Have been wanting to try out this place for well a long time now, and finally tried the new menu for freeee, thanks to YO Xmas party (and sponsored by CooperVision). How ironic, haven't had time to attend external event except for the last one of the year...Many photos to come, didn't bring my dslr, so lighting from phone not as great...
Matcha Fries with Sambal Miso Sauce
Nice way to start the night with some shareable snacks. You can see the matcha, but couldn't really taste it. The not spicy sambal style sauce really gave the fries flavour, even dipped my fork in it to have more of the sauce.
open-ish kitchen
I love when chefs open up their kitchen, shows their confidence in their cooking, with nothing to hide, and free entertainment. Although you can't see it whilst sitting, it's still interesting to see when you're standing/walking around
menu
The food was to be shared in pairs, but our table had 3 people, since I think there was an odd number of people who attended. For most meals, we had 2 sets to share between us.
seafood ceviche and octopus salad
love this liquid nitrogen for theatre
The octopus in the scallop shell (which made it confusing since the scallop was the middle one) was definitely the favourite. The tropical fruit and yuzu dressing complemented the scallop and John Dory nicely, without being too overpowering. Love fresh (slightly raw) seafood.
Matcha Scampi Tiger Prawn Martini
Interesting little diy, and letting us play with our food. The seafood is so fresh, with juicy prawns. The soy sauce didn't look like it had wasabi since it was so clear, and you could only taste the wasabi when you dipped a spoon into it. Apart from that, it was a perfect balance of soy sauce and wasabi for a sushi roll. Couldn't really taste the matcha (although it was visible) on the scampi, but it was so juicy and fresh I don't think it mattered if it did have the matcha or not.
action shot
Miso Pipi Udon Pot
Whole table agreed this was probably the best seafood soup base ever-scampi flavoured so prominent, right balance of the sweetness and seasoning using fresh ingredients. You could taste the effort and love put into it. Not oily either, so we ended up drinking the rest of the soup. It was amazing. There was also over 8 pipis in each pot cooked perfectly. Udon was a bit tricky to get out of the pot without splashing it a bit...We were super satisfied with this (especially waiting over an hour from the previous course)
Ramen Beef Slider
The infamous
ramen burger which I tried at the 2013 Night Noodle Markets. The wagyu beef was so juicy, and cooked perfectly as it was still slightly pink in ht emiddle. The ramen itself is a bit burnt, but you expect it to be since it's been fried in heaps of oil. It is super oily, almost impossible to cut in half (as we had an extra one to share between 3 people), and not #cleaneating. Fingers are covered in oil, but it's worth it for the crunchy ramen 'bread'. Wish there were more veggies to balance out all that oil
The chef: David Yip ft 'Flaming Christmas Tree' Demo
fireee
This involved stacking a few glasses and wine bottle on top of two cocktails: sour apple flavoured and strawberry. One day I'll come back for cocktails and drinks. Really wanted to get a drink, but I knew I would be get super full from the food. David pours alcohol with lights up once the fire contacts it, and the drink at the bottom gets some of the alcohol as well.
Flaming Wagyu Volcano
Fire lit by the chef (:
Love flaming fire on food! The onion in the middle gives height to the flame, where the poured some sauce on it then lit it with a lighter. Loved the sauce teriyaki sauce with a hint of wasabi. Wagyu beef so soft, and definitely top notch stuff.
Lava Stone Grill 9+ Wagyu Beef 120gm
This one was more diy, and it's quite hard to tell which pieces are rare/medium, some smaller pieces were properly well done or even over cooked, as it was a small grill and hard to fit everything on/control the cooking. It was still fun though, and it came with three dipping sauces. We all liked the yakiniku (grilled meat) sauce the best, super flavoursome without actually being salty/artificially seasoned. The matcha salt only had a hint of match, and the hollandaise also had a hint of green tea, so would have liked more tea flavour in it, but was still delicious with the good quality meat.
leaning tower of glasses
People from the public also came in for cocktail drinks, with this special demo costing around $60ish (I think). The stack above ended up falling, breaking at least 3 glasses. Expensive cocktails, but it comes with a show and broken glass. One day when I have the money/time, I'll come back for drinks, hopefully. So interesting mixing tea, alcohol, and liquid nitrogen together...
Yuzu Duck with Matcha Peach
Duckkk, one of ym favourite proteins. So delicious with a unique pairing of yuzu flavour and still pink in the middle. Again, would have preferred more matcha on the peach. We only got one dish to share between 3 people, would have liked another one since it's duck.
Infamous Ice Cream Baoger
Finally tried one of these! The normal flavours of green tea, black sesame, and lychee(?), but the new ones on the menu are Ferrero Rocher which chocolate ice cream and miso caramel. Personally I would prefer green tea since I'm not a big chocolate fan, but this was so damn good. White chocolate no too sweet, topped with a smasher chocolate, and drizzled with the miso caramel. The sauce is similar to salted caramel, but the saltiness isn't that noticeable unless you just taste it by itself (or maybe my slider just didn't have enough sauce). The deep fried baos was just deep fried oily goodness. Messy but fun to eat.
We left early before the last dish (not on the menu)-Watermelon Christmas Tree. We saw David carefully walk to another table open to public, with carefully stacked watermelons forming a xmas tree, which was slightly slanted, but I'm sure it made it to the table fine. Overall, definitely top quality food and service. Changed the plates and cutlery almost after every dish. Was so full after that night. Hope to be back to try more things on the menu and definitely the drinks (:
