TASTE: Sayan Isaksson @ Mandarin Grill

 
I love a well considered, artistic meal. It's something that I am willing to splurge. Don't get me wrong, if you don't like food, don't overpay for it, or you will feel terrible. For me, the experience is one of the happiest things I can buy, especially when the meal lingers on for days. Here's a course by Chef Sayan Isaksson, head chef of Esperanto. 

Finger food: A fermented potato served with salmon caviar and king crab tacos. Both were heavy on the seasonings, soy sauce on the tacos and it feels like eating street food. Fermented potato is dense, and taste like fried Ubi-ketuk without sugar.


Finger food:  Oyster, wagyu tartare with Ossetra caviar. The result is a distinct flavor that I never seem to come across, even though I know all ingredients by itself. The edible oyster shell is made of a tapioca and rice powder mix. The crunch is real, it doesn't hurt your teeth like biting a bone, but it does feel like eating a real shell.


We had appetizers of air cured hamachi with horseradish and dashi broth. Delightful but it didn't taste any different from a piece of smoked fish.

Main: Aged sirloin in chlorophyll and a jus of beef stock. The dish looks like 'cow eating grass' to me, and it pleasantly felt so with every bite. The sirloin is cooked medium rare, extremely tender and juicy. The greens are dehydrated or dry fried and give a clean, refreshing crunch.


Dessert: Finally, a happy ending of potato ice cream with apple cereal. A frozen coat on the outside of the ice cream that the 'apple' shape holds even when the cream is melting. I have maple-almond cereal for breakfast and this taste just like that.


I love the detail in this meal, it was brilliantly done. All the food came like a beautiful art, but the wow factor only lingers before I take a bite. It didn't amaze me, the taste palate was too familiar to me here, in Malaysia.

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