globe which made its way to other tables that started their meal later than us. What about us? Had they forgotten to serve us that snack? Or is that not included in our menu? 

Our anxiety piled as FOMO hit us….we heaved a sigh of relief when the stunning globe was finally brought to our table!

The snacks were created based on the Roca’s travels around the world, which apparently changes regularly. Head over to my instagram or hashtag: #yummydelightsg_roca to see the video of this incredible globe.

For our meal, it featured 3 Asian countries (but not Singapore though from others’ post I read that they showcased our country’s famous chilli crab).

The World (clockwise from top-right)

• Turquia: lamb, yourt, cucumber, onions with mint
• Peru: “Causa limeña”
• Korea: panco fried bread, bacon with soya sauce, kimchi and sesame oil
• Thailand: Thai, chicken, coriander, coconut, curry and lime

After finishing the first 4 snacks, we had to move the lever to match the correct country that inspired the last snack. The answer was pretty straightforward as the last snack was

• Japan: miso cram with nyinyonyaki

After shifting the lever, the globe opens up for the final surprise snack – Sphere of edible seawater. We certainly appreciated the fun factor behind the thoughts and presentation of the snacks. This was the 2nd most interactive dining experience we had, 1st being our visit to Azurmendi.

The last snack was  Bean leaves with baby bean tartar, “calçot”, lemon albedo and Black mole Truffled brioche picured with Gonzalez Byass Palo Cortado 1986 Para El Celler De Can Roca. This final snack featured a dish incorporating mole which is a traditional sauce originally used in Mexican cuisine, highlighting the diversity of food showcased in the repertoire of amuse bouche presented.

Bread was offered before we commence the meal proper. Bearing in mind that we would be having a 15-course menu, I had to exercise self-control to limit the amount of bread that I pick though everything look so enticing.

Kicked off our meal proper with the visually stunning Red Salad: beetroot vinaigrette, charcoal-grilled red pepper, red sisho jelly, red onion, celery and cilantro. Honestly, we are not veg people but we polished off everything in a snap. The refreshing and appetizing starter got us ready for the epic courses ahead.

Compared to the earlier dish which exudes passion from the vibrant red colour, the next dish was a picture of calm and serenity. To me, it looked like a Japanese painting – with gold alps rising above the misty clouds and a pair of birds soaring above. Here is the Golden gilt-head bream with rice and sake milk, tender almond tofu and pickled lychee.

Although this was not the first time we visit Barcelona, we hadn’t got the chance to try the celebrated Catalan spring onion.  Happy to taste “Calçot” with black sesame ash and dark “romesco” sauce, although it was not served in its traditional form. The traditional way of eating this require guests to eat this with their hand by first peeling off the charred outer layer and dipping the stem part into a sauce; before tilting your head back and lowering it into your mouth (test of your coordination skills). Guess they try to avoid having guests make a mess at this fine dining place hence we got to eat this elegantly with our fork and knife.

Next we had the Langoustine with sagebrush, vanilla oil and toasted butter. By itself it’s a nice dish, but after tasting the awesome langoustine served at Maaemo a few days ago this was comparatively less memorable.

Perhaps I should cover the wine pairing for the dishes so far: (Top row) Gramona Celler Batlle 04 D.O. Cava, Cosmic Encarinyades 17 Agullana and Sake Katsuyama Den Junmai Daiginjo.

(Bottom row) Chateau des Rontets Les Birbettes 15 A.O.C Pouilly-Fuisse, Gran Caus 04 D.O. Penedes and 3 Miradas La Vina de Antonin 17 D.O. Montilla Moriles.

Yet another traditional Spanish ingredient was featured, this time round it’s rabbit meat – Cuttlefish “alla brutesca” with roasted rabbit sauce. Rabbit meat is a somewhat exotic protein that is pretty rare to find in Singapore. I’m not exactly sure but it seemed like “alla brutesca” mean pan-roasted? The last time we had a taste of rabbit meat was at Osteria Francescana where it was served as a filling of a tiny macaron snack. Hence this is the first time we are tasting the meat as a proper dish on its own.

After cutting a small piece off the bone, I placed it gingerly in my mouth expecting the gamey flavour to hit my palate (somehow I had the impression that it would be gamey…). To my surprise, there was none of it and the meat was tender and chewy. It tasted like frog meat.

Next we had the Semi cured hake, juice of its bones, asparagus and rocket pesto, and grilled piparras and rocket oil. Followed by Steamed fresh-caught whole fish market, stuffed with seaweeds and sea anemones. Both fish dish were incredibly fresh and tasty. They had differing textures, former being firm and flaky while the latter had tender and delicate meat.

A third fish dish was served, this time round – Dried eel from Delta de l’Ebre with a foam of garlic and red pepper, charcoal-grilled eel, stir-fry dried potato and saffron oil rounding up our exploration of the harvests from the ocean.

We were delighted to have the Iberico suckling pig blanquette, with fermented cabbage and spiced meatball “pilota” as main. The suckling pig, is a quintessential Spanish dish which we first tried while in Sevogia (Restaurante Villena). The crackling skin with tender meat was unforgettable. Here the dish is plated with acidic sides to balance the richness of the meat.

Wine pairing (Top row): Domaine Vacheron Les Romains 16 A.O.C Sancerre, Partida Pedrer 16 D.O. Qa. Priorat, Mas d’en Compte 07 D.O. QQa. Priorat

(Bottom row) Pradio 16 Ribeira Sacra, Anayon 1967 Carinena, Domaine Verset 10 A.O.C. Cornas

Other than the vintage 1967 wine that left an impression on us, the other wine which I remember fondly was the Vina Real Gran Reserva 75 D.O. Rioja for its vibrant colour and taste. Head over to my instagram to see a video of it’s colour when we twirled it in the glass, the diffracted lights looked like a dancing fire #yummydelightsg_roca

Although France has traditionally been known as the main producer of black truffles, the “diamond of the kitchen” is also produced in Spain. And they are one of the countries with the biggest black truffle production. Happy to try this during the truffle harvest season – Truffle soufflé Truffle oil, truffle parmentier, veal oyster blade, truffle foam.

I even found an interesting story behind the creation of this dish (here). It was said that the truffle soufflé was inspired by the iconic roof of Casa Mila (I visited this impressive building in 2016 – see the shot of roof).

As Joan Roca’s chef explains: “Inspired by the organic faceted shapes of Gaudi’s architecture, the truffle slices contain an ethereal truffle soufflé, and in its core, a portion of veal oyster blade cooked at low temperature, of 50º degrees for 70 hours“.

The second meat dish was Smoked duck magret with orange. This dish seemed like a modern twist to the classic French dish of Duck à l’Orange.

Finally the last main course arrived and its Hare à la royal Beetroot purée, black garlic purée, cocoa dust, distilled earth – another famous French dish. The intensely flavoured hare meat (very gamey compared to rabbit although we typically think that they belonged to the same family?) is served with a rich earthy sauce made with mushrooms, truffle etc. The portion was just right for us to appreciate the dish without feeling overwhelmed by its intense flavours.

For desserts we started with Petrichor Distilled earth, pine syrup ice cream, carob cookie, fir dust, cocoa biscuit. Petrichor refers to the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. Hence this dessert was made to look like soil covered with dried leaves sitting in a puddle of water. It certainly look like we were served soil~

It’s just my guess that they served this dessert – Whiskey cake, as it was supposedly a very popular cake in the 80’s (at least in Spain). Perhaps this serves as a reminder to the brothers’ childhood memories?

The brothers seemed to have immense love for chocolate and it’s not surprising to see Jordi create this dessert From cocoa to chocolate Pantone gradient of cocoa pulp, lychee, vinegar and manzanilla wine, almond milk, raisin, PX and chocolate. Brownie, chocolate sorbet, crispy chocolate made in our bakery workroom and cocoa nib. He even launched a book titled ‘Casa Cacao’ (‘Cocoa House’), a cookbook full of creations where chocolate plays the leading role.

Wine pairing for desserts include: Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Spatlese 03 VDP Mosel, Ars Natura Liqquida Whisky a la tarta, Perez Barqquero La Canada PX D.O. Montilla Moriles and Cafe V60 Fina la Esmeralda Panama Geisha.

Our guilty pleasure didn’t end with the final dessert, instead we were soon greeted by this grand trolley filled with mignardises.

That’s not all…We were eagerly waiting for the sci-fi looking trolley to be pushed to us~  Head over to my IG to see it in action: #yummydelightsg_roca

At this point, I must highlight the subtle but interesting shadows cast by the trees in the courtyard as the sun passes by slowly. A wonderful idea that brings guest closer to nature while dining in the comfort of the hall.

It was already 4pm by the time we finished our lunch, we have only a few hours left to explore the rest of Girona before catching the train back to Barcelona. I must say this day trip to dine at El Celler de Can Roca was totally worth it.

Other Related Posts:

• ★ Maaemo, Oslo
• ★ Tickets, Barcelona
• ★Azurmendi, Larrabetzu
• ★ Arzak, San Sebastián
• ★ Restaurante Villena, Segovia
• StreetXO, Madrid

★ Maaemo, Oslo

After travelling for about 1 week in Scandinavian region, we finally pampered ourselves with our first fine dining meal of this trip at the only restaurant in Norway with 3 Michelin stars – Maaemo. They are ranked No. 35 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant 2018.

Having arrived in Oslo the night before, we spent the morning exploring some sights in the city. We worked up an appetite after much walking around town in preparation for the epic, much-anticipated 20-course meal ahead.

We were seated at one of the tables offering us the view of the kitchen on the mezzanine floor above, we later found out that there is a Test Kitchen Table which has a direct view of the chefs at work as well. Every now and then we would see the staff holding the plate and walking down the spiral staircase elegantly and with much ease to serve diners their food. I joked that they must have strong legs to work here…

As per many other restaurants, they do not present us with the full menu at the start of the meal. Instead they enquired about any food allergies or dietary restrictions beforehand during reservations and a further check again on the day of our visit. Hence we were kept in suspense on what would be served (unless you did some reading from others’ blog post prior to the visit).

The staff introduced to us that Maaemo is an Old Norse word meaning ‘Mother Earth’. The restaurant focuses on using local produce and aims to showcase the flavours and nature of Norway. Having travelled across Norway for the last 5 days we were hopeful that the menu would be pretty seafood-dominant. The meal can also be paired with either wine or juice, so we opted for the latter.

Appetizers started with several one-bite snacks to be eaten with our hands. The first being Potato flatbread langoustine claw steamed with beer and fermented turnip. I believe the Norwegian name of the flatbread is Lefse? To be honest it resembles naan bread, but this is made with potatoes and flour, so it has a more chewy texture. What impressed me at first glance was the intricate workmanship required to arrange the redwood sorrel.

The second snack was Fermented trout with leek (bottom-right). This snack is probably a modern take of another Norwegian delicacy – Rakfisk? The traditional Norwegian specialty is known for its strong odor and is typically paired with a shot of aquavit (a Norwegian liquor). The version served here is very much palatable as it was filled only a tiny bit of fermented trout and fermented turnip, encased in a crispy caramelised onion roll and topped with tiny drops of aquavit.

Final appetizer was Sourdough duck liver and rhubarb (bottom-left). For this snack, they fried the mother of the sourdough before adding the duck liver and rhubarb spheres on top. We stuffed this into our mouth to enjoy this interesting interpretation with a crunchy texture of sourdough with paté.

After the trio of snacks, we were presented with one of the signature dishes of the restaurant –  Emulsion of Norwegian flat oysters warm sauce of mussels and dill. The dish was first served bare before being covered with the “Yayoi Kusama style” sauce resulting in a picture of psychedelic green dots floating over the creamy base. Instantly the sight reminds me of another amazing dish I had at Geranium. Instead of a layer of fish underneath, this dish had a gelatinous layer over the oyster emulsion which had a delicate taste. I loved the rich velvety and smooth textures that one can savour within each spoonful of this dish.

Scallop cooked in the shell with fermented celeriac verbena and smoked scallop roe featured scallops from Frøya grilled in the shell with celeriac juice before finishing it with scallop dashi (stock), reduced celeriac juice and a spritz of lemon verbena oil.

Cod from the arctic gently cooked with salted butter horseradish and winter herbs Cod lightly poached, on a sauce of white asparagus with ramson, horseradish, tapioca.

Up next was Chef’s signature dish of Langoustine cooked with spruce. We were briefed that this dish serves to present diners with an overview of Norway  i.e ocean and pine forest. The langoustine caught from the ocean is cooked in pine butter, glazed with pine gel and dusted with pine dust. This is the most photogenic dish so far, with the bright orange tail sitting atop a bunch of green spruce. What a lovely sight! I also loved that we were asked to pick up the langoustine with our hand as we could immediately feel the warm of the butter poached tail as we bite into its chewy flesh and experience the sweet delicate flavour (I even licked up the remnants of butter off my fingers).

There was a strong sense of familiarity when we caught a glimpse of the next dish Grilled eel elderflower and warm eggs.  The Norwegian eel was grilled for 4 hours, finished with acidic sour made by fermented cabbage, egg emulsion, elderflower gel and chives.

Lightly smoked arctic char aquavit and burned onions Arctic char from Lofoten placed above a bed of white onion purée. The char is smoked in juniper before being steamed in the oven. The sauce is quite acidic in order to balance with the arctic char’s high fat content. It’s made with brine of pickled onion seasoned with aquavit and spritz with charred onion oil.

Fresh rolls out the oven glazed in birch syrup our own churned butter and salted butter with buckwheat The warm bread coated with the slightly sweet syrup was soft and fluffy. To be honest it was so good that the butters were relegated to the sideline, though both butters had amazingly creamy textures.

After the bread, we were served a traditional Norwegian delicacy which is a signature dish at the restaurant Rømmegrøt – a porridge of very sour cream and freshly milled wheat smoked reindeer heart, browned butter and aged plum vinegar. Traditionally eaten with cured meat, the version here is served with crunchy dehydrated smoked reindeer heart finished with clarified butter infused with the plum vinegar. It was also interesting to learn that the Norwegians take the traditional Rømmegrøt as a main dish and is a nourishing meal served for special occasions.

Our meal paused for a kitchen tour interlude which gave us the chance to do some exercise as we climbed up the spiral staircase. Other than the impressive panoramic view of the newly developed Barcode Project from the kitchen, I was pretty surprised to see them working in such a compact kitchen space! The visit also confirmed our guess that the Head chef probably monitors and adjusts the pace of the meal according to guests’ eating pace from the CCTVs. While Chef Esben Holmboe Bang was not in the house, we were told that we gonna meet another TV celebrity on the team – Tim Read.  Tim was the winner of MasterChef New Zealand (yes, we googled that immediately after our kitchen tour haha).

For the courses earlier the juice pairings were Smoked Apple, White tea and elderflower, Sour Plum and Cherry.

The subsequent juice pairings for the next few courses were Blackcurrant, thyme and beer vinegar, Black cherry and star anise and Blueberry and pine kombucha. Interestingly as we progressed to the meat courses the colour of the juices served also resembled the red wines.

Meal service resumed with Salted baked rutabaga broth of salted sheep Salted sheep ribs (pinnekjøtt), a traditional dish eaten during Christmas. Here the meat is made into a stock and paired with rutabaga (a root vegetable that is usually served as mashed purée with pinnekjøtt).

Our main protein of the day was Duck “Royale” chestnuts and lingonberries.  Hidden under the beautiful leaves made out of Jerusalem artichokes were mousse of chestnuts and the duck. For the final touch, a stock with lingonberries was added.

Frozen blue cheese with pickled black trumpet mushroom Norwegian blue cheese (Fønix) from Stavanger is frozen with liquid nitrogen and turned into dusted cheese. It is then served with pickled Trompette mushrooms jam and powder on top. Though many people felt that blue cheese has an acquired taste, this course serves to change that perception.

Apple blossom pine and preserved blueberries Sorbet of apple blossom with fermented blueberry juice, covered with Italian meringue and dusted with pine powder. The result was a blissful combination of citrus-sour sorbet with the sweet soft meringue.

A dessert made from salted butter from Røros with table-side service by Chef Andrea Selvaggini. This signature dish is made with brown butter ice cream, caramelised butter, served with caramelised hazelnut crumbs finished with coffee molasses and salted brown butter on top. This rich and decadent dessert is well worth piling on the calories for.

The desserts were paired with Raw milk and birch and for the snacks we had Filter Coffee Gedeb Beriti Kebele, Gedeb Woreda, Ethiopia Harvest – December 2017 Roasted by Tim Wendelboe. The coffee has light floral notes without bitterness.

The spread of snacks (in clockwise from top) Young pinecones preserved in honey for several months, Buckwheat “chocolate” the buckwheat bars resemble chocolate but did not include any cocoa at all, (Coffee), Grains and cloudberries liquid waffle served with cloudberries jam, Brown cheese tarte, Cinnamon bun just out of the oven brown cheese and beef fat, Warm traditional Norwegian waffle with our miso seasoned with brown butter and cardamon.

We finished the entire meal in slightly over 3 hours. And it’s time to bring our attention to the sign hung up on one of the walls…

Earlier Photos Taken:

Train ride from Bergen to Oslo. Weather wasn’t good so it was pretty gloomy throughout the journey.

Explored some major sights in Oslo before lunch. A look down Karl Johans gate towards The Royal Palace.

Passed by the Norwegian Parliament building, as well as visiting the City Hall (Rådhuset) – venue of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony every December.

It was well worth spending time visiting the City Hall as the place is decked out in Norwegian art and culture both outside and inside! Before entering the main hall, there are 16 wooden friezes made by Dagfin Werenskiold (1892-1977), painter and sculptor, along the corridors surrounding the courtyard. They are motifs from Norse mythology.

The one that we are most familiar with would be Thor (thanks to Marvel). This wooden frieze depicts Tor is Driven by His Goats.

Behind the gilded main entrance were even more impressive large scale artworks on the walls.

The paintings are all very colourful and depicts various history and life in Norway.

We only had time to cover the main hall but not the other rooms on the upper level.

Other Related Posts:

• Bare Vestland, Bergen
• Enhjøringen (Unicorn Fish Restaurant), Bergen
• Sweet Rain Konditori, Bergen
• Trekroneren, Bergen
• Emmas Under, Tromsø
• The Flying Elk, Stockholm
• Meatballs for the People, Stockholm
• Valhallabageriet AB, Stockholm
• Nystekt Strömming, Stockholm
• Melanders Fisk, Stockholm
• Kajsas Fisk, Stockholm
• Vete-Katten, Stockholm

Quay Restaurant, Sydney

En-route to New Zealand we made a stopover in Sydney to specially visit Quay Restaurant.  Touchdown in the early morning after enduring the red-eye flight, we arrived at hotel but too early for check-in. Went for a stroll in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney to counter the jet-lag before we head over for lunch. We reckoned that we would be too sleepy to catch dinner…

The bright daylight shining into the dining hall offered a fantastic view of the harbour~ We opted for the smaller 6-course set lunch instead of the 10-course one as we anticipated that we would not have regained our appetite after the flight.

Amuse bouche was Shiitake mushroom custard with pork crackling tart. The one-bite snack was a delightful blend of textures and balanced flavours.

Hand harvested seafood virgin soy, seaweed, aged vinegar comprised of octopus, scallops and vongole clams. The vinegar and seaweed dressing highlighted the umami characteristics of the crustaceans and mollusk. This light and appetizing dish was a showcase of the abundance of fresh seafood in Australia. 

Sandcrab Tennouji turnip, kombu, squid, Wakefield cabbage was a unique vegetable dish combining the best produces originating from different parts of the World. The tennouji turnip is said to be Japan‘s oldest kind of turnip and has 1.5 times the sugar level of regular turnips! While the wakefield cabbage is a classic early cabbage originated in England and known for its distinctly sweet flavour.  The addition of a piece of the dehydrated fried cabbage was a masterful stroke enhancing the texture of this dish.

Malted barley crumpets was presented at the mid-way point of our meal with butter loaded with Terra Preta black truffles. I would love to visit a truffle farm during the harvest season to witness a truffle hunt and tasting experience!

The next dish also had some Japanese influence: Tasmanian uni, Winter broth served with fish crackling and cured eggyolk. Once again I’m impressed by the amalgamation of textures. If there’s any significant takeaway from my experience at Quay, it has to be the perfect combination of textures for each dish thus far.

For the main course, there were two options to choose from and we tried one each. Maremma duck slow cooked carrots, red dates, karkalla. The duck has quite a gamey flavour on its own but was well-paired with the sweet concentrated carrots with red dates gravy.

The other main is considered Chef’s signature dish:  Smoked pig jowl fan shell razor clams, shiitake, sea cucumber crackling. The version presented now had undergone several iterations and evolution since it was first created by Chef more than two decades ago! What remained unchanged was the protein pairing of a meat with a seafood.

There were also two options for desserts and we tried one each. Unfortunately the wildly popular Snow Egg has been retired from the menu at the revamped restaurant.

On the left is Crystalised oloroso caramel prune cream prune jam and on the right is White coral feijoa, white chocolate, coconut. I was particularly interested in trying White coral as it uses the feijoa fruit – something I intended to try when we visit New Zealand as the fruit has been associated with the country (other than Kiwi). This dessert also featured technique using liquid nitrogen.

Our meal should have ended with the two desserts but the service staff presented us with an extra surprise dish – Chocolate Cake after knowing that we had made a 1 night stopover in Sydney specially for this visit. This unassuming looking dessert, has rich chocolate mousse along with different textures of chocolate, was the best chocolate cake I ever tasted! =)

Last but not least was the petite fours: Salted Caramel Canelés and Creme Fraiche Postbrood Honey Tart. While the salted caramel canelés were well-executed, we were more impressed with the tarts!!! The staff explained that the honey came from the honeycomb that has raised baby bees. What a delightfully sweet ending to our meal.

Was it worth our 1 day stopover? I would probably say yes. Afterall Sydney airport is seamlessly connected to the city centre and is only a short ride away. Technically speaking we could even make a detour from the airport to eat lunch and leave Sydney within the same day – provided that there is an available flight out to our next destination. However we were more than happy to spend the night at Sydney revisiting the iconic landmarks which are well lit-up at night and recharge ourselves before heading over to Auckland, New Zealand.

Earlier Photos Taken:

Preordered the in-flight meal service and chose the Prawn Chu-Chee (Choo Chee) Curry with Steam Rice which is now my favourite Thai curry. P.S I don’t typically eat green curry. This dish uses red curry as base but has less spices and sweeter.

Transiting at Bangkok‘s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Thai Airways meant free massage~ =)

Glad to receive a baby blue colour Rimowa amenity kit.

Had a late night supper after take-off. Fell in love with the Crispy Fried Oyster Mushroom with Tomato Salsa! It was so good that I started sourcing for fried mushroom snacks online thereafter. Although so far I hadn’t found one with similar quality…

We were also served the Caviar with condiments before our main dish. For main I couldn’t resist having a Pad Thai, especially when it comes with lobster.

Although I was really sleepy, I stayed up for this exquisitely plated Miniature of Thai Sweets and Sticky Rice with Fresh Mango dessert.

Though it was a relatively short red eye flight, instead of catching up on sleep I decided to wake up for Breakfast service after seeing what would be served.

The sumptuous spread of accompaniments with the boiled rice was so impressive – with 9 side dishes in total! Including braised duck, pickled turnip with egg (aka chai po neng), salted vegetables (aka kiam chai)…Very homey Teochew dishes. One of the best inflight breakfast I ever had.

It has been 8 years since I last visited Sydney, nice to see you again!

★ Osteria Francescana, Modena

Italy has many beautiful cities filled with rich culture, history and architecture. As with many visitors, on my first visit to Italy I covered the few notable cities like Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice etc. Our focus were on the stunning architectural masterpieces and indulging ourselves at luxury boutiques (or outlet malls). Being on a group tour meant that food was of lower priority as we were fed mediocre meals – its a pity that we didn’t get to try quality local cuisines given the country’s rich culinary culture.

While planning for our winter holiday to Europe, we got lucky and managed to secure a table at Osteria Francescana – No. 1 on World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2016 and a 3-Michelin star restaurant in the quaint town of Modena, Italy.

Being F1 (Ferrari) fan, I also took the chance to visit the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari Museum which was also the birthplace of the prancing horse super car’s founder.

After a night of disrupted sleep (due to jet lag), we made our way to the famed restaurant by taking a stroll across the old Medieval town. At 12.25pm guests started to gather outside the restaurant waiting for the doors to be opened.

After leaving our coats at the foyer, we were led to one of the dining rooms. I read somewhere that there are a total of 12 tables for each seating. Our dining room has four tables with 2 guests at each table. There were 2 different menus to choose from, either the 10-course menu “Festina Lente” comprising of the classic dishes or the 12-course menu “Everything” comprising of a mix of iconic and new dishes.

Admittedly I didn’t do any research on what are Chef’s iconic dishes, I wanted to be in for a surprise. All I knew about the restaurant is: they serve modern Italian cuisine.

We started with a spread of small bites: “Fish & Chips” Italian-style, Macaron (with stew rabbit filling),  Borlengo with lard & parmesan cheese, Pillows of salted codfish & tomato and something that was made to look like sardine but “This is not a Sardine”.

After clearing the spread of small bites, we began with the first starter of Insalata di mare (Seafood Salad). It looked like a vegetarian dish at first glance, but hidden beneath the layers of lettuce and crackers were gems from the seabed: squid, octopus etc. It was finished with a light essence spritz at our table, the spray was said to be made from a blend of tomato, olives, capers etc. Needless to say, other than being a visually stunning dish, the juxtaposition of textures was magical.

Mediterranean sole is one of the new dishes on the menu. It featured three classic Mediterranean fish preparations: sotto sale (baked under salt), alla mugnaia (sautéed in a wine and butter sauce)  and al cartoccio (cooked in wrapped parchment or foil).

The “paper” was made with salt and water. It also represented the cooking method of salt crust. The meunière sauce was a display of classic flavours formed between tomatoes, olive oil, capers, herbs.

In fact I thought this dish has potential to be endorsed as dish advocating environment conservation.  The “paper” reminds me of a state where plastic bags undergoing degradation become brittle and crumbly, whereas the “sole” represents the fish in the polluted ocean and were suffocated by the plastic garbages. Humans harvesting from the ocean are in fact consuming the micro-plastics that we created… How philosophical?  Or perhaps I’m thinking too much…

The next dish was a stark contrast to the earlier dish in the colour spectrum. It was totally black. Burnt is a dish inspired by spending summer time at the seaside. The staff explained that Italians enjoy summer grigliata (barbecue). Sometimes after too much drinking, the food left on the grill were forgotten  – that resulted in burnt food. I wondered if that was Chef’s personal experience? The chips were made with the skin of fishes while the broth was made with marination juice of the seafood (squid, cuttlefish, seabass etc.) finished with a dash of smoked extra virgin olive oil – adding a smoky flavour.

Autumn in New York basically comprised of different textures of apples along with other components made of ingredients from various countries such as Russia, East Europe, France and campanina apples from Italy. It was finished at the table with a light dashi broth made with Apples.

Here comes the Chef’s signature dish: Five ages of Parmigiano Reggiano in different textures and temperatures. This was the reason why we chose the 12-course menu over the 10-course one, although this dish is available as ala carte add-on it is priced at €70 a plate. At the time of our visit, we had not watched the hit Netflix documentary “Chef’s Table“, where Chef Massimo was featured in the Season 1 Episode 1. *I have caught the show at the time of writing this post. 

The documentary started with a story on how Chef saved his town’s economy with a cheese and rice recipe. Due to earthquakes in the region, warehouses where Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese were aged and stored were damaged. Chef successfully created a recipe that gone viral and spurred brisk sales of the affected cheese. This story showcased Chef’s love for his hometown and the local produce which was the pride of the region.

It is therefore apt that his signature dish seems to be paying a tribute to the cheese, which is the essential product in Italian cuisine. I love the dish for its brilliant concept, it is a dish made with only 1 key ingredient but transformed into 5 different textures at different temperatures.

• Air made from crusts of Parmigiano Reggiano (aged 40 months & 50 months)
• Galette from Parmigiano Reggiano (aged 40 months)
• Foam made Parmigiano Reggiano (aged 30 months)
• Demi-Souffle from Parmigiano Reggiano (aged 24 months)
• Sauce made from Parmigiano Reggiano (aged 36 months)

I’m not a cheese connoisseur but this dish absolutely blew me away. After tasting it, I am willing to fork out €70 for a plate!

After the classic dish, up next is a new dish In the countryside: snails, hare and aromatic herbs. It served with a classic french sauce – civet, made with stew of hare, creamed foie gras, chocolate and aromatic herbs. This new dish seems to be an evolved version of his classic dish “Camouflage – A Hare in the Woods”. So this time round instead of “in the woods”, the landscape has been changed to a lush green countryside. Hidden under the pile of greens were ravioli and snails. 

Instead of the classic Rice: Green over Brown over Black, the next dish is also a new creation – Rice between Duck a l’orange and Peking duck. It is evidently a fusion dish using “rice” as the base – a staple common to both Italian and Chinese culture; with a blend of classic French roast duck dish of the West and Chinese Roast duck of the East.  The end result was a sweet and sour sauce rich in “hoisin” flavour. A commendable attempt but I wasn’t too impressed with this dish…

Camouflage pigeon and partridge meatballs and Mallard, pigeon and partridge Tarte Tatin. The pigeon breast is cooked on peas with pickles, the meatball is made from partridge blended with foie gras and breadcrumbs. This is paired with the savoury Tarte Tatin with minced meat patty sandwiched in the middle.

The main dish of game birds was something rather exotic to us. Other than pigeon which is more commonly available in the Asia region where we were from, we have not tasted the other birds before. However it was a pleasant experience as the gamey taste was well-balanced with the accompanied sauces.

Pre-dessert was Cherries come in all shapes and sizes which is yet another new dish. Three PDO cherries: ciliegia, duroni and amarene, were blended into a deep red cherry sorbet.

Finally the famous dessert – Oops! I dropped the lemon tart. It was well noted that this dish was the result of an accident when the Japanese pastry chef Taka Kondo accidentally dropped one of the last available tarts while plating. Hence it is essentially a deconstructed dessert with lemongrass ice cream, zabaione and crust with added star anise, cinnamon, juniper, black pepper and cardamom.

Rounding up our 3-hour long meal with Vignola, Croccantino of foie gras and Camouflage.

Our parting gift from the restaurant was another famous local produce – balsamic vinegar.

So does this restaurant lives up to its name of being one of the best restaurants in the World? Maybe…But I think they certainly deserves the 3-Michelin stars recognition which means “exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey“. Although my disclaimer would be – come with an open mind. And don’t make this your first Italian cuisine encounter if you hadn’t tried classic Italian cuisine, or you’ll have a misconstrued impression as they can vary region by region. I enjoyed my journey to Modena as it presents an opportunity to visit the less touristy parts of Italy.

Other Photos Taken:

Journey from Singapore to Europe typically takes about 13 hours on direct flight. This is the first time we are making a transit at Istanbul, Turkey. With the transit stop, it took us about 17 hours to touch down in Bologna, Italy. Had 1 dinner and 2 breakfasts during the journey with limited shut eye time…

Was happy with the rather new cabin hardware on Turkish Airlines.  Something interesting was the appearance of an onboard Chef – in the Chef’s uniform. I was too shy to sneak a snap shot of them.

There were some misses and some hits in terms of quality of food. I enjoyed the breakfast – pancakes with strawberries, fresh bread and the desserts from the night before but not the main (that explains the absence of a photo of it).

During the transit, we stopped by the Turkish Airlines lounge – said to be the World’s Best Airline Lounge, tried some Turkish coffee and tea. The lounge was spacious and is divided into several entertainment zones. Perhaps being sleep-deprived made me lose my appetite, I didn’t find any food attractive enough for me to grab a bite…

Another chance to curb our hunger pangs onboard the second-leg of our journey. This time round it featured Turkish Specialties. The grilled flat pastry tasted better than it looks.

The other highlight of the flight was undoubtedly the luxurious branded amenities kit.

It was about 3pm local time (9pm Singapore time) by the time we checked into our hotel in Modena. Making the total travel time of close to 24 hours from Singapore to Modena, Italy point to point (including check-in time required at the airport). It was my longest journey ever without a proper bed. It was a bliss to see the comfy bed to get a power nap before we commence exploring Modena.

The museum complex includes Enzo Ferrari‘s birthplace (brick building) and a futuristic gallery.

Inside the gallery are displays of past iconic Ferrari models.

By evening we were yawning uncontrollably due to jet lag…we had to call it a day.

★ Geranium, Copenhagen

Copenhagen is undeniably the epicentre of the nordic food movement in the recent years, we definitely need to visit the only 3 Michelin starred restaurant in town – Geranium. We were pretty lucky that our schedule allowed us to fit in a meal at Geranium as they were closed for summer break up till 9th Aug (iirc). The restaurant has no more than 10 tables for each session so we enjoyed the spacious dining hall with full height windows offering expansive view of the surrounding greenery.

Upon seated we were presented with an envelope with a letter inside with the Geranium Late Summer Universe menu that we would be enjoying for the afternoon. After the aperitif, we opted to pair our meal with juice pairing. We started our 17-course lunch with appetizer of Lobster, Milk & Juice from Fermented Carrots & Sea Buckthorn. A brightly coloured clear juice served in chinese style tea cups.

Although it was a summer menu, the Jerusalem Artichoke Leaves, Walnut oil & Rye Vinegar looked very much like an Autumn dish isn’t it? Loved the crisp leaves with the creamy dip. Beginning to sense the magic behind Chef’s creations using molecular gastronomy techniques.

Tomato water, Ham Fat & Aromatic Herbs may look light and clear but it was a perfect blend of floral notes with the flavourful ham-scent with the refreshing tomato water base.

After a few lighter dishes, we moved into richer appetizers starting with the smoky Charred Potato in Aroma from Bark & Sheep’s Butter.

“Dillstone” Horseradish & Frozen Juice from Pickled Dill was presented in 2 bowls. If you looked carefully, you’ll find the green “dillstone” sitting on top of the pebbles. Another bowl has creamy horseradish with granita-like frozen juice (not sure if its made with liquid nitrogen?). Ate them in 1 mouthful after mixing the elements together.

Last appetizer was “Razor Clam” with Minerals & Sour Cream. Wafer thin “shell’ filled with razor clam tartar was a beauty. I was impressed by the prints on the wafer to replicate the look of razor clam shells. Almost forgotten to mention the Red Currant juice that accompanied our appetizers.

Main dishes started with Celeriac, Scallop & Dried Trout paired with Sea buckthorn juice. I loved the bright orangey coloured sea buckthorn juice which was sweet and slightly viscous. While the dried trout tarts had great umami with the thin crisp crust, I didn’t quite understand how it relates to the celeriac part of the dish.

Onto the 2nd main dish and it was one of the most impressive course I had at Geranium – Salted Hake, Parsley Stems & Finnish Caviar in Buttermilk. I had to unveil the beautiful hake under the caviar to show you how fascinating the layer of hake looked! Having tried salted cod in Iceland with much pleasure, I was eager to try the Salted Hake. Lovely firm fish texture drizzled with luxurious finnish caviar, immersed in creamy foam and topped with crispy fried scales.

The bread course was pretty unique with Crispy Grains, Bread with Old Grains & Gluten Free Bread with Seeds.

Creamy Vegetables with Oyster, Peas & Pickled Elderflowers paired with Green apple juice. After my pleasant encounter with peas at Noma, I’ve changed my impression of them. In this dish, the chlorophyll pea taste was “neutralized” by the oyster flavour.

Wild Herbs, Leek, Smoked Pork Fat & Melted “Vesterhavs” Cheese Sumptuous leeks with dainty wild herbs and flowers was first presented followed by the addition of a foamy gravy which was poured into the dish (final presentation not pictured).

King Krab & Beach Crab, Cabbage Sprouts & Söl paired with Gooseberry, sunflower seeds and Terragon juice. Fresh crab meat was sweet and delicate.

Our final main course was Grilled and Salted Pork on the “Bone”, Pickled Pine & Blackcurrant Leaves . The almost melt-in-your-mouth pork was tender and succulent. Although filled with aromatic flavours from pork fat, the dish it was not at all greasy.

After the last main, they served the Cranberry juice along with “A Small Taste of Late Summer” Beetroot, Rhubarb, Yoghurt & Tagetes. A crispy ball to be eaten in 1 bite, with burst of flavours from the filling.

Ice cream from Beeswax, Pollen & Honey with Blackberries paired with Cloud Berry juice.

I was so blown away by the exquisiteness of the final dessert of Wood Sorrel & Woodruff that I missed out on recording the last juice…

Shifted over to the lounge for After Dinner Sweets along with hand-brewed coffee with beans from Coffee Collective. Sweet treats include Cookie dough with sea buckthorn, Sunflower seeds muffin,  Caramel and chocolate coated with pine powder.

View from the lounge

Awards on display – Chef Rasmus Kofoed is triple winner of the gold, silver, and bronze medals in Bocuse D’ore-competition.

Unlike at Noma, we didn’t get the chance to interact much with the staff and chef. The ambience here is equivalent to other fine-dining places, however the fully open-kitchen space was the highlight. Being seated in close proximity to the kitchen, we observed how the kitchen operates and it was like watching a play. The coordination amongst the chefs was flawless. Everything went seamlessly smooth and everyone was calm and collected. Food wise, every dish was well-executed to perfection. Each ingredient seems to co-exist in harmony with others.

Other Related Posts:

• ★ Noma, Copenhagen
• Kodbyens Fiskebar, Copenhagen

★ Noma, Copenhagen

Visit to Noma was not only the highlight of my trip, it was the primary factor in our decision on whether to take the 13 hours flight to Europe for our short 1-week holiday.

What spurred me to really make an attempt to get the booking at Noma was after our missed opportunity to snag the coveted seat at their Australia pop-up. All the bookings were Gone in 60 seconds (literally). This was verified as news of the sell-out booking was also widely reported in online news hours later.

More than 9 months ago, on 30th October 2015 (forgot what time, ard 6/7am Singapore time), we waited at our laptop for the reservation site to open. Once the time was due, we repeatedly tried to get into the website but by the time we got to the page we were stunned beyond words…All bookings were gone and we could only be put on wait list. Being placed on wait list is not something we wanted since we have to make travel arrangements to Australia, not as if we are staying there…*Btw, according to reports there were 27,000 on the waitlist…

When the Noma pop-up occurred between Jan to Apr 2016, we saw a number of people on IG sharing photos of their visit. Many of them were in fact regular customers at Noma (Copenhagen), while folks like me who were hoping for the rare chance to visit them (while they are more accessible to us in the Asia region) failed to get a seat.  I can’t help but wonder “How did they do it?”

One disgruntled diner shared that he had been trying to get a seat at Noma (Copenhagen) for 3 years and still counting…

So while we were planning where to head to for our next holiday in August (due to National Day holiday), the idea of visiting Denmark came to our mind. Let fate decide if we could go for a summer holiday in Europe (all my previous trips were in winter for skiing). So the big day was set on 25th Apr 2016 – the day where Noma opens their reservation for bookings in August (approx 3-4 mths in advance).  We will only book our flight if we could get a table in Noma.

Reservation on Noma‘s website was designed with a virtual random queue system in order to cope with the high-volume requests. We did some research and found some tricks that could increase our chances of securing that coveted booking. A few of the tips were:

(1) Utilise as many devices as possible e.g ipad, laptop, mobile phone
(2) Use as many different browsers as possible e.g IE, Firefox, Chrome, each will be given a different queue number
(3) Get to the website at least 5 minutes before reservation opens

Once you are at the website, there is no need to refresh. When reservation starts the counter on the queue page will automatically assign each browser page a random queue number. Hence its kinda like a lucky draw, a lot has to depend on luck or fate.

The smallest number we got was #216 and the highest number we got was #1700+. The screen will show the number of people ahead of you and when its your turn, you will be re-directed to Noma‘s booking site automatically.

It only took less than 15 mins before it’s my turn at #216 and by the time I got into the website, there were only 2 dates left. Thankfully one fell on the week that I was eyeing, quickly grabbed that date and voila~ I’ve got the reservations and I’m on my way to Copenhagen! Needless to say, like many others who managed to get a booking, I had a silly grin on my face for the rest of that day.

Fast-forward to 10th Aug 16, after doing some sightseeing around town in morning, we made our way to the restaurant. From afar we saw 2 staff at the entrance greeting us and when the doors opened, the whole group of kitchen crew and service staff were gathered inside giving us an absolutely heartwarming welcome. This was probably the first time I ever visited a restaurant and had almost all the crew saying hi to us. We certainly felt like VIPs as all of them were not cooking but waiting for guests to arrive! I could even see the enthusiasm and passion in their eyes when they greeted us.

We were the 2nd group of guests that arrived in the cosy restaurant. At one glance we could count the total number of covers available – less than 10 private tables and 1 large communal table. To be able to secure a seat here was as if we struck lottery. I certainly felt very blessed to have this opportunity, every moment spent at Noma felt so surreal…

We ordered a glass of Rose wine aperitif – 2014 Rose vom Opok, Sepp & Maria Muster, Leutschach – Steierland after settling down at our table. Thereafter we sit back and relax, waited for the show to unravel before our eyes. The menu at Noma is changed seasonally and is not presented to guests at the start of the meal. Hence we would be in for a total surprise, rest assured that dietary preference were checked when we confirm our reservation. We decided to pair our meal with 1 juice-pairing and 1 wine-pairing, to taste the best of both worlds. It was said the the wines served in Noma are organic and biodynamic natural wine, hence the wine varieties might be totally new to me – a good opportunity to taste new wines.

Our eyes lit up immediately when the first dish Rhubarb and seaweed was presented to us. What a lovely sight! Layers of thinly sliced ruby red Rhubarb petals rolled into a rose and surrounded by contrasting greens.

Following the garden theme, the next dish was a Vegetable platter: flatbread & ant paste, pickled quail egg and a black currant berry. Everything is edible except for the moss and the pebbles. Every single one of the elements plated were exquisite and unique. I was amazed by the “branch” that looked really real.

Moving on to the 3rd course we were presented with Radish pie paired with 2015 Les Jongleurs (Chenin Blanc), Toby & Julie Bainbridge, Chavagnes les Equx – Anjou and Elderflower/spearmint juice. The radish pie had a really thin crust filled with the delicately arranged radish slices. After three dishes, we were still constantly blown away by the visually impactful presentation and the delightfully fresh produce used.

Grilled baby cucumber, summer herbs and cream sounds kinda ordinary isn’t it? Wait till you see the star ingredient – ant paste. Other than the mental fear of having to eat ants, the grilled baby cucumber was really crunchy and tasty. Hmm…i’ve grown to like to eat ants…

We had devoured every dish presented so far and were in awe over how they transformed vegetables and made them taste so good! Prior to visiting Noma, the only other restaurant that impressed us with the vegetable dishes was Steirereck Restaurant.

Fresh milk curd, green strawberry and goose tongue leaves was next. A light and refreshing dish, I slurped up every drop of the sauce in that bowl.

First dish that has some conventional meat was Lobster, lavender and rose oil. It was aromatic as perfumed by the flora tones and accompanied with perfectly caramalised onions. Paired with 2013 “Le Sentier du Clou” 1er Cru (Chardonnay), Domaine Derain, Saint-Aubin – Bourgogne and Rose/redcurrant juice.

I was slightly disappointed when I saw the next dish Crisp of wild roses and Danish peas because I am not a Pea person. I would always pick out the annoying peas in the frozen mixed vegetables…But to my surprise, this plate of danish peas tasted totally different from my stereotypical opinion of peas! This has none of the chlorophyll taste and would definitely satisfy even the most picky eaters! We got to know the tricks behind the preparation of this dish when we toured the kitchen after our meal…every single pea skin was hand-peeled twice! The experience of eating fresh peeled peas changed my perception of peas as their delicate flavours can only be appreciated when I look under the covers. The peas were paired with green gooseberries/tarragon juice.

After the green gooseberries juice, the next juice served was red gooseberries/geranium juice. As for wine, it was paired with 2014 blan 5.7 (Viura and Parellada), Jordi Llorens, Blancafort – Catalonia. One of the staff came round to present the live king crab which will be prepared later.

8th dish was Butternut squash and fermented barley. Sweet and nutty pumpkin with lightly flavoured fermented barley. Many ingredients used in Noma had undergone some form of fermentation. Most of the fermentation here uses Koji, koji is widely used in many Asian food production such as like soya sauce, miso etc. However our general impression of fermented food usually possess strong (pungent) smell – think fermented bean curd, kimchi, natto, shrimp paste etc.

Next was the Steamed king crab and egg yolk sauce. Being seafood lovers, the menu at Noma in Winter was perfect for us!

The most fascinating dish for our meal was the Charred greens and scallop paste. paired with 2015 Lay Purus (Riesling), Rita & Rudolf Trossen, Kinheim-Kindel-Mosel and Cabbage/lovage juice.

Although all the greens were charred, each of them had different textures. Some are feathery, some are “meaty”, some are crisp. The scallop paste coated over the veg filled with umami and the taste actually reminded me of “Oyster sauce” used in Asian cooking. We had fun picking up the veg and licking the remnants of the tasty sauce off our fingers.

For the wine-pairing guest, the next dish was paired with 2013 Sicilia ‘1213’ (trebbiano), Guccione, Monreale – Sicily.

Turbot grilled on the bone with sweet shrimp  was served in 2 part. Firstly the foraged greens with turbot fillet and sweet shrimp wrapped in ramson leaves. Secondly the grilled turbot with bones.

The final juice served was Green pea husk and 2015 Crémation à l’oseille, Daniel Sage, Ardeche – France. “Cremation Sorrel” is actually the title of a painting by Jean Raine and the painting was reproduced and printed as the wine label. Hence the label was a colourful abstract painting that left a deep impression on us once the staff showed us the bottle.

The final wine pairing was 2011 Les Enfants Terribles (Chenin Blanc), Anthony Tortul, Beziers – Languedoc. Not sure if I’ve got this correct but Les Enfants Terribles means the terrible children in French?

Dessert started with A dessert of sheep’s milk and ant paste. This time round the ant paste was much more finer than the ones coated over the cucumber in the main dish. The texture and colour sort of resembles that of black sesame…at least I tried to brainwash myself that I’m eating black sesame…Absolutely enjoyed the sheep’s milk yogurt.

Next was a mysterious dish covered by a napkin, upon unveiling it was Grilled rose ice cream and elderflower.

The green moss plating made a reappearance for the dessert. This time round it was Moss cooked in chocolate, cep mushroom served with crème freche and seaweed oil. We gently lifted the chocolate coated moss and dipped them lightly with the creme freche. The light and feathery moss melts in the mouth just like cotton candy! It was also a first for us to eat mushroom coated with chocolate, but somehow it went very well together.

We ordered fresh hand brewed coffee to end our meal, the staff introduced that they uses ethiopia beans from The Coffee Collective. Coincidentally we had just visited Coffee Collective for our morning cuppa as they are deemed as the Danish king of coffee.

Final desserts were Egg liqueur and wild berries.

We were pretty sad that the time spent for a meal at Noma flew by so quickly! It was as though 17 course meal was not enough and we were hoping for more! Just when we thought our magical journey was about to end, we were offered a tour of the kitchen/test lab/fermentation lab. Knowing that we were from Singapore, they assigned a Chef from Malaysia to guide us through the various parts of the sprawling building. It was thoughtful of the staff to arrange a Malaysian Chef to brief us, as we managed to talk about common topics such as the recently unveiled Michelin Guide for Singapore.

It was during the walk-through and chatting that we got to know a lot more about the behind-the-scenes operation of Noma. After walking through the kitchen at the first floor, we were led to the back of the building where there were charcoal pits and josper ovens used to char-grill all the ingredients outdoor, giving them the smoky flavours.

On 2nd floor, there was a preparation kitchen where a dozen other chefs were busy prepping the various elements before they were pieced together to form the final dishes that we ate. From the slicing of the rhubarb to the individually hand-rolled radish petals, everything were labour-intensive. But while we were walking through this kitchen everyone of them were still energetic and friendly. They were in fact enjoying their work. The chef even explained that most of the chefs in the prep kitchen are working for free! I guess if I’m a junior chef I would also hoped to be able to gain the experience of working together with a master like Chef Rene.

At the back was the experiment lab/test lab, where we saw Chef Rene explaining some stuff to a group of visitors. Chefs in the test lab full-time job was to conduct experiment to find the perfect “formulae” for the dishes using whatever ingredients available in the season. Some of the ingredients we saw included live seafood, herbs foraged from the wild, grown herbs etc. Successful formulae would only be incorporated into Noma‘s menu next year when the same season returns.

Back to ground floor outside, there was a container used to keep all the ingredients under fermentation, including peaso (miso made from pea) infused with different flavours.

I treasured the opportunity to have a tour of the kitchen/lab etc. where we get to see and understand the sustainable cooking philosophy and what Chef Rene was working towards.

Just before leaving, the staff even shared with us a map of Copenhagen printed by Noma, highlighting a few other recommended eateries including a few that we already shortlisted/visited such as Kodbyens Fiskebar, Det Vide Hus.

We left Noma at around 4pm, 4 hours after we arrived but we enjoyed every minute at the restaurant. It certainly goes down my list of most memorable dining experience ever and was well-worth the effort to specially take a flight to visit.

Other Related Post:

• Kodbyens Fiskebar, Copenhagen

★ Tickets, Barcelona

After 5 days in Andorra, we bid goodbye to the snow capped mountains =( and made our way back to Barcelona. For our last night in Barcelona before we return home, we secured seats at Tickets – a one-Michelin star restaurant (actually its more like a casual bar) and ranked #42 in the World’s Best Restaurant 2015.

Next to the entrance is a decorative box office window that resembles that of stereotypical Broadway theaters. The visually impactful and theatrical theme sets the tone for tonight’s dinner.

For a one-Michelin star establishment, the ambience and setting here was one of the most lively one that we ever been to, other than Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong which is casual and noisy just like any neighborhood tea house. We were shown to our counter seats and presented with the menu which has a cover filled with bright and colourful drawings.

The staff then explained to us that we could either go ala carte or go for a menu whereby the staff will decide the dishes for us. Since we already had in mind what dishes we want, we opted for the ala carte option.

Top to-eat item on our list had to be the Legen-wait for it-Dary OLIVES!! With El bulli closed, this is probably the only place to taste the original version of Olives made using reverse spherification technique invented by Ferran Adria.

Had olives made using the same techniques at Mini Bar by José Avillez, Lisbon and the version in Tickets had a more intense flavour and leaves a longer lingering aftertaste.

Nashi pear infused in Sake and Saint Germain was a cold and refreshing snack.

Spider Tuna Tartar with sea urchin and yuzu  featured fresh seafood with the distinctively Japanese citrus fruit. And another Japanese-inspired food on the menu was Tuna Crunchy Niguiri. If you take a closer look at it, the white coloured portion is not sushi rice but a light crispy meringue, giving traditional sushi an interesting twist.

Cocktails of Pink Flamingo and Romero & Juliet 

Hot and Cold Eel Duo was served on a bamboo sheet and comes with a glass of hot ocha (green tea). One had lovely crisp skin while the other was wrapped with ultra thin slices of avocado.

Oysters Oyster with sea urchin, Oyster with ponzu sauce and salmon roe and Oyster with red wine vinaigrette and tarragon. We chose these 3 oyster styles from the total of 6 options available cos they are served using ingredients representative of different cultures: Galicia, Tokyo and Paris.

White Clam with duck sauce and cinnamon oil was an intriguing dish as the duck sauce absolutely reminded us of Braised duck gravy back in Singapore! Couldn’t imagine that clams tasted so well when cooked with braised sauce.

Crunchy Octopus is a much instagrammed dish from Tickets. Chewy tentacle with crispy crumbs created much contrast in texture.

However I couldn’t understand why the Jap-styled cucumber in pickled sauce was served together with this dish. The tartness of the pickled sauce was slightly too sharp to go with the mild octopus.

I guess no explanation needed on why we chose the next dish – Chili King Crab with giant grapefruit a dish that is probably Singapore-inspired? The version served here is more sour than sweet and totally non-spicy at all.

That was round 1 of our orders and we assessed that we could take in a few more dishes, so we picked out a few other dishes to try. Starting with Chicken Roast Canape with its Consome which was served in an English teacup came with a “teabag” of consomé.

Crunchy Pizza with Stracciatella was chosen after we noticed that it was a rather popular item. The paper thin “pizza” cracker dotted with basil, olive oil to be eaten after adding a spoonful of buffalo cheese on it.

Basil Air Waffle was presented in a mini basket and at first glance it looked just like the pandan waffles we often see in confectionery around Singapore. However other than the looks the other properties are totally different. Instead of a sweet waffle that we were expecting, this turned out to be savoury. It is also light and crusty unlike the denser spongy versions commonly found in Singapore.

While we saw that some guests were brought to another room for desserts, we weren’t offered that option. We had our desserts at where we were seated so we didn’t see the whimsical room that was described as a mixture of “Willy Wonky” and “Alice in Wonderland” theme.

From the scroll printed with their dessert list we chose the Tatin cone with apple, vanilla and toffee and The Rose, lychee and raspberry sphere, with a rosewater gelatine.  I think I would probably try a few more desserts if we had the chance to end our meal in the so-called dessert room. Girls tend to be attracted to over-the-top dreamy decors, so that may lure me to order more desserts so as to stay in the room longer~

Finished our meal after 3-hours at the restaurant, in fact the staff were already seen to be cleaning their own counters. Bill came in a tin box and this also marked the end of our trip…

Other Related Posts:

• Ciudad Comtal, Barcelona
• Taller De Tapas, Barcelona
• Restaurant 7 Portes, Barcelona
• Cerveceria Catalana, Barcelona
• Tapas 24, Barcelona
• ★Azurmendi, Larrabetzu
• ★ Arzak, San Sebastián
• Restaurante Ramuntxo Berri, San Sebastián
• ★ Restaurante Villena, Segovia

★ Azurmendi, Larrabetzu

Our 2nd Michelin-starred restaurant meal is at another 3-Michelin starred establishment – Azurmendi, which is near Bilbao. They are also ranked #19 on World’s Best Restaurant 2015. The journey from San Sebastian to Bilbao is about 1 hour plus by coach that cost about €15 per person each way. On top of that, Azurmendi is perched on a hillside along an expressway, hence the only way to get there (other than self-drive) is to hire a taxi. The journey by car from Bilbao city centre to the restaurant is about 20 mins and cost around €25-30 per trip. So if you were to add up the transport cost, it easily make up for a bottle of good wine.

Although the two cities seemed relatively near, thankfully the weather in Bilbao was better than San Sebastian. We managed to escape from the rainy weather in San Sebastian and arrived at Bilbao with some time to see the futuristic looking Guggenheim Museum before our lunch.

Upon arriving at the welcome area of the restaurant, we were given the option to either tour the Sustainable Center before or after our lunch, as part of the Azurmendi experience. The Sustainable Center is located on the upper floor of the building but the walk is not sheltered. Since the weather seemed to be holding up, we decided to have the tour first.

The tour allows diners to visit the open garden, a greenhouse and understand Azurmendi‘s commitment to sustainability. In fact the building which the restaurant and greenhouse are located in is a green building incorporating many advanced technologies that efficiently uses energy, water, and other resources. These are certainly areas that draws my attention as a building science graduate.

I read that generally guests would be served little snacks presented around the greenhouse while they toured the place. However I think since its winter season(?) or due to weather(?), the snacks for us were served only after we returned back to the main deck. Hence we were left pretty much alone to explore the greenhouse and took our time to snap as much photos as we wanted without feeling being watched. =)

There were a huge variety of plants and crops grown both indoor and outdoor. I was amazed to see mandarin oranges (sort of reminding me that it’s Chinese New Year) and my first time seeing a live cotton plant! I’ve seen specimens of cotton flower during science lessons but not the real thing. They looked so cute!

After finishing our tour and back at the lobby of the main deck, we were offered welcome drinks and presented with the First act: Picnic in the Garden. The pretty picnic basket was filled with bite-sized snacks: local tomato curd, eel sandwich and txakoli punch. I particularly enjoyed the cherry coloured spherical ball, adorned with tiny flowers and filled with txakoli liquid centre (yeah! I’ve finally tasted txakoli it was highly recommended to try txakoli in Basque).

The Second act: The Kitchen is where we were led to view the spacious kitchen and presented with Hazelnuts hidden on a bonsai plant. The area partitioned by the glass panels is where the lab is located, used for testing food preparations and experimentation.

From the kitchen we were then lead to an exhibition area where the Third act: Our Greenhouse was showcased. I read that most people had theirs presented in the upper deck. However even when this was moved to the exhibition garden area, it was evident that much effort were placed in replicating a similar experience akin to touring the actual Greenhouse.

We were introduced to the corns (they looked so perfect that I asked if they were real?) and were invited to taste the “Morokil”. It is supposedly mix of corn flour and milk to make porridge, is another traditional Basque dish. The one we drank at the restaurant tasted smooth and sweet, like a concentrated corn extract. Yum.

Next was the Tomato, oregano and cheese presented next to a planter box of herbs and plants.

Followed by Asparagus Cotton and Mushroom leaf. Can you spot the thin leaf that was to be eaten? I almost thought we were supposed to pluck and eat the fresh mushroom!

Here are the close-up shots of some of the snacks.

After about half an hour of exploring the building, we were finally led to Fourth act: The balcony where the main dining hall is located. The hall offers an impressive unobstructed view with its full height windows overlooking a small vineyard downhill, the expressway in front along with backdrop of hilly mountainous terrain.

They serve 2 menus one called “Erroak” (‘classic dishes’) – which means “roots” in Basque language and “Adarrak” (their latest creations) – which means branches. Unfortunately the menu is served to the whole table and we opted for Adarrak instead of the Erroak. I suppose we can easily read about their classic dishes so we went for the new creation menu. I would really love to try the Egg from our hens, cooked inside out and truffled if I could…but nonetheless I caught a youtube video of chef demonstrating how it was made.

While we were contemplating which wine to choose to pair with our meal, Frozen olive and vermouth served in a tray of “soil” was presented on the table. As with some of the other snacks we had earlier, we were advised to pop it into our mouth, allowing the liquid centre filling to flow onto our palate.

I shared with the sommelier that I would like to try white wine from Rioja (as we’ve tasted Rioja red but not white) if that is possible. At the recommendation of the sommelier, we decided on Vina Tondonia Reserva 2001 from R. Lopez de Heredia. The white wine from Rioja region are very different from the usual modern wines. This 15 year-old wine is possibly the oldest white wine I tasted so far and it is neither crisp nor fruity. It looked golden in colour and have been aged in oak barrels giving it an oaky flavour. Admittedly it has a tinge of saline/salt water taste when it was first opened, but became more palatable after allowing it to breathe.

Another small snack called Ounce of… was presented.  The chocolate lookalike blocks are actually made of foie gras, served before we begin our tasting meal. Absolutely enjoyed the texture and aroma of this snack.

Started our meal proper with Oysters, tartar and seaweed traces. This dish basically present the same key ingredient in different forms/textures. Under the oyster leaf is a wholesome plump Gillardeau oyster, an oyster gelee and at the base is a layer of oyster tartar.

The 2nd dish was Sea urchin, emulsion, juice and waffle. Intrigued by the scarlet coloured juice, I went on to find out more about it. Turns out it is a mixture of sea urchin juice and tomato juice, this dish probably evolved from a dish called Bloody ‘Mar’ which was previously served at the restaurant.

Chef once again performed magic and transformed 1 ingredient into different forms. Cauliflower, fried eggs and truffle comprises of cauliflower in caviar, mousse, dehydrated/roasted resulting in a mixture of textures along with (presumably) quail eggs.

Roasted lobster out of the shell, its crunch and mayonnaise featured chewy and succulent roasted lobster along with an emulsion filled with umami goodness with an earthy undertone.

I was initially apprehensive about trying this next dish as I’m not a cheese person…but this dish turned out great! Crunchy quail and 3 Basque cheeses in three textures has basque cheeses made from sheep milk (I think). The restaurant checked with us if we are okay to have sheep milk as one of us don’t eat lamb meat.

Everything had been fabulous till the dish called Red beans “Puchera” and its no fault of the chef. It’s supposed to be one of the traditional basque cuisine, so it’s always good to try authentic local flavours while travelling. However I didn’t enjoy the red bean stew as I typically didn’t like soup that are too dense, the concentrated red bean became over-cloying for me. Oddly red beans are not new to me as I’ve shared with the service staff that in Asia, we usually cook red bean soup as a sweet dessert. Guess the type of red bean and it’s consistency were factors at play here that resulted in me not finishing this dish…And for those who might be interested to know, the black ball in the bowl is black pudding – a type of blood sausage…so please notify the restaurant if you don’t eat blood sausages.

Although the dish didn’t score highly for me, receptacle used to present the stew caught my attention as it is rather unique. I went on to find out what a “Puchera” means. The medieval style receptacle used at the restaurant is actually a minature Puchera replica. The real life size puchera is like huge casserole with a compartment underneath to place combustible fuel (like coal) to cook the stew in the pot above. It is also known as railway pot as it is used for cooking on the rail. 

After the minor blip, the next dish easily made into my favourite dish of the meal – Monkfish in Iberian crust, terrine of its interiors and pickles, salted emulsion and basil. This is said to be a new dish proposed by Chef for 2016 and he totally nailed it. The aromatic iberian crust and the firm monkfish terrine was a fantastic combination. One of the most unique fish dish I’ve ever tasted in many of the fine-dining establishments that I’ve visited.

The 2nd protein dish we had were Boneless lamb, char-roasted pepper juice and garlic mushrooms and for the non-lamb eater it’s replaced with their classic dish Pigeon, deuxelle and cauliflower. Admittedly I seldom take lamb in my usual diet, I wouldn’t crave for them but am also not adverse to it if the dish is a specialty at the restaurant. Other than having Chinese herbal lamb soup when I was young and dining with my family whereby I didn’t have the choice to say “no”, the rare occasion whereby I take them are in fine-dining establishments. In fact the lamb dish that changed my perception and made me more receptive to lamb was the meal at Gaggan (Asia’s top ranking restaurant in Asia 50 Best for 2015 & 2016, see my post here). The lamb dish at Azurmendi was quite palatable to me as well, not too gamey and the relatively small portion was much welcomed. The dish comes with a palate-cleanser that is somewhat like a marmalade (forgot what was it made of…perhaps prune?) before proceeding to desserts.

Pigeon is another fowl that we seldom eat, in fact our impression of pigeon were marred by a medium-rare squab that was slightly too gamey for our liking during our 1st encounter with this exotic meat. Meats such as pigeon, rabbit etc. are rather uncommon in Singapore. Since this is a classic dish at Azurmendi, we placed faith in the tons of critics who had nothing but good words about this dish. I loved how Chef used mushroom’s earthy flavour to balance the gamey meat.

Trio of desserts were up next, starting with Pineapple, cardamom and celery. When eaten individually each of them has their own strong, distinct flavours and characters, but miraculously they are amalgamated into a single dessert harmoniously. Almost instantly brought me back to the tropical Singapore upon the first slurp with this refreshing and aromatic dessert with a mild sweet base.

The second dessert, Yogurt, honey and five spices is light yet creamy. To me this dessert seems to be an interlude paving the way for the grand finale coming our way.

Chocolate, peanut and liquorice was the ultimate dessert of amongst the trio.  This marvellous dessert is a juxtapose of various textures and flavours. The addition of liquorice adds an interesting twist to the classic blend of chocolate and peanut butter.

Petits fours include an assortment of bonbons and tiny bites to go with the coffee. At the end of our meal when the bill was presented, we received a small (and cute) sack of seeds and a certificate (passport) issued by the competent authority so that we could bring the seeds legally back to our home country, along with a wax-sealed menu for keepsake.

Azurmendi‘s efforts in practicing and promoting sustainability concept is highly admirable. I’m certain that the restaurant’s fame will give them mileages in advocating the sustainability cause to a much wider audience. Having the opportunity to tour the greenhouse and garden was a refreshing experience for a city dweller like me; it further accentuate the distinctiveness of Azurmendi, leaving a lasting impression in me. For that, I shall try to play my small part by first trying to find a pot of soil to plant that sack of seeds =)

Other photos taken at Bilbao earlier, weather was cloudy otherwise Guggenheim Museum will look even more glitzy with its dramatic architecture.

Other Related Posts:

• ★ Arzak, San Sebastián
• Restaurante Ramuntxo Berri, San Sebastián
• ★ Restaurante Villena, Segovia
• StreetXO, Madrid