An Afternoon Of Decadence With Galvin Lim, Of Les Amis, In The Mandarin Grill

The invitation from dear Jesslynn, Communications Exec of the MO, read, Media Wine Lunch Preview Of Contemporary European Cuisine With Galvin Lim, Group Executive Chef of Legendary Les Amis Group of Restaurants, Singapore, at the Mandarin Grill. It is seldom I see so many words that I love, all encapsulated in one invitation. Wine, Lunch? European Cuisine? Legendary Group of Restaurants? Mandarin Grill? Wow, it was like I had struck the eater's bingo. So, even though the event was on a Thursday, I thought oh well, life is leasehold, so why not indulge.

The thought of driving into the city, especially to Mandarin Oriental, is daunting, but the idea of driving BACK AFTER a wine lunch, is even more so. So, I decided I would join the rakyat and hitched a ride on the LRT, the best way, really, to get from Bangsar to KLCC. The MO was as usual, bustling with activity, and I was delighted to see that charming Belle, a familiar face, who led me to our little cosy enclave....




Wow, that is a LOT of alcohol for consumption at lunch time, I thought to myself. How absolutely lovely. And, a generous flow of Laurent Perrier champagne, which was absolutely sublime.


I had the good fortune to be seated next to Raymond Lim of the Les Amis group, (which encompasses a whole list of restaurants, like Les Amis, Cepage, HK, Au Jardin, Torisho Taka by Aoki, La Strada), who was great company for this luncheon. His vast knowledge of wine, and food made the hours fly by very quickly. Of course, the wonderful lunch, which ended at 4pm, is easily the best lunch I've had all of this year and last. Seriously.


Freshly baked bread which is so good, but so fatally filling, and really, should be totally omitted when serving such a lunch, as it takes up valuable stomach space.


Two types of butter, and fancy sea salt.


Scottish Clams Served on Black Sea Salt. No, not salt from the black sea, but Sea Salt which is black. I am not sure how this is achieved, or if it's from its natural state, but the glasses of Laurent Perrier, and subsequent other tipple, is like a "delete" function in my brain.





Eggplant Caviar. Gobules of goodness (and fish spawn) popping in the mouth, a staggering variety of textures, with the chewiness of the octopus, and the soft creamy texture of eggplant, and the salty marine goodness of the caviar.


I love eggs. If there is one thing I can eat everyday, (and heck, actually I almost do), it's egg, WITH a runny yolk. Pair this with my favourite white asparagus, this Ciabatta wrapped in white asparagus is really to die for. And that runny yolk. Something so simple, yet so incredibly good.





And these were just the WHITES to go with the first two starters. Not to mention the champagne before that.


Slow Cooked Danish Halibut "Sous Vide" Style - Black Winter Truffles, Potato Gnocchi and Sakura Ebi. Served with Perrin Reserve, Cote Du Rhone Blanc, 2009. Classy hor, old world white some more. Need I say more? Just look at the ingredients, and WEEP! Okay, perhaps the truffles were winter truffles, therefore could not have come from Europe, but they were still good. (From Australia)


Char Grilled Wagyu Rib Eye Cooked in hay.


Actually, there are two cuts here. One is the rib eye, the other is...err, I can't remember, but it is leaner than the Rib Eye, which is marbled. But both cuts simply melt in the mouth. I am not sure what the effect of cooking with hay is, maybe its an euphemism for cooking with grass, ...and begs the question, where does one buy HAY to cook with? Raymond, who has to eat the same thing again that night, gave me his chunk of meat, which I gladly accepted.


These glorious bovine beauties were served with M Chapoutier Bila Haut, Cotes Du Roussillon 2009. Live vicariously through me, and imagine a very red faced, chirpy diner at 3pm (which would be around the time we had the beef). On a weekday. It's nice to indulge in such decadence once in awhile.


For dessert, "sunny side up", pineapple with chilli. An interesting creation, consisting pineapple, some espuma like substance, and a hint of chilli. It's almost like eating air....very light.


Deconstructed lemon tart. Well, the menu says "Fancy Lemon Tart", but I love using the word "deconstructed" these days. Whilst of course, there is nothing random or messy about this particular creation, the use of deconstructed will hide a pot of sins (thanks Awhiffoflemongrass for you help with the collective noun) for messy bakers like me. Served with Chateau Tireculs Les Pin la Graviere, Monbazillac 1997, (NINETEEN NINETY SEVEN! I just got married that year). A perfect end to a perfect meal.


We have here Chef Galvin Lim of the Les Amis Group.

Now, as all fabulous shows should, this ended with an encore. From Raymond's personal stash.







Hibiki, single malt from Japan. The Japanese seem to not follow the usual Scottish in terms of aging, ie, not the usual 12,15,18,21....

This 17 yr old Hibiki, really made the day end on "high" note.

I must have reeked like a distillery as I waded amongst the rakyat in the LRT on the way back to reality.







Anyway, a truly fabulous and memorable lunch. Raymond, if you are reading this, do let us bring you around for Street Food the next time you are in town!

Wasabi Bistro, At the MO

The last time I went to Wasabi, in Mandarin Oriental, I think we hadn't even crossed the Millennium. Gasp! I was young then, the age of some of the current bloggers I hang out with. Almost. I was still probably older than most of them even then.

When Aly (who seems to be my main source for invites these days) asked me to join her for a tasting in Wasabi, I could not say no. I don't know what is happening in front of the MO, or what they're building, but traffic there is DIABOLIC! If you want to dine at MO, just a friendly tip, take the train.

We were given a warm welcome by Kevin Hee, the General Manager of the restaurant, a gregarious character, making everyone feel very much at home.


Dainty little celery and carrot sticks with a lovely dip.


Crockery seems to be an important part of the presentation it seems.


The lovely edamame. Such a simple, but delightful snack.





Their signature starter, a crab ball


That's Kevin there... regaling us with tales of his dog...and how it was overfed, just like he was doing to us.


Tuna sashimi, with a lovely tangy sauce...


A gorgeous sushi platter, with my favourite ingredient, avocado. Yummeh!


Doesn't that look pretty? Salmon with Mango. Do they go? I'm not sure, but sure looks attractive.





Chicken yakitori.... Japanese satay if you must. Tender pieces of chicken well marinated. You cannot go wrong with this simple yet satisfying dish. Love the platter in which it is served.


Aly loves her meat on a stick.


Agedashi tofu always make me think of the kids. It is their favourite dish in Japanese restaurants. My agedashi bill usually makes me faint.


Soon to be Mr & Mrs....yup, congratulations are in order. This was actually the meal preceding the proposal.... for full details, ask the woman or the man himself.


Ebi Tempura. The batter was light and crisp, I could eat 10 of these.


Lil Chef is quite the catch, I reckon. Aly is one lucky gal. Oh, incidentally, he is holding up another signature dish of Wasabi's, the baked papaya with seafood, and cheese. Actually, if Kevin didn't bring up the matter, it never occured to me. Solo papayas. They seem to have all but vanished! They used to serve this dish in solo papayas, but as Kevin pointed out, they are no longer available. Or rarely so. This is true, I cannot recall the last time I saw a solo.


The walls are adorned with Japanese paintings, in particular, a series of Working Japanese Women, which according to Kevin, was based on WW2, when women were finally allowed to do SOME jobs, (presumably the men were all at war) such as teaching, etc.


Black sesame ice cream and green tea ice cream.


Banana Fritters with vanilla ice cream. Not sure how this is Japanese.

For a lovely ambience and interesting variation on Japanese, Wasabi would be an ideal choice. You can choose from three outlets, one in Waikiki, one in Singapore, and one here at the Mandarin Oriental. (it's not part of the hotel itself). It's located at the basement, on the side of the MO that faces Suria.

Wasabi Bistro - The Breakers Hotel, 250 Beach Street, Waikiki, Hawaii - +1 808 922-1133
Wasabi Bistro - MO, 03-21630968
Wasabi Bistro - MO Singapore, +65-68853091

Norwegian Seafood Fest

I have a dream, a song to sing....to help me cope, with anything.....I believe in angels, something good in everything I see.... - Scandinavian Pop Group of the 70s.

Yeah, unlike SOME JETSETTERS, I can only dream of this scene.

(Photo courtesy of Gard, friend of AWOL)

Alas, the closest thing I've come to Norway is probably Ikea, and the closest glacial experience I've had was an old refrigerator with no frost free function. Such is the life of a peasant. So, you can imagine my delight, when Hooi Khaw (what would I do without this dear lady? My life would have a dearth of worthy eating invitation) invited us to the Annual Norwegian Seafood Fest at the Mandarin Oriental. Us meaning Masak Masak, who couldn't make it, AWHIFFOFLEMONGRASS (Voted for her yet or not? If not, too late, forever hold your piss), CUMI& CIKI, and ME, the FBB.

The mother of all seafood buffets, she said it was going to be. And boy, was she right.

Sometimes, it pays not to pay attention to details. I don on a casual shirt, and slacks, and brave the Friday evening traffic jam headed into town, and arrive 10 minutes late, but obviously, the Europeans are very punctual, and the foyer of the ballroom was already packed (like canned salmon) to the brim with gentlemen in suits and tuxedos, and ladies in ballgowns. FORTUNATELY, Cumi& Ciki were also dressed like me, ie, the rabble. Why it pays is, as Ciki pointed out, it would look odd if I were in a suit with a camera, snapping away. So twas a blessing that we were casually dressed, and looked the part of PRESS. AWOL of course is always dressed for a ball, so she fitted in quite well with the rest of the ladida.

As part of the PRESS, (actually, we were very blessed, out of 600 odd guests, there were only us 4 motley food bloggers), we were allowed into the ballroom to photograph the untouched buffet. Time spent on reconnaisance is never wasted, says the old army adage.


A shrimp platter that could have fed a hungry Orca. When we did eventually get to demolishing this hemisphere of prawny delight, yeah, it was good, and went well with the sour cream dressing.


Samples of Norwegian seafood produce on display. These were the raw ingredients, but all of them had been used in some way or other in the huge array of stuff that laid before us. If I was a piscetarian, I think I might have thought I was in Paradise. Heck, I WAS IN PARADISE.





We were to discover that salmon can take on many forms. Sashimi, obviously....


Lots of interesting decorative items. The Indian elephants hung above the Salmon Tandoori.


Salmon Tandoori. Yup, no Asian cuisine was spared in the fusioning of Salmon. There was even Salmon Satay, which I forgot to photograph.


I wonder who first thought of serving these horse divorce (hors douvres?) in little chinese soup spoons. Very quaint, but what a nightmare to wash up. At least its environmentally friend and recyclable. These were topped with a gorgeous sauce made with liquid nitrogen. Made by these chappies. Whom Ciki wasted no time in getting acquainted with.







The flying culinary circus. Apparently this troupe of chefs travel the world to perform their culinary magic.



Its not a pizza. Some salmon tartare dish. Lovely tangy sauce.


Platters and platters of Salmon. I began to feel like spawning.


Salmon with Olives


Salmon smoked in more ways that you can say Dunhill.








Some vegetables for the non fish eaters.


Sushi galore.


My vocabulary has run out for ways to describe salmon, but I actually think this was herring. Not so red.


Lobster salad. Or very large crayfish.


Poached quails eggs in salad. How lovely is that! I simply must try poaching quails eggs. Oh wait, too much work.



Copied from the Press Release

Chef Frank Naesheim’s seafood dinners have become the annual highlight of the Norwegian business community in Malaysia and Singapore. He has worked in two and three-star Michelin restaurants in France and was chef de cuisine at the Bagatelle in Oslo when it was awarded a Michelin star, the first restaurant in Norway to be honoured this way. Known as the Salmon King in Asia, Naesheim first came to work as executive chef at the Vikings Restaurant in Singapore in 1987. A few years later, he established Snorre Food Pte Ltd, to import quality Norwegian seafood and focused on promoting it in Asia. He launched cooking competitions, focusing on salmon, as part of the Salon Culinaire, a high-profiled Asian culinary event in Singapore. Naesheim’s Salmon King title is well deserved. He has written a cookbook, Norwegian Salmon in Asia, produced recipe booklets for salmon and organised the Salmon Buffet of the Century in Singapore. He has been guest chef in numerous food promotions in Asia and Norway. Naesheim has been serving on the Singapore Bocouse D’or committee since 2000 and is the director of Continental WACS Asia (World Association of Chefs Societies).

A lot of work goes into these events. I wonder if these sculptors have to sit in a freezing cold room to chisel away on these ice blocks. OR, are they made in moulds?





Just look at the ship....even complete with Poseidon's trident in the background.


Caviar, and lots of it. Okay, so it's not Beluga or Sevruga, but hey, a lot of baby fishies had to still give their lives okay.


Ciki was arguing with me if the dish at the buffet was crab or lobster. I insisted it was crab, but she said it was lobster. Ahem, I won. It was actually King Crab, similar to the Alaskan or Hokkaido deep water King Crab, and OH SOOOOOO DELICIOUS!!!!! It was done chinese style, ie, with salted egg yolk. YARMEEE. Forgot to take pics!


My first round.


They even had foie gras (free flow) on pieces of white fish. Halibut I think. I really should start taking notes if I aspire to be like Anton Ego.


Plump Juicy Scallops. I love scallops.

And there's always room for dessert.


Norwegian donuts.


Waffles. At this stage, one chooses unique desserts that do not occupy a lot of stomach space, so waffles wasn't high on the MUST TRY list.


Chocolate Lollipops, with a lovely mint filling. Had a few of these. Dark Choc, of course. I hate white choc, and milk is just too sweet.


Riskrem, a traditional Norwegian dessert, that is a bit like rice pudding. Very nice. Oh, and not photographed, but very yummy too was the cloudberry ice cream.






I dunno what these last two items are. Talk about slack blogging.

Anyway, I had a lovely time, but couldn't stay on for the rest of the proceedings, which included a performance by a norwegian diva, awards ceremony for best brand, (Digi won I think).

But really, it WAS the mother of all buffets. Again a special note of thanks to Hooi Khaw for so kindly inviting me. Meanwhile, I think I shall stay away from salmon for a few months. But let's keep spawning ya.