Had the pleasure of trying out Maison ES with the launch of their new Spring/Winter menu “𝑻𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒍” inspired by the “𝑬𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔” of Chinese cuisine. Each dish represents a different geographic location of China and its diverse culinary techniques and flavours which is guaranteed to tantalise your tastebuds. 🇫🇷 🇨🇳
✨ Here’s what was on the menu for the night:
🐠 𝐋’𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞
— Perfect light bite to start. The tartare was well seasoned.
🐚 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐩
— The inspiration behind this dish is the infamous 酸菜魚, where the sweet, tender scallop is perfectly balanced with the umami flavours from the salmon roe. The flavours are further enhanced with a rich hot and sour mustard leaf purée and the dish is finished off with a crispy potato tuile for contrast of textures.
🌊 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞
— The binchotan charred abalone was smoky and fragrant, paired alongside a gelatinous sea cucumber, both were able to soak up the flavours of rich, savoury abalone scallion sauce. The deep fried sea cucumber added a nice crunch.
🐟 𝐄𝐞𝐥
— Never had eel so good and unique! Its firm, spongy texture is well preserved using the binchotan grill. This is nicely contrasted with a crisp-tender bamboo shoot and beancurd sheet finished with lemon jelly bubbles to cut through the rich flavours of the eel.
🦞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫
— Inspired by 蟹粉小籠包, the buttery, flaky puff pastry encases an umami-filled crabmeat filling with a crab-pork broth infused with crab row. Its paired with a light, acidic herb salad to balance out the savouriness of the dish.
🍞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 “𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡” 𝐓𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭
— A spin on the classic french toast with a rich savoury-sweet salted egg yolk filling that was so indulgent and well balanced. The vanilla ice cream on the side helped lighten up the flavours.
🧁 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬
— Light, buttery, fragrant earl grey madeleines which were the perfect ending.