Dots of purée applied in Yayoi Kusama-like fashion. Earthy morels punctuating a garden of seasonal vegetables.
Dots of purée applied in Yayoi Kusama-like fashion. Earthy morels punctuating a garden of seasonal vegetables
Dots of purée applied in Yayoi Kusama-like fashion. Earthy morels punctuating a garden of seasonal vegetables. A swirl of sauce framing perfectly seared or sous-vide protein. This is edible botany, and the work of modern Japanese restaurant, Akira Back, which prides itself as a gallery of culinary art. Its Sashimi Don, a dish ordinarily served in a bowl with raw fi sh atop rice, arrives at the table as a colourful block of fresh seafood on a base of Katsuo Goma brown rice from Hokkaido, stacked with mathematical precision. Artful plating is similarly found at Odette, which serves up two Michelin-star-worthy French cuisine with contemporary finesse. An order of Choconuts gets you an intricately stylised plate of Guanaja chocolate three ways—crystallised, sorbet and tuille—with peanut toffee crumble and Tahitian vanilla coulant for mouthfuls of textural decadence. Showcasing one ingredient in varied forms, too, is JAAN, where Snapper and Barley Risotto with fresh chickweed and baby squid legs is accentuated with Kabocha pumpkin purée, Muscat pumpkin jus and pumpkin seed granola for added crunch. On the local flavour front, Open Farm Community’s latest menu additions celebrate home-grown ingredients: Think Steak Tartare uplifted by spicy-tangy ginger chili, spring onion and coriander purée, topped with an oozy organic egg yolk and standing garlic croutons. And for dessert, sweet tooths can tuck into the Pandan and Banana Custard that is almost too pretty to eat: Delicate blooms nestle alongside discs of rich, crumbly ginger biscuits, freeze-dried bananas and dollops of sugarcane sorbet, in a bed of lemongrass sago.
