kitonomics: March 2010

Stefano Pilati must be one of the most stylish male fashion designer in recent times. He has always embodied the idea of the YSL man that he himself has crafted, relaxed tailoring with a pinch of razor sharp edge thrown in and worn with ineffable ease. I'm particularly enamoured by this picture of him taken with Melanie Ward on the streets of Paris, layered in a curious but harmonious ensemble of a grey chalk stripe blazer with white capri pants over leggings, a grey scarf a twirled around the neck and a piece of thin jersey fabric wrapped around the waist. The components when considered individually are menswear staples that can easily be found in a good wardrobe or in shops, but when put together, a game of juxtaposing and decontextualizing is played, everything tied together with subtle shifts of grey accented with accessories in warm and cool tones. What I find so attractive about his style is its ungraspability, it brushes at the edges of so many established styles in the vast continuum of fashion but itself yet to be named.

After a failed attempt to get a reservation during the inter-holiday break at the end of last year, I finally made it to Iggy's for lunch recently with a couple of friends. Known to be one of the best restaurants in Asia, we were naturally excited, even if it's just for lunch. Iggy's offers a set lunch that is priced at $55 for 2 appetizers, a main course and a dessert or $75 for an additional appetizer, a rather reasonable price compared to other restaurants of a similar calibre which charge a similar price for 3 courses.

Situated at The Regent, the restaurant is discreetly tucked at a corner on level 3 at the end of a row of function rooms. A small sign marks the unmanned entrance which leads into a narrow corridor, where where we are greeted by a member of the staff who happen to walk past as we reach the end. The restaurant is made up of a number of small dining areas - counter seating around a show kitchen in the main dining room and a few dining rooms which can be used for private parties. We are seated in a room that can best be described as a library. A wall of half empty shelves greets us as we enter, displaying a hodge podge of culinary books (including a paper folder of material from El Bulli as if to lend some credence from the famed establishment) and an gathering of random and uncoordinated ornaments. The room is small and potentially intimate, with warm lighting and a tastefully bland colour palette. A series of large red paintings, seemingly still dripping wet with pastels are hung on the walls. 3 similarly sized round tables are set in the room, one for us 3, one for a group of 5 and the other one for 2 persons. Even though the room is quite small there is an awkward spaciousness between the tables, as if the fellow diners are some friends of the host at a house party but the tables too far apart for any kind of spontaneous interaction to happen. Service is borderline polite, seemingly echoing the half hearted charm and warmth of the space. After taking too long deciding which courses to have, we finally made our orders.

Before being served the appetizers, we were treated to an intriguing pre-course which gave the meal quite a promising start. It wasn't quite an amuse bouche as it was a small platter that came in 2 parts, a glistening slice of tomato pierces through the centre with a small stainless steel pick and a frothy liquid that was contained in what looks like a mini beer mug. We were told as the platters were laid on the table that the liquid was tomato soda. Interesting. We were instructed to have the slice of tomato first before sipping the tomato soda, instructions which we followed obediently. Funny how we let go of all sense of criticism and self will when confronted with food concepts that are somewhat strange and unfamiliar. I popped the whole slice of tomato into my mouth and was hit with the berry like sweetness of the tomato, and which at this point i realized that the tomato was chilled and the temperature further enhanced the sweetness of the tomato. I then started sipping the soda in little mouthfuls (perhaps scaled down to match the mini-me proportion of the beer mug, haha). The flavour of the soda was mind bending, it tasted like tomato but in a different way from the tomato slice I had just eaten, perhaps more earthy and aromatic with a hint of saltiness, the flavour profile resembled a very light chorizo. It was strangely pleasant, but only in a small serving.

I was first served the mushroom flan with a fricasse of mushroom. The savory mushroom flan was served in a giant dish smouldered in mushroom foam and topped off with a medley of mushrooms. The flan was fairly well made, a delicate custard with the consistency of steamed egg, the flavour of the mushroom and egg well balanced. The delicate gelatinous quality of the flan was contrasted with the bite of the mushroom on top. The foam, though, added just a little bit of aromatics to the dish before quickly dissipating into a pool of liquid even before I had managed to polish off half the flan. With every component of the dish containing mushroom, I experienced a bit of palate fatigue towards the end, would have been great of there were something that broke the monotony. I was reminded of the mushroom fricasse I had some months ago at Jaan which was richer not only in terms of the profile of flavours but also texture and presentation.

For my second appetizer, I had the peppered beef tongue with tomato relish and root vegetables. Served on a bed of frisee, the slab of beef tongue was nicely browned at the top and bottom. Beef tongue is typically quite springy and chewy, so I was quite surprised by the one I had this time. The browned surface had a mild crisp which crumbles into a tender centre that had a texture somewhat akin to foie gras, a little less cooked than what I am used to but enjoyable. I can't comment about the taste of the beef as it was mostly covered by the taste of the crushed peppercorn which coated the beef. I can't say I didn't like the heaviness of the peppercorn but I enjoyed it the same way I enjoy a pack of heavily salted potato chips. The tomato relish added a nice tartness to the whole ensemble.

Being the gluttons that we are, we of course chose to have 3 appetizers. I rounded off the series of starting courses with the tomato tart with basil cress and parmigiano-reggiano. Expecting the same tomatoey goodness that the slice of tomato served at the beginning of the meal promised, I quickly bit into a chunk of the warm tomato tart only to be greeted by the underwhelming blandness of tomato filling followed by the flat crunch of the thin tart base. It wasn't inedibley bad, but definitely subpar. To be fair, this dish wasn't all bad, the shaved parmesan on top of the tart was excellent, kudos to the buyer for the restaurant and the great cheesemaker.

Next up was the main course. I had been tempted to order the Iggy's burger but in an attempt to my own predictability, I ordered the slow cooked red snapper with gruyere , baby aubergine, tomato confit and poultry jus. The description sounded safe enough but it turned out rather disappointing. The piece of snapper, though fresh and well cooked, rather tasteless and uninteresting. None of the garnishes shined (maybe except for the gruyere, kudos again to the buyer and the cheesemaker). But the thing i found most disappointing was that the chef somehow decided on a whim to throw in a heap of chopped green olives which totally overpowered the rest of the ingredients. This was made known to the waiter who promptly offered to remove the olives. I was secretly hoping that they would offer to change the whole thing altogether. The overall feel of the dish reminded me of a certain style of Chinese steamed fish done with dried salted radish (the olives being a decidedly western replacement, only grossly overused).

Rapidly descending downhill from the promising pre-course, this roller coaster ride of a meal ended with a major upswing as the dessert brought it to a relatively good end. I ordered the pina colada which consisted of 3 parts - a pina colada shake and a souffle and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. While the plating was not particularly elegant, the ensemble had a good variety of textures, juxtaposition of hot and cold, and different intensities of sweetness moderated by the tartness from the small chunks of pineapple in the shake. The souffle was perfectly raised, light and fluffy with a crusty top.

Being a restaurant that has received much accolades, I am surprised (and frankly, a little shocked) that the food served can very so greatly in terms of conceptualization and execution. Some people might say the lunch menu do not fully represent what the restaurant is but I think any good restaurant must be able to put the same amount of pride and passion into every plate regardless of price and time. I won't write the place off as yet, based on just a single meal, but at my next visit (whenever that is), I will have my critical eye (and tongue) sharpened.