Jiang-Nan Chun Singapore
Restaurant Review
Chef Albert
Tse Wai Shing Paves the Way to Modern Chinese
Cuisine
by Juliet
David
 |
|
Jiang-Nan Chun Restaurant |
Outside of
China and Hong Kong, the best place to enjoy a wide
range of Chinese cuisine is Singapore. Here in this
little island-city-state is to be found a wide
selection of the many regional cuisines of China,
including Szechuan, Cantonese, Hunanese, as well as
those from Beijing and Shanghai, and even the
lesser-known ones.
A fascinating new development is the birth of Modern
Chinese Cuisine, a hybrid creation that is gaining
popularity within the culinary community in
Singapore. Amongst the Chinese restaurants that offer
their interpretation of Modern Chinese Cuisine, the
best is The Four Seasons Hotel Singapore’s Jiang-Nan
Chun Restaurant, where Chinese Executive Chef Albert
Tse Wai Shing reigns as one of the region’s top
veterans of Chinese Cuisine.
A five-course tasting menu for lunch at Jiang Nan
Chun, well-known for its traditional Cantonese
cuisine, presented in an innovative, contemporary
style, is a delightful experience that I was able to
share with André Gayot while in the midst of one of
his around the world voyages in quest of the
best.
It begins with a trio from the restaurant’s signature
dim sum selection: deep-fried yam dumpling filled
with Chinese mushroom and chicken, steamed dumpling
with minced shrimp and crabmeat, and fresh scallop
with minced chicken dumpling. But the novelty is that
each dumpling is prepared in the classic Western
tradition that added an intense flavor
dimension.
The second course, braised sharks’ fin with crab meat
en papillote, is sharks’ fin baked in a paper pouch
and served with a distinct flourish as waiters snip
away the wrappers to release the fragrance of the
protein-rich combs of sharks’ fin topped with
succulent wedges of crab-meat and smothered in
superior chicken stock. It’s a magnificent
treat for the taste
buds and for the eyes as well.
The third
course featured one of Chef Tse’s award-winning
gastronomic creations:
 |
| Fresh
Abalone with Truffle |
braised
quality fresh abalone with truffle. This delicacy
took two whole days of preparations, beginning with
six hours of steaming of the fresh whole abalone in a
stock made from combining chicken, pork ribs, sea
cucumber, dried mushroom and Shaoxing rice wine. The
abalone is then removed from the stock and air-dried
for one whole day to develop a glaze and enhance the
“bite.” It is then returned to the sauce, to which
shaved truffle is added and slow boiled for two
hours, after which it is left to soak for another day
for the flavors to be absorbed. Before serving, the
abalone is quick-braised and presented whole,
garnished with seasonal greens and truffle shavings,
and bathed in the rich much-reduced sauce. As the
sauce ingredients and natural abalone juices have
melded so perfectly, one can easily imagine that the
explosion of flavors presented by each succulent
mouthful of abalone defies description.
 |
|
Spinach Bean Curd and Sautéed Monkey-Head
Mushrooms with Oyster
Sauce |
The
simplicity of the next course, braised homemade
spinach bean curd and sautéed monkey-head mushrooms
with oyster sauce, provides a clever contrast to the
richness and depth of the two preceding dishes. The
fist-sized monkey-head mushroom is named for its
physical resemblance to a monkey’s head (This
probably gave rise to the popular tale of the
barbaric practice of eating of live monkey brains.
But really, has anyone out there ever experienced it
first-hand?). The monkey-head mushroom, as its name
implies, is a member of the mushroom family and, of
course, not of the monkey family. Thoroughly edible,
it is served in bite-sized slices, sautéed in oyster
sauce. Crunchy to the bite with a smoky, nutty
flavor, it contrasts well in taste and texture with a
smooth, spinach tofu.
A Chinese meal has come to an end when the fried rice
or noodles (as in our case) is served. But after such
a succession of magnificent dishes it was difficult
to do justice to the tempting, delightfully crunchy
seafood fried noodles that appeared there before
us.
A finalist in
the Asian Ethnic Chef category of the World Gourmet
Summit in Singapore in 2002, Chef Albert's summarizes
his happy philosophy of food:
“I derive great joy and happiness in cooking and
creating new dishes, and I hope to translate that
into my dishes so that any guest who walks into my
restaurant will eat away their worries and anxieties
when they dine on my food.”
Indeed, our lunch provided a totally satisfying
experience.
This classic Cantonese menu is modernized in its
presentation, and its interpretation is prepared with
finesse and imagination by one of the finest Chinese
chefs in Singapore at Four Seasons Singapore’s Jiang
Nan Chun Restaurant, named after the rich verdant
lands south of China’s Yangtze River.
Gayot/GaultMillau, who remember discovered “The
Nouvelle Cuisine“ in 1972, is more than intrigued by
this trend represented by Chef Albert. Make no
mistake, this is not simply a variation of “fusion.”
It could very well be the “Nouvelle, Nouvelle” of the
global village.
Not to be
missed if a visit to Singapore is in the cards.
Jiang-Nan Chun Restaurant
The Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
190 Orchard Road
Singapore, 248646
(65) 6831-7305
|
Over the years, we have been electing restaurants to be on GAYOT's Yearly Restaurant Awards.
Facebook
(formerly Twitter)
Instagram