Zen (Singapore)

The meal is split between the levels of the refurbished venue which is a first for me and a very nice way of doing things I thought.  It is also a clever move to regulate table turnover and courses for each sitting and table as well as being good variation for the diner (new setting, leg stretch and interest levels etc).  The canapés are served in the ground floor open kitchen area where there is also a presentation of all of the ingredients sourced and used and each table is invited to the counter in turn to have an in depth explanation of each one and where it comes from.  There is significant care and attention in this operation and was lovely to have laid on at the start of this meal.  The mains and savouries including pre-desserts are served on the first floor dining room and the coffees and petit fours are served in the second (or top) floor of the venue that resembled a lovely lounge area laden with fine whiskeys and liqueurs.
Canapés in The Kitchen
Initial canapés included a Choux de Bourgogne – gougere with three cheeses (perfect light outer coating and pleasant cheeses); ‘Ráraka’ Kalix Löjrom which was a potato rosti with crème fraiche, brandaide pickled shallots, chive and vendence roe from Sweden – this was absolutely stunning and with the lightest of crunches.  Croustade crustacean, fennel & artichoke was a delectably light croustade with artichoke purée, lobster, fennel, tarragon leaves and bronze fennel.  This was stunning with warm lobster in the thinnest pastry case ever had and a lovely, complemented by a perfectly gentle kick of wasabi – a knock out and world class canapé.
Truffle scrambled egg, yuba was scrambled egg with maple syrup and butter with truffle from Australia winter truffles, held within a soy bean ‘skin’ or, extremely thin tartlet like case.  This was very light and with deep flavour coming through.  The final canapé was Gunkan foie gras, unagi, sakura – brioche with goose foie gras, apple balls marinated in hibiscus, unagi with sweet wine and oxalis flowers.   great combo
Mains in The Dining Room
When invited upstairs to the dining room, I was escorted to my table overlooking a charming terrace garden.  First to be served was crudo (raw fish dish): Saba, radish oroshi, fermented strawberry & coffee – chutoro from Crudo tuna served with Saba (a form of grape), radish oroshi, fermented strawberry & coffee with chutoro (fattiest kind of tuna from the belly) tartare.  This was simply gorgeous and a brilliant combination of fat and sweetness.
Chawanmushi, engawa , coriander, white asparagus was next.  This was essentially an egg-based custard, engawa (skat of flounder) coriander, white asparagus broth, gin, lemon juice and coriander and citrus leaf oil – a complex combination but with very pleasant umami.  Hirame (flounder from north Japan) came with teardrop peas, wasabi & ginger yoghurt, whey dashi, Thai basil oil and Thai basil flowers.  This for me was absolutely outstanding and the dish of the meal. It was fragrant, aromatic, light and in beautiful harmony with the earthy peas combining with the gentle wasabi and Thai basil.
Onion, toasted almonds & liquorice powder and cream, almond foam made with milk from Haikado (very fatty milk from finest cows on the planet) was next and this came dangerously close to being as good as the previous dish.  Two absolute knock out sensations one after the other is rare and I was forgiving the bill more and more with each mouthful.  Next up was flatfish from Kinki (region in Honshu, the southern island of Japan) was served with an all-time favourite sauce of mine – vin Jaune (creamed sauce made with dessert wine), walnut and Zén Réserve caviar.  This had different levels of salt, and fat in each bite and the combination of textures here was interesting.
A selection box of beautiful knives from Morakniv were displayed and I was given the choice of which one to use for my game.  Guinea fowl, mitsuba (parsley) & mustard emulsion, sudachi kosho (fermented paste of Sudachi type of citrus) was served next.  The guinea fowl was decorated with an emulsion of Japanese parsley and mustard spray of Sakura flowers in vinegar with chanterelles which was a magical combination of everything.  Utterly succulent game with a gentle kick of mustard, again judged to perfection served with Hokkaido asparagus for textural crunch.  Colour, texture, protein, fat and low carbohydrate – it was close to a perfect dish as any.  French toast “Grande Tradition 2008” with Balsamic vinegar, parmesan custard, Manjima West Oz truffles was next in the form of a ‘bite’ and this was absolutely superb.
Finally, a pre-dessert of sorbet made of yuzu, konatsu (citrus fruit), Buntan (family of grapefruit) & saffron, kokuto (Okinawa black sugar) aspic (jelly) and Kinome plant leaves.  This was an incredibly smooth sorbet but quite bitter and had wood-like notes which sadly didn’t work hugely for me as a combination as pretty as it was. Momo (Japanese peaches), from Yamanashi near mainland are the highest grade of peach (Daitaro) which came with pêche, elderflower, peach sorbet, star anise cream, 3 peppers, arctic raspberry, rhubarb root oil and crystallised roses meringue sticks seasoned with three types of pepper (roast, long and black – all from different parts of world in Asia and Africa). These were extraordinary peaches in an extraordinary consommé and the beauty and power of this simple offering was worth the long process of being at that table for that offering.
Coffee and petit fours in the Living Room
The final part was served on the upper most level where the first to be served was Muskmelon & Manzanilla sherry gel, Miyazaki mango with coconut rum and vanilla, Shine muscat grape from Japan and grapes infused in verjus, rose, seasoned with house gin and honey vinegar.  Again, one cannot fault the power of these ingredients and as is customary at the end of a Japanese meal, the finest fruit is seen as a delicacy and privilege.  Coffee was from a Singaporean company called Papa Palheta and served with with Hokaido milk.  Along with this came a ‘Waffle party’: Swedish waffles from woodruff cloudberry jam, tonka and almond cream, sea buckthorn and brunost caramelised brown goats cheese (akin to Norwegian Gjetost which I had much of growing up).  The final Western petit fours were Sicilian pistachio macaron, blood miso and matcha with fleur de sel (French salt flake) – all of which were as well made as they can with the simple pistachio actually being the favourite.
If that was hard to read for the detail, spare a thought for how much goes in to that meal and one can understand more regarding the experience and the usual question I receive which is, “Was it worth it?”.  Emphatically yes is my answer to this experience and I would happily save up and go again.  A genuine 3 Michelin starred experience and somewhere you are going to get sheer quality.
Food Grade: 96%