Singapore, May 3, 2010
French-Japanese flavours at The Harbour Grill
May 3 - 8, 2010
Who: Laurent Peugeot from Beaune, France
Restaurants: Le Charlemagne; Sushi Kai; and KOKI Food & Shop
Awards: Best Young Chef 2006, France by Gault Millau restaurant guide. L Charlemagne (1 Michelin star, 3 Torques rating and Cuisine Creative award by Gault Millau. 2 Torques for Sushi Kai and 1 Torque for KOKI Food & Shop, also by the same guide this year).
Culinary style: Fusion of minimalist Japanese and hearty food of Bourgogne. Inventive, progressive, experimental with surprising and whimsical touches. Beautiful, exquisite plating.
The Harbour Grill connection: Second visit after a successful promotion last year.
Why you should eat his food: You want to savour new combinations of flavours and the not run-of-the-mill French fare. And you can accept unique fusion and experimentation that might choke the conservative extremists. And it might be the last time the legendary Harbour Grill is hosting a foreign celebrity chef before top eatery in Singapore, Iggy's, conquers the premises.
The Encounter:
Alaskan King Crab
With crispy toast, artichokes and lemon caviar
If you have the mouth of a pitbull, you might enjoy this in one gulp. This dainty V-shaped trough of a super-crunchy toast turned out to be more formidable than it looked - you have to catch any falling debris or molar with each bite and please bite hard. Then crunch everything together - the crab, artichoke puree, the intriguing bits from lemon caviar (yes, there's such a fruit) and the bits of real caviar on top. Delicious but a bit of hard work - perhaps, it's Peugeot's idea of an opening ice-breaker? Will I attempt this again? Why not?
Line-caught seabass
With rocket foam, roasted sesame oil, soya sparkle
Say 'cheers' to this experiment that works! The assembly of ingredients resulted in an ambrosial East-meets-West marriage - chopped seabass sashimi is flavoured with crispy parmesan-soya crumbs and lubricated with sesame oil and a luxurious foam of rocket, spinach and olive oil. Simply sensational! Could I have 5 glasses of this?
Burgundy Escargots
Nuggets in a doggy bag, garlic milk to drink with a straw
Yes, doggy bag served on a platter! Didn't I mention some dog earlier? Tucked in the neatly folded brown paper bag are two croquette balls of escargot embedded in mashed potato. Unscrew the test tube containing the garlic milk (didn't I say experimentation earlier?) and get ready. Take a bite of the almost plain-tasting escargot nugget and then sip a bit of the milk, to infuse it with flavours of garlic, salt, rich dairy and minced parsley. Crunch and blend everything well in your mouth to give the insipid snails some flavour.
Lobster chawanmushi in big daikon
With forest mushroom cappuccino, vanilla juice
This could have worked better if the lobster slivers were sweet and succulent, and not oversteamed in the egg custard within the daikon cup. It didn't help that the radish was a tad bitter, so was the mushroom cream. What could have rescued it? A touch of sweet miso in the cappuccino and adding the lobster to the tiny chawanmushi before serving. Just a suggestion, Monsieur Peugeot.
John Dory a la plancha
With crispy skin, vegetarian pate and soya milk, smoked Jerusalem artichoke mousse
A fat piece of Saint Pierre was enlivened with a vibrant sauce of chicken and veal stock, balsamic vinegar and smoked olive oil from Provence. It's served with jellied lobster-flavoured pate of chopped veggies - three kinds of carrot (yellow, orange and purple), zucchini and Japanese pickled takuan radish - and topped with the smoked artichoke mousse. Another lip-smacking masterpiece, with an exciting assortment of surf-turf flavours.
Soft pear, creamy white chocolate with honey, scented with saffron
Be bowled over by this construction of exquisite snowball made of a crispy white meringue shell expertly covered with an icy pear-sorbet dome. You've got to destroy it to uncover chopped caramelised pears inside. This whimical delight sits on a pool of white chocolate cream flavoured with exotic saffron. Perfect, just perfect.
Lunch: From $80++
Dinner: From $180++
Culinary master class
May 8, Saturday, 10 am - 1pm
$100nett per person (includes meal)
The Harbour Grill
Level 3, The Hilton Singapore
581, Orchard Road
Singapore 238883
tel: +65 - 6730 3393
Recommended articles
 |
| A fitting finale for Habour Grill |
 |
| See pictures of Laurent Peugeot and his creations |
 |
| Read more about Laurent Peugeot |
A SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS WEBSITE
