Of flying naans and the Flying Elephant

When a star hotel celebrates its 4th anniversary, you know food is in some way involved. The Flying Elephant, Park Hyatt Chennai has celebrated this milestone by revamping the menu as well as introducing an Asian dining section in the multi-tiered restaurant.

Table setting at the Italian section

An invitation to sample elements of the new menu just could not be passed up! Plenty of Asian-inspired food, new techniques in its Western fare and some twist to the Indian section. Oh man - this was looking quite interesting!

Singapore slaw salad

Executive sous chef Balaji explained the menu and we started with the table-side salad service. Like yusheng, the raw salad that's served on the eve of Chinese New Year, the veggies of the Singapore slaw salad were artfully arranged as a cone of crisp vermicelli, shredded carrot, cabbage and taro root. Unlike its Chinese counterpart where the diners do the tossing, here it was transferred into a salad bowl, mixed with a tangy apricot dressing and topped with toasted sesame seeds, fried shallots and crushed peanuts before being served. And it was delicious - crunchy, filled with the fuzzy warmth of ginger and the tang from the apricot dressing. Altogether a mighty yummy salad.

Charcoal cooked  tandoori watermelon

Tandoori tarbooza was definitely messing with my head. The portable brazier held sizzling pink cubes. They smelt like tandoori chicken and looked like them but they were cubes of marinated and grilled watermelon. Warm and spicy but the sweetness and juiciness of the melon helped the cool the fire on my tongue. 

Tandoori tarbooza

Wok-fried chicken in Nonya chilli sauce

Pork & prawn shumai

Wok fried chicken in Nonya chilli sauce had chunks of fried chicken in a sauce made of dried prawn, chili and kaffir lime leaf. It was delicious and spicy though the chicken was bland. I did wish there was steamed rice as accompaniment. However, the steamed pork and prawn shumai, topped with crunchy roe lacked for nothing, they were delicately flavoured and a delight to bite into.

Brazino in crosta di sale e erbe

The sea bass, baked in a salt shell and sliced open at the table revealed a beautifully moist fillet of the fish. Cooked to perfection, the fish was tender and paired well with the wilted spinach and crisp potato cubes tossed in parsley, a beautiful play of textures. It did not need any seasoning as the tiniest bit of salt was still discernible on the fish.

Ossobuco di agnello alla Milanese

Sitting in the Italian section of the restaurant, it would have been strange not to taste something from the region and the lamb shank ossobuco with saffron risotto fitted the bill perfectly. The meat, cooked for 7 hours, was just about ready to fall away from the bone by the time it reached the table while the sprinkle of gremolata brightened up both risotto and the meat.

Wok-fried silken tofu with chilli sauce

When a chef is inspired, there's no end to his creativity. The flying naan is the result of one such thought process. Naan dough is shaped into Turkish-style pide, smeared with harissa, a Punjabi onion kulcha topping and cheese before being popped into the oven to bake. It's brushed with butter when it comes out and sliced into triangles. What a fabulous fusion!

Making a flying naan 

The naan was served with Zaitooni khumb achari - an olive and mushroom gravy. A delicious pairing and the olives were actually pleasant to munch on. And that naan - perfect on its own too!

Flying naan with pickled olive and mushroom gravy

Chocolate & peanut butter brownie on a skillet

The first dessert was warm chocolate, almond and peanut butter brownie which was served with a scoop of peanut butter ice cream. The brownie, baked in a baby skillet was so deliciously fudgy. The toasted peanuts only added to the deliciousness of it all. Yum!!

Dessert No. 2 was a caramelised banana cake with soft serve ice cream. It came with a bit of theatre and my two dinner companions did enjoy it.

A meal for 2 at The Flying Elephant would be around 3500/-.  

Read more »

Hydroponically yours - sambal kangkong

A friend's friend rang me in the morning, promising to drop off some basil and water spinach on his way home in the evening. By afternoon, the sky turned black and huge raindrops began to fall. Well, that seemed to be the end of my vegetable story.

I had underestimated Anandh's zeal. He called at about 6 pm to ask for directions to my place. He had brought with him packs of Thai and Italian basil as well as a couple of packs of kangkong (water spinach) which he had harvested a couple of hours earlier. The leaves were clean and green. All the produce had been grown hydroponically.

Thai basil; kangkong; Italian basil

Anandh Ranganathan runs *Ranga Farms at Chennai where greens are grown without soil. In all 3 samples he gave me, the leaves were unblemished and the flavour and aroma of both kinds of basil were incredible (as I write this, I'm enjoying my bowl of pasta with pesto). There was just enough  of stem on the greens to keep the leafy bunches intact and thus, practically nothing to waste!

Smooth pesto with pasta

Hollow stems

Kangkong is also known as water convolvulus, water spinach or morning glory (not the flower!) The leaves are arrow-shaped and the stems are hollow as it is a semi-aquatic plant. It's packed with vitamins, iron and minerals. I had always thought kangkong was an urban legend in Chennai - heard it's available but never seen it!! And now, finally, it was in my kitchen and I had to make my favourite sambal kangkong with it.

Separate leaves from the stems

Separate the leaves from the stems and keep them whole (discard any tough stems). Cut the stems into 3-inch lengths. For the spice paste or rempah, grind dry red chillies along with garlic, dry prawns and shrimp paste. If you want to make it completely vegetarian, do omit the prawns and shrimp paste. The kangkong has to be cooked over high heat.

Sambal kangkong

Sambal Kangkong  

Ingredients
350 gm kangkong, separate the leaves, cut stems into 3" lengths
3 shallots
3 cloves garlic
5 dry red chillies soaked in hot water to soften (you could also use a mix of fresh and dry chillies)
1 tbsp dried prawns (wash and soak in warm water for 15 minutes)
1 tsp shrimp paste
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons oil

Method
Wash the spinach, drain in a colander.
Grind together shallots, garlic, chillies, dried prawns and shrimp paste (add just enough water to keep the blades moving). Keep it aside.

Remove the leaves when they wilt a bit

Heat a large wok, put a third of the leaves into it and stir it around till it wilts. (If you are using a smaller quantity, you could do it all together.)
Remove and repeat with the remaining leaves.

Fried spice paste

Heat the oil, sauté the spice paste on a low flame till it is dry and oil starts to separate.
Transfer the paste onto a plate and keep aside.

Cut stems into 3" lengths

Heat the wok till it is very hot, sauté the stalks for about a minute or till just soft.
Add the fried paste and mix well.
Add the leaves and about 3 spoons water.
Sauté well, dish out and serve with steamed rice.

For a completely vegetarian dish, omit the prawns and shrimp paste.

*Anandh can be contacted at anan12@gmail.com

Yummy sambal kangkong

Read more »

Truffles, pecorino and The Drama Chef, Part II

What is it with truffles (not the confection)? Does it bring out the generosity inherent in some folk? At a recent cooking workshop in Bangkok, the chef handed us a few knobs of the fungi and told us to slice off as much as we needed to top our fois gras lasagna. And now, responding to Chef  Mauro's invitation to dine at Focaccia Theatre, every dish was finished with  generous shaves of it! Hmm... I'm so inclined to think so.

Chef Mauro at Theatre Focaccia. 

The Drama Chef aka Chef Mauro has returned from a vacation with a suitcase full of exotica. This time, 3 ingredients take centre-stage - the aforementioned truffles, pecorino cheese and chestnuts. While the truffles were mostly used as a topping, their earthiness permeated all through the other ingredients of the dish. Some of the dishes had all three ingredients which made them stand out from what is usually passed off as Italian food in the city. Personally, I liked the "cheesiness" of pecorino and perhaps that has something to do with the shorter maturation time that this cheese requires as compared to that of Parmesan.

This time, the drama lay in the way each dish was presented - restrained yet appealing, the eye being drawn to the slivers of truffle, micro greens, flowers (or at times, a single petal) or even just a sprig of thyme. Chef Mauro was a picture of concentration as he plated each dish, allowing his creations to receive all the accolades.

Truffle, edible soil, crispy truffle vegetables, pecorino cheese fondue

The vegetarian appetiser certainly looked like a garden. It had truffle soil, neatly cut vegetables and beetroot balls served with pecorino cheese fondue and foam and finished with extra virgin olive oil and a flower.

Potato, egg, pecorino cheese fondue, black truffle

Appetiser No. 2 looked like a mashed potato flowerpot surrounded by pecorino cheese fondue and truffle and by now, we knew the drill - expect the unexpected. Slicing into it revealed a beautifully cooked egg, the liquid golden yolk flowed slowly into the fondue.

Slow-cooked chicken, grilled red capsicum, pecorino cheese, truffle edible soil

Chef Mauro had done some magic with the chicken because it was so tender that it almost melted in the mouth. All he told us was that it was slow-cooked! There was "soil" made from truffle and some other secret ingredients; the textures on this plate of food were just divine.

Sea bass carpaccio, zucchini julienne, pomegranate sauce, black truffle

If raw seafood is your thing, you'll love this  exquisite sea bass carpaccio. The zucchini lends crunch and pomegranate arils add little bursts of sweetness.

Pumpkin soup with ravioli, chestnut and casera cheese

Pasta courses included:

Leek fondue risotto with truffle. Simple ingredients, stunning flavours!

Handmade spaghetti with white truffle sauce & truffle shavings; the texture of the pasta is incredible

Gourmet truffle pizza - thin crust topped with truffle cream, mozzarella & shaved truffle. If only all pizzas were made this way!

Gourmet truffle pizza in the making

Zucchini & truffle leaf halibut with chickpea puree

Potato & truffle stuffed chicken breast with butter, chestnuts & cauliflower puree. Yum!

Chocolate millefeuille with chestnut mousse; chestnut soft cake with rum sauce

Time for dolce and we watched Chef Mauro pipe chestnut puree between chocolate discs to make his chocolate millefeuille. Dots of raspberry coulis helped to tone down the sweetness.
Italians love chestnuts and use it in both savoury and sweet dishes. However, the dessert that took the err... cake was the chestnut soft cake. The light, airy cake and the smooth creme anglaise was a fitting end to a beautiful meal.

I do hope there will be an encore!!

The Return of the Drama Chef food festival is on till 22nd October at Focaccia, Hyatt Regency Chennai and only for dinner, from 7 - 11.30 pm. The menu is a la carte.

Read more »

Omakase at Teppei Japanese Restaurant

Teppei Japanese Restaurant at Orchid Hotel, Tras Link is one of the places in Singapore which serves omakase. There are 4 dining sessions every day, 2 for lunch and 2 for dinner and each session can accomodate about 16 diners.

The restaurant is a small room divided by a long counter that snakes all the way into the next room. High stools placed close to each other are where the diners sit and the other side of the counter is where the chef and his assistants work. Around us were shelves loaded with sauce bottles, plastic bowls and other kitchen utensils. If it's ambiance you're looking for, you're at the wrong place. In fact, it looks like a storage room from the outside and not much different inside. However, every stool was occupied, justifying the need to book your seats well in advance.

Rice tea 

Omakase roughly translates to "up to the chef", therefore, there is no menu and the chef decides what he is going to serve the diners. There's plenty of raw and minimally cooked seafood and you can rest assured that it is all very fresh. Most of the meal is made on the spot and served in courses; the preparation of each course is so well orchestrated that each completed dish is placed in front of each diner at almost the same time. Wasting food is not acceptable.

Cold starter box

The only thing I recognised from our appetiser tray was the halved prawn. There was a little square that tasted of tofu and a green square that we later learnt was made of edamame. There was also squid, spinach and radish. Portions were bite-sized and textures were interesting.

All the food is prepped in front of the diner

Not having a menu meant we had no idea what what kind of fish we were being served. All the prep work was done in front of us, from skinning the fish to filleting to pin-boning to portioning. Even the bivalves were opened just before being cleaned and sliced. If you want to see the knife skills of a Japanese chef, you'll get to see it from your front row seat!

Sashimi

Super smooth and light chawanmunshi

Ingredients for tuna roll

Making tuna roll

How many courses were there? I really have no idea because I stopped counting after the 6th.

The minced tuna roll is delicious. Nori sheets are softened over an open flame and stuffed with tuna and other ingredients. There was crunch from panko crumbs and fish roe to top it all. They first served the ladies with half a roll each, all the men were served  a full roll. You can ask for more but there's plenty more coming so hold on to those appetites!

Goose barnacles

They told me these were turtle toes. Really? I heard them chuckling and realised they were pulling my leg. They are barnacles and they showed me how to pull off the brownish sheath; the tiny bit of meat it had encased was sweet and tender.

Steamed fish

Fried yam ball 

Between courses, they gave us palate cleansers that ranged from yam balls to tomato wedges to marinated grapes to juicy peaches.

Sliced bivalves

Spoon-feeding time

By now, there was plenty of bonhomie on both sides of the counter. Teppei Yamashita's men are very entertaining so don't be surprised when they decide to feed you. While most of the food is plated, some of it is arranged on spoons and the chefs go to each diner to pop it into their mouths. And for diners who are not within the reach of the chefs, they have a contraption where the spoon is fixed onto a long handle. By hook or by crook they will feed you amidst laughter from those watching!

Wagyu beef art!

Wagyu beef with garlic chips

Soup

Fried rice with wagyu beef 

Yuzu ice cream

The main course is fried rice and you have a choice of meat or seafood to top it with. I chose wagyu beef and the combination was spectacular. For dessert, I opted for a light and zesty yuzu ice cream.

It took us about about two and a half hours to go through the whole meal. What a meal! 

Read more »