once more into the breach - spring edition of fine dining

I suppose skipping the introduction to Molecular Tapas at the Mandarin Oriental is alright. Just read on further. I came back again (after further penny pinching) for their Spring Menu, as it changes every 3 months. Once again, Chef Jeff Ramsey did not disappoint, though in my personal opinion, Winter was a smidge better, due to heavier and more rich winter foods. Spring however, was light, delicate, and pleasantly refreshing, as Spring dining should be. Onwards!



Firstly, Molecular Tapas begins with a cocktail and some "bar snacks". The drink of choice this season is a peculiar one, owing to the fact that it's form is not particularly drink-like. A cherry is preserved in a Japanese cherry sake gel, forming a "bon-bon" of sorts. It's very gelatinous, but it simply melts apart in your mouth. It's pleasant, and extremely reminiscent of Hanami season, which by the eating of this, has sadly well passed.



The Cherry Bonbon is followed quickly with "bar snacks". In this presentation, we have a lime leaf coated in a vodka tempura, as well as a Jamon Iberico biscuit. The lime leaf isn't meant to be eaten, but rather serves as a flavoring agent for the tempura. Just bite the tempura off, and it luxuriates with the taste of lime. Jamon Iberico is thinly sliced over a cheese biscuit, which has the light and fluffy consistency of a thick slice of pork rinds, but with all the essence of cheese distilled into it. Apparently, it was made in a toaster. Major props.



The last of the "seasonal snacks" was a delicate cube of bamboo shoot flavored jelly, covered in pieces of black truffle and lavender petals. The simple and plain smoothness of the bamboo went well with the strong rich flavor of the truffle bits, tasting effectively like nature starting to grow again. The flower petals were nice, I guess? I'm not one much for flowers, so the taste wasn't as interactive as I would have imagined.



One of my favorites from this meal, if only for the main centerpiece of the dish: Uni. Japanese sea urchin (and quite a hefty quantity) playfully interacting with a base of matcha (Japanese green tea), a lime foam, and slices of apple. The uni was indescribably fresh, with its darker, velvety texture clashing with the boldness and crunch of apple. The lime gave the uni the tang that it needs to really (metaphorically) sizzle in your mouth, while the matcha grounded the strong lime. Amazing and flawless. I wanted more uni >.>''



This is listed as Fromage Montagne with Spring Flowers. Once again, I remind all the people who know me that I did in fact eat every vegetable presented to me, regardless of color or crunch factor. However, this was a very delicate salad, with many different flowers that I cannot name, nor do I remember much about their specific flavor other than "Dang, I am eating a pile of flowers." However, cool details! There are small little "butterfly" cutouts from beets and other vegetables, so they're crunchy "themed" croutons so to speak. Also, the rosehip water foam (lots of foam this round of Tapas) served as a nice flavoring as rose is a much stronger flavor than random other flowers. Also, the piece of bread (the actual crouton) with fromage montagne melted over it was the heavyweight flavor that this dish needed.




Originally, this is presented with Razor Clam instead of Scallop, but I think I actually prefer Scallop. This is a masterful presentation of the contrast between Hot and Cold flavors. To the left, we have a seaweed granita, light with a pleasant zing. To the right we have a Hokkaido scallop, perfectly seared over peas wrapped in pork fat (giving the peas a very meaty taste). In the center, we have ice plant (seen prior in the Winter selection) with micro tomatoes. Thus, we move from cold to lukewarm (in an ice plant) to warm. The granita worked as an amazing sauce for the scallop and peas. The ice plant and tomatoes worked as a side, making this a miniature full entree. The savory sweetness of the Hokkaido scallop definitely clinched it for me, reminding me exactly why I prefer scallops to clams.



Next, Japanese white asparagus in a Parmesan broth with French morels. The broth is created with Parmesan cheese in boiling water and then just throwing away the cheese, leaving a liquid which tastes much of cheese without the weight of it. The white asparagus was stewed to such a point that it was it was almost meaty and pasta-esque at the same time. The morels were cooked so exquisitely that their juices were rich. The balance between light and heavy on this dish was what made it really interesting, as it was some delicately put together.



This Langoustine Squet is simultaneously difficult to explain yet all too easy. In the quickest of words, this is a Lobster Bisque with a Lobster and Tomato Skewer. Slightly more complicated, Langoustine is a Norwegian Lobster (that is construed as a true lobster in terms of European cuisine) over a Squet, a Catalan sort of soup. It boils down to amazingly delicious (I'm quite biased in terms of lobster bisques) and absolutely juicy. The langoustine piece is skewered onto its own leg, along with a cherry tomato. The tomato absorbs so much of the juices of the lobster and takes on this sweet and sour lobster tomato taste. This is the one plate that I wanted to lick clean in the entirety of the courses, largely in part to the rich texture of the squet and the actual sweetness of the langoustine.



Sole, Artichoke, Butterbur is a very bitter counter taste to the prior dish, taking our senses away from the heavy and toward the light again. Sole, deep underneath artichoke and butterbur bits lies cooked to a point of sultry juiciness among much more savory leaves. This really enjoyed the effect of the Chardonnay Vinegar foam, as well as some Japanese bitter leaves (I forget their name), which really changed the depth of the artichoke and butterbur salad.



The second favorite of the night's courses, Guinea Fowl, Foie Gras, and Plum worked together to create a very Asian inspired touch to Western weight. A sweet plum puree lies dotted on the left hand side, whereas Japanese mountain vegetable (help me here people, these things don't really translate well) rests curled up over a piece of succulent fowl o'er a tender foie gras. As a "perfect bite", the flavors meld together with sweet, savory, and salty. As individual parts, the curled vegetable has a nice crunch (ugh), the fowl was juicy and savory, and I never have complaints about well-cooked foie. The sauce with the fowl reminded me a lot of Chinese style duck with sweet sauce, but on a slightly more Western axis.



Reinterpreted Xiaolongbao. See prior post for details :)



Spring Landscape I tastes as impressive as it looks. Simple, delicate, and full of rich earthy flavors. Light greens with many mushrooms, with fermented shallots and garlic for an incredibly "spring" and "earth" touch for the ground. Every bite was as intended, expressing the taste of spring coming and the vibrancy of hidden flavors and textures. Plus garlic and shallots, which I love in nearly everything.



On a manga frame of black mayonnaise silk screened onto the plate, a piece of 36 hour slow cooked meat that has been sitting inside a pressurized canister (the ones they use for whipped cream) comes out and gets promptly blow torched. From there, it gets slicked and placed onto the manga frames, where sauce is draped over it. This is the coolest part. The meat is somewhat lukewarm (but still melt in your mouth warm), but the sauce bubbles continuously. Absolutely amazing. Also. I ate everything.



And here's miso soup. Please read Winter for the description and taste.



Spring Landscape II, the first of the desserts, presents the fresh scene of snow having just melted and the earth coming to life again. This one is chockablock full of chocolate. The chocolate jelly appears to be a lake, with a chocolate tree with a truffle (the mushroom kind) base, covered with freeze dried chocolate ice cream (both white and otherwise). There are hazelnut bits and aero chocolate chunks to round it out. Mint leaves and a raspberry round out this almost-too-chocolate-y confection, which otherwise tempts and teases with all the way chocolate can offer, in a variety of formats and densities.



Blood orange caviar, made in much the same way that the garlic and pepper caviar was made last time. This was Starburst goodness, with two strands of saffron on top. The texture and aftertaste of the blood orange was a bit better than the garlic and pepper, but mostly due to the sweetness.



Two separate desserts here. The first is dehydrated bananas covered in white chocolate, making a marshmallow-y textured banana-chocolate confection. The strawberry paper was crunchy but had the taste and nostalgia of Fruit-Roll-Up, but once eaten, smelling the piece of paper with the scent of condensed milk created the illusion of strawberries and milk.



Second to last, this Japanese inspired sweet is red bean covered with a sakura mousse and petal-chips. I'm not a huge fan of red bean but the sakura taste was pleasant in tandem.



And Fruit. See amazement in Winter.

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Overall, the experience was still worth the cost, though the food was a bit less my usual palette. However I enjoyed the depth and remarkable quality of food that was still presented to me. Apparently, there's going to be something amazing in Summer. I can't wait. :)

molecular cuisine... the world doesn't know what it's missing

Saori and I have been talking a lot about going to a place that blows the hell out of our sense of cuisine and dining, and we had finally found a place that appealed to us in that we had both never had it before, and that it was absolutely amazing in concept. We decided on Tapas Molecular Bar, located in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Han joined us for this excursion into the world of intense dining, and we left Yokohama Station vastly earlier than we should've, and we arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel with plenty of time to spare. It was super swanky, and the service staff all spoke English, which was quite a shocker. We went up to the 37th floor to try out their Mandarin Bar while we waited for our reservation. They originally seated us at the bar, but moved us to some nice couches next to the live music and next to the window with an amazing view of Tokyo (tonight was a bit cloudy due to the weather, but nonetheless impressive).





After drinking a bit to warm up before the dinner, the staff sent us up on our way to the small bar where we would dine on 21 "courses" over the course of an hour. Han was skeptical. Saori and I were excited, but hopeful that we wouldn't be let down.




Chef Ramsey introduced himself to our dining course of seven six (one guy was so lazy and kechi that he shared the meal with his friend... how lame). He started with the Shattered Rose Martini, which is basically what it says. It's a rose-based martini, but as a kicker, liquid nitrogen is poured over it to cause the top to freeze. They pour out the extra liquid nitrogen and then serve with a few "frozen" and promptly "shattered" rose petals over the ice. It had a crisp and clear tone to it, along with the freshness that rose flavors often elicit. The ice was a cool effect and definitely started us off with a whimsical start.



Quickly following the martini, Puffed Barbequed Pork and Triple Cooked Kuwai were served on a wooden block. The pork basically was a delicious pork rind, but delightfully fluffy, crispy, and airy, though it was lightly glazed with a nearly invisible maple glaze. It basically encompassed the delightfulness of caramel corn, with its sweet and salty, but was much more palatable than caramel corn. If this were the way pork rinds were made, I could eat a whole bag without noticing. The kuwai, well, is best explained as a type of water chestnut, and it basically tastes like it. I'm not a big fan of chestnuts, especially those of the water variety in the first place. It was, however, extremely tender, albeit a bit starchy (as expected).



Lined up next, Apple and Manchego. This scrumptious pirouette-esque morsel was quite surprising. The roll on the outside is actually made of apple, sliced thinly and then baked until it becomes like paper. Rolled into it, in the manner of the dessert-snack, is this subtle sheep's milk cheese. It's light and fluffy, and the gentle sweet of the apple layer with the soft sharp of the cheese blended together nicely, complementing the previous sweet and salty pork puff.



Promptly, after we stuffed our faces with the apple-cheese roll, they demonstrated the "instant ikura" technique often used these days, especially in these kinds of restaurants. They used a pepper juice (red) and a garlic juice (orange) in several syringes. The syringes are held over a small pool of chemicals, that cause a skin to instantly form around the liquid. This creates the small balls that look like ikura. It was really cool to watch, but they sided it before we got to eat anything, since they had to fish all the spheres from the liquid to serve to us.



In kind of an odd twist to distract us from the instant ikura, Chef Ramsey served us an Arctic Potato Chip. It is exactly what it sounds, but it isn't. It's a shard of ice, served on a brick of wax. It has the look of roasted skin, but is basically made of water, but has the amazing taste of a potato chip. I have no idea how it works, but it made me extremely nostalgic for a bag of Ruffles, in both Cheddar and Sour Cream, and Sour Cream and Onion varieties. It was an extremely odd piece (I nearly dropped a piece of ice in my lap because I wasn't expecting it to be so... well, icy), but nonetheless enjoyable.



As we finished the ice-chip (bad pun, sorry), we went onward with a deconstructed Tai Chazuke. In tradition Japanese dining, chazuke is (leftover) rice with tea and other steamed and broiled meats and vegetables served by pouring hot tea over it. In this deconstruction, a piece of kinmedai (splendid alfonsino... apparently in the sea bream family) was pressed with kelp over night to add a light kelp taste to the fish. It was placed on the spoon with another piece of kelp, a jelly made of gelatinized tea, and some rice crunches. Designed to be taken as a complete bite, it really resembles chazuke, with a bit more of a sashimi touch. It was a light fish with such a nice smooth texture once the tea jelly glazed right over it. Overall, I'd say that this was an extremely adventurous extrapolation from a tradition chazuke, but extremely pleasing to the palate.



Finally, we were served the Roast Pepper Caviar that we observed in its making. It was scooped onto a spoon, and it was just amazing to see it up close. The texture was very much like ikura, in that the pop from bursting one in your mouth fills your tongue with such a full taste of pepper or garlic. It was much smoother than ikura though, which I do not normally like, so I managed to gulp it straight down in a few swoops. It was super cool to actually eat the food in action, and at this point, everything had been amazing, and there was so much more to go.



Lined up next in a shot glass, we were served a Baccalao Espuma. Traditionally, it is a salted fish roe foam, but here it is served as a foamy mass over a tomato-fish roe blend. On top of the foam are some fresh greens, and laying on top of the glass, is a sliver of toasted bread and tomato. It was to be eaten with a spoon and bites of bread between the foam. It had a delicately fishy taste to it, but still had a yogurt-like texture, which was pretty intriguing. The full bite of the tomato, the foam, and the bread blended together smoothly, but left you wanting a bit more sweet or acid to burn the saltiness of the fish roe.



We got a moment to rest our stomachs (it was a very short moment), before these amazing scallop shells came before us. This Scallop with Cultivated Pearl was visually amazing, and even more so amazing to eat. Two pieces of scallop are pressed with a bit of papaya in between, and then slathered with a passion fruit salsa. Accompanying the scallops is a pearl made in much the same way as the roast pepper caviar, consisting of honey, yogurt, and lime juice. You place the pearl over the scallops, and cut down, eating it in two to four bites. The amazing sweet of the papaya and the slight spice-sweet of the salsa blended with the nearly raw scallop sweetness. The pearl added a heavier sweetness, and it just was so beautifully sweet but not saccharine. I was surprised at how much sugar seemed to be there, yet it wasn't overbearing on my tastebuds at all.



Next, it is difficult to find the words to describe how incredible this plate was. Spider Crab and Jamon is hardly enough to describe this amazing series of foods. Firstly, we have an ice-leaf, which the name I cannot remember, but is nonetheless inconsequential. It appears to be covered in droplets. It has somewhere between the standard crunch of lettuce and the soft chew of stewed vegetables, along with a slight salty flavor to the leaf. I could eat a whole salad of this plant, and I mean business here. The foam that is so prevalent in this picture is a Chardonnay vinegar foam, covering an amazing piece of spider crab. This crab was covered in a super thin layer of jamon fat, and then slowly cooked. The result is an immensely savory and sweet piece of crab meat that melts in your mouth. It's like honey-baked crab... I just can't fully describe the rich and delicious quality of this crab. Separating the crab is a line of pistachio crunch, followed by a grapefruit jelly. In one whole "complete" bite, the result is a sharp, sweet, salty, sour, crunchy, smooth, fluffy, melty hurdle of amazing.



Served quite a bit after the amazement prior, Black Truffle, Lily Bulb sauntered up to the plate and proved to be the most decadent of the dishes served this evening. Served as basically a lily bulb cream soup, it had an amazing heavy truffle foam over it with slices of black truffle and a garlic caramel sauce drizzled lightly. It captures the essence of foie gras' heaviness with the light fluff of froth but nonetheless grounds with a sharp zing from the garlic caramel (which is amazing by the way, who thinks of that?). The actual lily bulbs are halfway between scallop onions and water chestnuts, so the taste was alright, but as a whole bowl, I wanted to lick it down to the drop. It was so heavy and likely where all the calories tonight were, but man, it was so rich I could hardly take more.



Zooming onto the plate, this alien saucer shaped container held the Secreta de Cerdo. Upon opening (which all diners did simultaneously), a waft of cherrywood smoke fills the nose, and adds to the senses. The meat is the portion of bacon between the fat, so that it is the most tender cut of pork bacon-ish meat you could get. It's rich, and it's been dredged in its juices and served with a small piece of bok choi. Yes, I downed the vegetables. I ate all vegetables served to me tonight, and I enjoyed all of them... oddly. This is the exception to the rule :P Anyhow, the pork was super tender and reminded me of home cooking (this is for you, Mom!), where pork is just slow cooked until its so tender and falls apart, either on your fork or in your mouth. It was a nice simple course that actually had meat (huzzah for Japan making you appreciate meat stuffs more).



And now, my second favorite of the evening, Foie, Coffee, Potato. Tatertot-esque cuts of potato have been oven baked, and then drizzled with a madeira-espresso glaze. Foie gras terrine slices are shaved over the plate, and then served promptly, before the foie on the potato melts. The potatoes are simple and elegant, especially with the madeira-espresso glaze. It's a deep sweet coffee taste that could easily go with an actual steak or something meatier. The real kicker is the shaved foie gras terrine over the entirety of the dish. It smells beautifully of foie, and instantly reminds me of French dining. At this juncture, Chef Ramsey laments to Han (who loved everything and is now ruined forever for fine dining), that this is definitely not the best way to have foie gras for the first time. The perfect bite of this plate is divine, blending a sweet and buttery potato starch with slightly sour and heavy espresso and wine, lightly lilting with fluffy foie overtones. I scraped every bit of foie gras from the plate (so I didn't waste anything, Mom).



Rolling along past the heavier foods of the evening, Wagyuu Ravioli, Kinome, Maitake made its way onto the pitch. This ravioli is different in that there is no flour, no egg used in its production. Wagyuu beef is kept inside a consomme reduction that reduces it to a gelatin like substance. Kinome flavors the brown butter and cream sauce that the ravioli sits in, while the maitake mushroom separates the two morsels. The ravioli is simply strange as its a savory gelatin layer over a beef-stew like mesh of wagyuu. The mushroom is soft and tender and goes amazingly with the kinome-butter sauce. It's a lighter, albeit creamier, course along this treacherously dangerous road of delicious dining.



The strangest deconstruction and reconstruction yet, the Xiaolongbao, a longtime favorite of the dim sum scene, has been turned into a piece of New Zealand lamb with a puree of sweet potato, ginger, and pistachios. The puree is so sweet and amazing that I could eat it all day. It's a reinvented mashed potatoes that have such a zing and sweet to it that just makes it delectable and extremely palatable. The trick to the xiaolongbao here, is that the lamb has been cooked in such a way that its juices (and some pomegranate extract) osmoses its way inside into a pocket inside the meat. I honestly don't understand how they did it, but when you cut into it, it exudes its amazing juices, which add such a different savoriness to the tender lamb meat. It's finger licking good!



At the last of the savory courses, we have a reinvented Miso Soup. In an egg-yolk like sac, miso essence simmers with some nori flakes powdered on top. Tofu crisps, frozen and condensed serve as a tofu chunk replacement. A little bit of sauce helps usher the spoonful along as it goes down, bursting into a mouthful of the heart of a miso soup. It's warm and inviting, and mostly certainly very Japanese in taste and texture, if albeit served in a rather strange way. I rather enjoyed this once, barring the slightly gelatinous texture of the sac before it melted away in my mouth.



Starting with the sweets, something I have no simple pictures of, is Snow, Sel Guerande. In essence, it's just a salt meringue. However, the meringue is dipped into liquid nitrogen, where the air inside it is chilled, and then it is quickly popped in your mouth and chewed, mouth closed. See picture for details. I think it explains itself.



Served shortly after the amazing meringue, a simple milk-flavored ice cream with strawberries came to us to counteract the salty steam effect of the prior meal. It's just such a surprise in Japan how prevalent milk flavor actually is. I find it pretty odd that we don't really get vanilla commonly, and milk flavored froyo, ice cream, etc. is extremely hard to find in the United States. Beyond that, the strawberries tasted extremely sweet and were a nice touch to the (ultimately, somewhat odd) flavor of the ice cream.



In a rather pretty stand, we got some of our final desserts, barring the final one. First, we had a passion fruit pate-de-fruit (the yellowish square). It was soft, squishy, and all things truly amazing about small chunks of fruit candy. It started the series of palatable delights quite nicely. It was followed with Mont Blanc (the brown thing) a spoonful of condensed milk in a ball covered in baked coconut, which was a nice fluffy morsel of tang after the sweet jelly. It had a rather strange consistency, but worked more or less in my mouth. Third up, the Genuine Chocolate Truffle astounded me. It is a true truffle in that it is a chunk of delicious chocolate, but it is a genuine truffle in that the coating outside of it is black truffle salt. It is the ultimate in the sweet and savory, trumping any salted caramel that would ever dare step into its' court. It was just flawless chocolate and salt. Lastly, not listed but possibly my favorite of this series, is a Condensed Raspberry Soda. It's a single wafer of raspberry delight, that foams and fizzes in your mouth, filling my tastebuds with the delight of a raspberry cream soda, but without any of the heavy bloating that follows. It was an extraordinary set, but it was greatly outshined by the following.



Which came last? Fruit. We were rewarded with two pieces of orange, two pieces of lemon, and two pieces of lime. We were told to lick each fruit, to make sure we knew what the taste was, to confirm the taste of each fruit rather. Then, we were instructed to chew on this little seed of a fruit for a whole minute, and let it work its chemical magic. Once finished, we ate the fruit and the effect was amazing. The miracle fruit causes the taste buds to rethink the way foods taste, making sour taste sweet, so that the lemon and the lime, were as sweet as candy. The lemon (my second favorite flavor of fruit) was like drinking lemonade, and the lime was like cool lime sherbet. The orange seemed dull in comparison, because its sweetness was outshone by the sweetness and different texture in the taste of the lemon and the lime. It was flooring.



Actually, the whole meal was flooring. It surpassed my expectations as to what I would get from this kind of food, and I can't believe that it was actually worth every penny (or in this case, Yen) spent. Chef Ramsey was a gracious host, talking with us diners, and relating to us as best as he could. He also explained the dishes as best as he could, despite a slightly shy demeanor (also why some of my explanations are a bit... lacking). It was an amazing view, and an extremely exclusive feeling event. And then he started talking about what was coming in Spring (starting March): Manga Meat.

I haven't been this happy with food since No. 9 Park in Boston, but I am extremely glad that this is the one to take the cake from it. The entire meal was a fusion of Japanese, Western, and altogether strangeness in a way that created a lightning paced meal with extreme textures, cool tastes, and nothing that makes me want to roll into a food coma. もう一度行きましょうか？