March 15, 2009
Han works his magic
The absence of an a la carte menu at FiftyThree means diners have to place their trust in chef Michael Han's very good hands
By Wong Ah Yoke
C all it providence. But it is in these gloomy times that the Singapore culinary scene sees the birth of one of its brightest young stars in years.
A few months ago, all I knew of Michael Han (below) was that the 31-year-old Singaporean - who had returned home after stints in well-known European restaurants such as Fat Duck in England, Mugaritz in Spain and Noma in Denmark - was opening his own restaurant, FiftyThree, together with the Les Amis Group.
But that meant little as many foreign chefs had come here with similar credentials and made ripples rather than waves in the dining scene.
However, after tasting the dinner and lunch menus at Han's two-month-old restaurant in Armenian Street, I need to send out a tsunami warning.
Han is the most exciting Singaporean chef to come on the scene since former Les Amis chef Justin Quek left these shores in 2003.
There is no a la carte menu at FiftyThree, so dining there means you have to put yourself into the chef's hands. But these are very able hands.
Han likes to play with textures and unusual pairings of flavours and is not averse to using modern technology to achieve that. But he stops short of gimmickry.
A number of the dishes involve sous vide cooking, which is having the food vacuum-sealed in plastic bags and poaching it in low temperatures. This results in textures not attainable in normal cooking and a clean, natural flavour.
Simple and clean would also describe the restaurant. From the round, unvarnished wooden tables to the cutlery, it is all Nordic stylishness in the small, second-floor dining room which has only five tables.
Dinner used to be $190 per person for six courses. But in view of the belt-tightening mood in the market, a new four-course menu at $145 was introduced last week.
If you are on a budget, however, check out the $45 lunch where you get to choose one of three items for each of the three courses. It is not as good as dinner but provides a light introduction to what the chef is doing.
At lunch last week, I started with something called scallops and buckwheat, chicken 'oysters', for which you have to add $10 to the bill. It comprised pan-fried Hokkaido scallops with chicken thigh meat and watercress sitting on carrot puree. Over these was sprinkled what the waiter called chicken powder, though it had little flavour, and roasted buckwheat crumbs.
It was an unusual combination but not a revelatory one. The ingredient that held the dish together was the carrot puree, a smooth and creamy sauce that was almost like raw egg yolk.
My companion's starter of watermelon, strawberries and tomatoes in a horseradish sauce was more interesting. The watermelon and horseradish made excellent partners, with the horseradish giving the fruit a savoury edge.
My main course was pan-seared beef flap served over mash that was so smooth that it was called 'potato chiffon'. At the table, the waiter sprinkled something that looked like bacon bits over the dish, but they were actually delightfully crispy crumbs made from potato skin. The beef, however, was rare and chewy.
Again, I preferred my companion's main course of chicken with parsnip. The slabs of chicken breast were slow-poached for 25 minutes before being lightly browned. Together with some thin slices of parsnip, they were smothered under a blanket of appleparsnip foam.
The texture of the bird, firm and a bit springy, was unlike any chicken dish I had before. But it was the flavour that was more surprising, as the meat was magically infused with the aroma of apples.
My dessert was an intriguing composite of fresh figs, black olive tapenade and Sichuan pepper ice cream. The ice cream was especially mesmerising with its spicy sting.
But my companion's chocolate salty caramel with enoki, freezedried raspberry crumbs and raspberry granitas was even better, a contrast of rich, thick caramel and icy tartness.
To experience Han's real genius, however, you have to save up for dinner.
The six-course menu I dined on two weeks ago was changed last week, but some dishes have been kept. Two of these were enough to make me a fan.
One was a dish cryptically described as 'lobster and tongue, textures of apple'. The lobster was nice and fresh but it was the humble duck tongue that was the piece de resistance.
I have eaten stewed duck tongue but never has it tasted as flavourful as this roasted version. And the texture, softer than usual but still with a bit of crunch, was lovely.
The other dish was a simple one of new potatoes cooked sous vide until they attained a texture like glazed chestnuts. Served on a hot stone with sprigs of duckweed and sprinklings of parmesan and coffee 'soil', they were magical, with just a slight resistance as your teeth sank into them.
And you know what? These two dishes are in the new four-course dinner menu too.
Dining at FiftyThree may not be cheap, but for moments when you feel you deserve a treat, there are few better places to spend your money.
MUST TRY
LOBSTER AND TONGUE, TEXTURES OF APPLE
With its crunchy texture and explosive flavour, duck's tongue never tasted so good.
FIFTYTHREE
53 Armenian Street, tel: 6334-5535
Open: Noon to 2pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays), 7 to 10pm (Mondays to Saturdays), closed on Sundays
Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
Price: Lunch is $45, dinner is a choice between $145 and $190
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