The "white" yoghurt and potato bread tasted quite ordinary. The surface was crusty while the insides were warm and soft.
The apple and rosemary was very agreeable. It was described as an apple risotto of minced apples cooked in its own juices topped with a rosemary flavoured foam. This dessert in my opinion had one of the better balanced application of rosemary I've had in any food. It tasted pretty good to me and reminded me more than a little of apple pies.
The dessert portions were rather substantial. It felt like the portions of a main here was certainly so for their pineapple with Chinese five spice, coconut and Brie. I'm not too sure how I still feel about this dessert. The flavours to me were decidedly oriental and yet not so because of the dill and cheese and coconut cream. And it didn't appear very dessert like because of the five spice infusion along with the bits of coriander which have no place in desserts. The pungent brie ice cream was interesting if unusual and I'm still wondering what made those crumbs grey. They tasted like cookie crumbs if anyone was wondering.
As novelty, I was held captivated for one serving.
After meal sweets were apple gums.
The wagyu beef cheek and alliums, asian pear and wood sorrel was apparently a signature and was pretty damn good. This was my first experience eating something that was sous vide. The wagyu beef cheek that had been cooked for 40 hours was very tender, retained texture and was very flavourful. It was accompanied by the robust beefy consommé that they poured upon serving along with blossoms of citrusy flavours from the wood sorrels and little balls of what tasted like Chinese pear and tiny onion bulbs.
There was also a cold starter of scallop and passionfruit, tea and herbs. The taste was fairly predictable. Predictable wasn't really a word I would think to associate with the food for a first time eating here.
Some of the items served here are pretty unusual. This was a spelt porridge with winter truffle. As much as I could smell the truffles, I couldn't find any in the porridge. The black disc in the middle tasted to me like a concentrated squid ink jelly. Brown crumbles over the top are suppose to be chestnuts but had the texture of minced fried garlic and the taste of neither chestnuts nor garlic. I did find the this starter very comforting and tasty though.
Their charcoal infused bread looked pretty interesting. It didn't taste different from regular bread.
The dessert portions were rather substantial. It felt like the portions of a main here was certainly so for their pineapple with Chinese five spice, coconut and Brie. I'm not too sure how I still feel about this dessert. The flavours to me were decidedly oriental and yet not so because of the dill and cheese and coconut cream. And it didn't appear very dessert like because of the five spice infusion along with the bits of coriander which have no place in desserts. The pungent brie ice cream was interesting if unusual and I'm still wondering what made those crumbs grey. They tasted like cookie crumbs if anyone was wondering.
As novelty, I was held captivated for one serving.
After meal sweets were apple gums.
The wagyu beef cheek and alliums, asian pear and wood sorrel was apparently a signature and was pretty damn good. This was my first experience eating something that was sous vide. The wagyu beef cheek that had been cooked for 40 hours was very tender, retained texture and was very flavourful. It was accompanied by the robust beefy consommé that they poured upon serving along with blossoms of citrusy flavours from the wood sorrels and little balls of what tasted like Chinese pear and tiny onion bulbs.
There was also a cold starter of scallop and passionfruit, tea and herbs. The taste was fairly predictable. Predictable wasn't really a word I would think to associate with the food for a first time eating here.
Some of the items served here are pretty unusual. This was a spelt porridge with winter truffle. As much as I could smell the truffles, I couldn't find any in the porridge. The black disc in the middle tasted to me like a concentrated squid ink jelly. Brown crumbles over the top are suppose to be chestnuts but had the texture of minced fried garlic and the taste of neither chestnuts nor garlic. I did find the this starter very comforting and tasty though.
Their charcoal infused bread looked pretty interesting. It didn't taste different from regular bread.
Bread was served in a warm clay pot and kept warm with some heated seeds. These bread were apparently described as yoghurt and potato bread and the black ones were infused with charcoal. Accompanying them was small stone bowl of what we were told is Danish butter with toasted barley and buckwheat.
We were served with an amuse bouche of some crackers on a black tile and a spoonful of carrot emulsion with walnut shavings. I do not remember what are these crackers made of, but they tasted like a crispy and airy keropok to me.
I couldn't identify the carrot emulsion or walnut shavings neither in terms of flavour. The former tasted creamy and the latter was like sawdust that dissolved in the mouth.
Fi53fty Three (53 Armenian Street, tel : +65 6334 5535) was carved out of a venture between Michael Han, an ex-lawyer that has as reportedly stinted at The Fat Duck and Les Amis. The restaurant is well past its second year in business and has been serving food that has at some point or another, been talked about because of the origins of the helm and their showcase of a fusion-ish modern European cooking that the kitchen produces. All with as much locally sourced ingredients as possible.
The salted Danish butter was creamy and served at a temperature where it was lightly chilled and very soft. Those toasted barley and buckwheat added aroma and texture to the usual butter and bread.
No comments:
Post a Comment