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| Warm Chocolate Cake - ooey, gooey paradise. |
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| California Salad - a good show starter. |
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| Lamb Truffle Miso - earthy delights. |
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| Miso cod - kickass! |
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| Wasabi Beef - as good as steak can get without a killer griller. |
I've asked Sous Chef Alex Lee to present six dishes he considers his personal specialities. Still Waters is an East-Meets-West kind of place - unashamedly still 'fusion' when that genre is considered blase by many in the industry. Lee tells me he does not mind calling his food contemporary or nouveau. He's worked in Singapore, Australia and Switzerland and he knows good food is all about the 4 Ts: temperature, taste, texture and trends.
His first offering is California Salad. It's not a melange of crisp greens on a plate, nor a collection of deconstructed shreds of vegetables. Rather, what we get is an avocado and crabstick sushi roll wrapped in Vietnamese rice paper topped with tobiko roe, served with some rocket and radicchio. Good first shot across the bows. Clean, fresh, good mouthfeel.
His Miso Cod is a far cry from the style it is usually served in. Most chefs tend not to want to mess with the rich, fatty flavour of this creamy fish, preferring to let the ocean sweetness speak for itself with a hint of ginger or ponzu or a bit of charring on the skin to crisp it up. Lee's interpretation is a take-no-prisoners sensory blitz. The fish is pan-fried so that the light crackle of the skin breaks into the tender, moist flesh coupled with the almost shocking heaty sweetness of Japanese rice wine and the astringent bite of thyme. The sweetness has a smoky undertone, courtesy of the bean paste reduction it was first marinated with. I think Wendy was a bit taken aback. I was delighted. I love the can-can effect of the dish; the sweet headiness of it and the sheer gall of subjecting an expensive fish to such profusely aggressive seasoning.
Lee uses Australian chilled tenderloin soaked in corn oil and red pepper corns from Italy for his Beef Wasabi. The wasabi comes from the infused gravy which surrounds the mound of tender beef, an Oriental mushroom ragout and delicate lotus root crisps. It wasn't something I'd trade a Bobby Flay steak for, but it was good.
The Lamb Truffle Miso featured chilled Australian lamb prepared with miso and truffle. I loved how the gaminess took on a subdued yet punchy, earthy feel. Asparagus spears and grilled shitake mushrooms add to that luxurious autumn-in-the-mouth feel. The Sharksfin Chawanmushi is something I would not have ordered. It was lovely. Delicate. Subtle. Silky, with a clear gel of the delicacy on the top. But completely against my food ethos. I love food. I'll eat almost anything, but I steer away from anything endangered or threatened. I believe strongly that mankind is custodian of the earth. Eating our charges seem grossly irresponsible.
I'm not a chocoholic. Not all women are. But I loved the Warm Chocolate Cake. Served in a cup so hot it burns careless hands, it went smashingly, amazingly well with macha ice cream. It was so more-ish I was tempted to ask Lee to bring back out the dish he'd made for the shoot so I could have a big second helping.
I have to say I'd eat this meal again in an instant. The full-sized portion preferably. It would seem Wendy actually thinks of me as a genteel, refined writer who could never possibly want to plough her way through the whole meal in its original size. Seems she'll have a thing or two to learn about me if we're ever stuck in an elevator! Or maybe it'll be a nicer learning experience, since I've asked her over for Kit's roasted pork belly after she visits her sister in Perth at the end of the month!
Hotel Maya Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2333 1338
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| Sharksfin chawanmushi - not an ecological choice. |
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