This is a place for dreamers and fantasy-seekers, a place where imagination soars. Sunlight streams in from wide, large windows, high ceilings give the illusion of limitless space and in the tiny little shaded eating area outside, potted plants flourish.

In the kitchen is Raymond Tham, the friendly young executive chef director of the restaurant, who started Skillet with five friends – pleasure-seekers who love eating and travelling.

A seasoned pastry chef, Tham won a scholarship to study patisserie at the prestigious Westminster Kingsway College, which counts chefs like Jamie Oliver as alumni. His culinary resume is eclectic and telling of the various influences he has picked up over the years: he has worked as a chef in England and Bermuda, as a lecturer at KDU University College and was even hired as a chocolate consultant for two years.

Tham is only 33, but hes an experienced chef who graduated from the same college as Jamie Oliver and has spent time working in England and Bermuda.

Chef Raymond Tham.

In Skillet, he has found his niche, melding his European training with local flavours to glorious effect. “When I lived abroad, I found that my tastebuds changed and became more European. But I grew up here, so I love Malaysian flavours and I feel that people go back to the flavours they’re used to. Which is why I use a modern European touch but very Asian flavours,” he said.

Tham’s team is made up of many of his former students from KDU. When I ask if he picked the best students from his class, he grins and says, “Whoever wanted to work with me, came lah!”

Tham’s love affair with fusion and attention to detail is evident on the plate. This often translates into complex, beautifully plated dishes with components and layers that don’t seem amiable, but end up fitting somewhere in his culinary jigsaw.

Like the Duck Foie Gras (RM59), which has a veritable mouthful of ingredients apart from pan-seared foie gras – prune and cardamom compote, curry leaf tempura, homemade brioche and salted caramel macadamia nuts. The foie gras is a velvet wonder – supple and melt-in-the-mouth and the salted caramel macadamias offer a sweetly-salty crunch. But the real eye-opener here is the curry leaves, which seem so out of place – like a fork being paired with a toothbrush – but in the end, bind everything together beautifully. This is the sort of dish that makes you think – and see – food differently.

A refreshing juxtaposition of flavours, the Soft Shell Prawn on compressed watermelon offers an interesting lesson in how seemingly disparate parts can fit together perfectly – Art Chen/ The Star

A refreshing juxtaposition of flavours, the Soft Shell Prawn on compressed watermelon offers an interesting lesson in how seemingly disparate parts can fit together perfectly.

You’ll notice this in the understated Soft Shell Prawn (RM42) too, where a slab of compressed watermelon forms the soft mattress on which prawn, lychee jelly, balsamic caviar and a Parmesan crisp rest gently against. This particular offering was so popular on Tham’s Christmas menu that he has now decided to make it a permanent feature.

These next few months, Tham’s menu pays homage to his native Chinese cuisine, in anticipation of the upcoming CNY festivities. It isn’t anything you’re likely to find in your neighbourhood Chinese restaurant, but there are subtle touches which bring to mind traditional favourites.

The Pan Seared Duck Breast pays homage to traditional Chinese flavours, but introduces new ideas too. – Art Chen/ The Star

The Pan Seared Duck Breast pays homage to traditional Chinese flavours, but introduces new ideas too.

Take, for instance, the Pan-Seared Duck Breast (RM75). The duck is marinated in Chinese five-spice and complemented by a taro (yam) croquette, braised chestnut in Shaoxing wine, garlic cream and chilli crumble.

The duck skin is crisp with meat that is pink and flush (although a tad tough to bite through). The chestnuts and croquette are an ode to the broths and dim sum offerings you’re likely to find in local eateries, but the garlic cream is a totally left field addition that adds wonders to the depths and textures of the dish.

Cooked for 36 hours, the Wagyu Beef is masterfully done, tender and just brimming with flavour. – Art Chen/ The Star

Cooked for 36 hours, the Wagyu Beef is masterfully done, tender and just brimming with flavour.

Then there is the 36 Hours Wagyu Beef Cheek (RM85), where the beef cheeks have been given the VIP treatment – marinated in nam yu (fermented Chinese bean curd) and then cooked sous vide for 36 hours. The cheeks are tender and bursting with flavour and must be mopped up with the delicious soy sauce reduction on the side. The overall taste is akin to char siew, but with a far superior, pliant piece of meat. The only letdown is the ginger soil, which is so-so and a bit hard to bite into.

Although Tham’s savoury courses show glimpses of brilliance, it is his sweet concoctions that are truly gasp-inducing. Like the aptly named Macadamia Dream (RM35), where chocolate sponge, salted caramel macadamias, and dark and milk chocolate flakes steal the show. This is one of those chocolatey offerings that are revelatory, like the soulmate you’ve been searching for your whole life.

Tham’s Macadamia Dream is so delicious and sought-after that when he tried to remove it from the menu, there was an uproar from his regulars. (Below) Part of Skillet’s Valentine’s Day menu, Texture of Love is a beauty to look at, and has the taste to match too.

Tham’s Macadamia Dream is so delicious and sought-after that when he tried to remove it from the menu, there was an uproar from his regulars. (Below) Part of Skillet’s Valentine’s Day menu, Texture of Love is a beauty to look at, and has the taste to match too.

Part of Skillet’s Valentine’s Day menu, Texture of Love is a beauty to look at, and has the taste to match too.

The Texture of Love (RM68), available on Skillet’s Valentine’s Day menu is another sweet offering which plays heavily on theatrics. This beautiful dessert first arrives whole – a red sphere with white polka dots, filled with kalamansi and assam boi popcorn resting on top of chocolate soil and candied citrus peel.

Then it’s filled with liquid nitrogen, which causes the popcorn to crackle. Diners are given a hammer to break the sphere apart. When that rather painful exercise is over (who wants to break such a perfect thing?), the chef pours a steady stream of warm chocolate over the whole dessert. There is a method to this madness because in the end, the dish tastes pretty spectacular.

Skillet’s multi-sensory experience also includes the expertise of mixologist Shaun Ong, another one of Tham’s KDU proteges, who whips up a steady stream of refreshing cocktails. The most complex of them all is the Spicy Tom Yum (RM40), composed of rum, ginger ale, chilli, kaffir lime and lemongrass designed to mimic the classic tom yum soup. The drink is fresh and fragrant with Asian herbs but has a pungency and spiciness that throws your senses into overdrive and kicks in when you least expect it.

Having dined at Skillet, you end up getting this sense of being in a mad scientist’s lab, one where experimentation is a running theme. Tham agrees that Skillet is a creative womb of sorts, that constantly gives birth to unique fusion fare.

“There’s always a lot of experimentation going on in the kitchen. We come up with some crazy pairings,” he said.

And that in an essence, encapsulates Skillet perfectly.

Skillet at 163

Fraser Place

Jalan Perak

50450 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2181 2426

Open Monday to Saturday, 11.30am to 3pm; 6pm to 11pm

Founded in 2001, Mokuola Hawaii is the brainchild of Dexee Diner and has seven branches in Tokyo. The successful Japanese company opened it first overseas outlet in Thailand almost two years ago and has since expanded to South Korea and Taiwan.

Located in Siam Paragon’s Food Passage zone, the restaurant is operated by Dexee subsidiary AD Emotion and boasts a Hawaiian holiday design concept. The name means “healing island” in Hawaiian and this idea is promoted through a healthy and light menu.

“The first Thai branch opened in 2014 at Mercury Ville with the Siam Paragon outlet following a few months later. We offer a wide range of easy-to-eat fusion food and desserts based on Japanese and Hawaiian cuisine and we have also created a selection of dishes to appeal to Thais,” says Supakanya Chanthawilart, director and marketing manager.

“Most of the dishes come in large portions but because Thais prefer to share, the chef has added appetisers, cafe-style plates as well as smaller dishes featuring rice and a main dish.

The kitchen is in hands of a Japanese team and they use yellow curry and beef from Japan to ensure authentic flavours. They also offer a traditional Hawaiian dish called Loco Moco Combo (Bt260), which features hamburger patties topped with a fried egg over Japanese rice, served with salad, French fries and clear soup plus a selection of sauces ranging from barbecue, shio, original pepper to gravy and demi-glace.

Supakanya says the Garlic Chicken Plate (Bt190), which comes with shoyu-flavoured rice, a boiled egg, soup, sliced tofu and a refreshing yoghurt fruit salad, is particularly popular with local office workers after a quick lunch.

Popular desserts include Berry Blossom Pancake (Bt190), a soft yet crispy pancake paired with fresh sliced strawberries, blueberries, white chocolate chip and low-fat berry whipped cream, and the Japanese-style Pancake (Bt210), with red bean, sticky mochi, orange brulee and plain whipped cream smothered with green tea matcha sauce.

“Our chef has developed a special flour to make the pancakes crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The texture is very enjoyable even when the pancakes are eaten cold,” Supakanya says.

In addition to coffee and tea, the restaurant also offers a wide range of smoothies, mocktails and colourful cocktails, among them the Pele, a mixture of orange, strawberry and mango, and Blue Lemon Squash, a blend of blue lemon, honey, soda and lemon juice.

Mokuola Hawaii also has branches at Mercury Ville and EmQuartier too.

Gone is the traditional Thai teak house with dim lighting, authentic artefacts and silverware. In its place is a contemporary building in warm wood with tall latticed windows that allow the light to stream in and offer a view of the garden and fishpond.

The main dining room can accommodate about 70 people and those wanting space to themselves can opt for one of the two private rooms. The alfresco dining area next to the fishpond is a pleasant place to relax when the weather’s nice. And there’s also a new bakery corner featuring pastries, cakes and confectionery created by pastry chef Sebastien Gyre that’s open from early morning until late at night.

The Thai culinary delights are still under the baton of chef Santiphap Petchwao and he’s injected some premium Western ingredients like foie gras, wagyu beef, lamb, salmon and Kurobuta pork while retaining and refining such local favourites as ultra-spicy Northeastern-style som tam with fermented fish and tangy beef soup made to an old recipe. The presentation of the food has also been given an update to match modern times though not at the cost of the authentic Thai taste.

“About 70 per cent of the menu has been changed. The new Western ingredients have been added to bring diners’ attention to traditional menus,” says chef Santiphap.

The first dish to arrive at our table is the traditional Thai appetiser Chor Muang – savoury dumplings crafted in the shape of a flower and dyed purple with butterfly pea flowers. In place of the traditional filling of minced pork is salmon, which has been stir-fried with coriander root, garlic, pepper, ginger and seasoned with plum sugar and fish sauce. The dumplings are steamed for several minutes and served with chilli, lettuce and coriander leaves. Served on the same plate is Kanom Jeeb Goong – white steamed dumplings stuffed with shrimps, which are prepared in the same way as the Chor Muang but with roasted peanut replacing the ginger for more crunch. The dish is priced at Bt310.

Served next on a long plate is the Suan Bua Mixed Appetiser (Bt320). It boasts grilled and marinated organic tiger prawns from Vietnam with peanut sauce and a tart relish, and organic vegetable spring rolls with chilli and lime sauce. Also on the plate is the traditional finger food known as Ma Hor – sweet marinated minced pork with ginger topped with fresh pineapple slices and edible lotus leaves, as well as Rarai – steamed rice thread noodles topped with crabmeat and flavoured with coconut sauce.

Santiphap’s new take on meat and vegetables tossed in a spicy lime sauce is a sweet and tangy winged bean salad topped with seared foie gras (Bt330). It’s served with half a boiled egg.

“I opt for the 50-gram foie gras fillet imported from France instead of the familiar minced pork and shrimps. The foie gras is slightly battered before being seared and its creamy taste goes well with the sweet, tangy, slightly spicy salad,” says the chef.

Though a restaurant in a hotel is not generally regarded as the place to eat som tam, Suan Bua serves several choices of this “national dish” and other Isaan favourites in contemporary style. For a true taste of Isaan, go for Som Tam Laos (Bt320) with fermented fish that’s as strong and fiery as it should be. It comes with tender and tasty sun-dried pork and sticky rice.

River prawns from Myanmar are grilled on volcanic rocks (Bt590) before being topped with spicy fried clam meat cooked with ginger and kaffir lime.

Based on a century-old recipe and an ideal remedy for a cold is Tom Jiew (Bt350), a clear beef soup with sweet potato and herbs. Braised for three hours with a variety of herbs including red onions, chilli, sweet basil leaves, holy basil leaves and coriander roots and flavoured with lime and tamarind juices, the thin slices of Japanese wagyu beef give the soup, which is milder than tom yum, a tender texture.

New Zealand lamb shank is slowly braised for six hours for the massamam curry and served with roti (Bt690). Another must-try is the red curry with Phuket spotted babylon meat and wild betel leaf. Dried fish and shrimp are added to the curry paste along with young cha-om leaves to enhance both aroma and flavour..

Do leave room for the traditional dessert of Bua Loy – taro, pumpkin and pandan flavoured dumplings with young coconut meat in warm coconut cream together with egg in jasmine syrup (Bt190). For a more refreshing kick, opt for shaved ice with condensed milk and condiments (Bt190).

THAI TASTES

>>Suan Bua at Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao is open for lunch, 11.30am to 2.30pm, and for |dinner, 6 to 10.30pm. The bakery corner is open from 9am to 10.30pm.

>>Call (02) 541 1234 extension 4068 or visit http://www.CentaraHotelsResorts.com/cglb.

“My guests are not yuppies who eat Pinoy fusion,” he says. “They come from Cavite and Batangas. They want the real thing… Adobo with foie gras, for instance, has no place at Balay Dako.”

Balay Dako is the third restaurant of the Antonio Group of Companies after the award-winning Antonio’s in Barangay Neogan, Tagaytay, Breakfast at Antonio’s and Antonio’s Grill.

Accustomed to the resplendence of Negrense hospitality, Escalante recalls traveling to two towns outside his family’s native Cadiz just to gather hibiscus flowers for a party in his grandfather’s house called “Balay Dako.” The grandchildren would then line up the staircase and give hibiscus garlands to guests.

His grandfather, Manuel Escalante, loved to hold parties.

“Desserts would be prepared three days before the party,” recalls Tonyboy. “Drinks were served in the trolley before the bar became fashionable in the home. I still prefer the trolley for drinks.”

For Balay Dako, he closed down Antonio’s Grill and leased the adjoining property. He tapped architect Kathleen Henares to design a contemporary structure. The three-level house follows the layout of the Escalante ancestral home.

The silong or basement has the function rooms that overlook Taal Lake. As in the houses of old, the second floor has the living room and main dining area.

The top floor, a breakfast area by day and a bar at night, is an eclectic mix of industrial finishes and patterned tiles inspired by prewar patterns. Guests can chill at The Terraza which opens to the view of the lake and sky.

Escalante puts his chefs on the frontline: Joselito Santiago was a provincial bus driver with a gift for cooking; and Ricky Sison was a butcher of the now-defunct Mandarin hotel for 15 years.

Ilonggo cuisine

One of Balay Dako’s specialties is the Ilonggo chicken inasal, grilled chicken with crispy skin and extra luscious meat with a hint of annatto.

The menu includes items from the old Antonio’s Grill such as Ilonggo comfort food, kadyos, a meal of pigeon peas, jackfruit and tender pork belly, spiked with a souring agent called batuan.

The ginataang monggo with flaked tinapa is a bestseller. The batchoy, an Ilonggo staple, is made from scratch with soup stock boiled for hours and fresh noodles and pork innards. The piyaya, following an old recipe from Silay, Negros Occidental, is a delicate crispy flatbread with melted muscovado sugar filling.

There are familiar favorites. Chef Sison’s version of the bistek Tagalog has the subtle balance of soy-sauce saltiness and calamansi zing.

The crispy pata, lechon kawali and barbecue are brined for days so that the meat still looks healthy pink and not brown. The chicken and pork adobo is marinated for hours, pan fried and boiled to retain its chewy texture. The adobong pitaw or cultured squab is perfectly golden brown and crisp, its moist meat and robust flavors are derived from the briny solution of souring agents and spices.

Plated bulalo

An iconic Tagaytay dish, the bulalo or beef shank and marrow, is cooked for half a day until the fat completely dissolves into the soup. The outcome is a clear soup with no tallow or gruet even after several hours.

Unlike the local tradition of dunking and braising to make stewed kambing, Balay Dako’s version uses the classic technique. The meat is marinated overnight, pan-fried, and braised in tomato sauce. It is then cooked in slow moist heat to preserve the succulence.

The laing, tofu wrapped in taro leaves, is cooked the traditional way, from the removal of the midrib of the leaves to the long hours of simmering. The shredded water spinach (kangkong) salad is topped with shrimps and dressed with a sweet sour mixture of vinegar, sugar, garlic, calamansi and chili.

The dishes can be accompanied with purée pickle relish, blackened onions and baked chicharon.

The desserts include papaya sago, satin-soft maja blanca, puffy ensaymada with a buttery top, and turon with purple yam and custard, wrapped in sweet sticky rice.

“You bring your family here. This is what they look for,” says Escalante, who credits his collaborators such as Jill Sandique, the celebrity chef-baker who shared the recipe for the perfect pie crust of the buko pie.

Another Tagaytay signature, the buko pie is topped by a light, flaky crust and filled with slices of coconut meat, unlike the popular version of an extended filling.

More than the fact that its flesh is sweet and tastes like melon, the fish is deeply connected with the Japanese culture. Ayu, also known as Sweetfish, has been likened to the cherry blossom, heralding the arrival of summer just as cherry blossoms signify spring – or just as grilled hot dogs and hamburgers spell summer in the US.

“Ayu makes us feel the seasons,” says a Japanese connoisseur I meet at the Gifu Ayu promotion at Ten Japanese Fine Dining at the Marc Residence in Kuala Lumpur. And seasonality is the soul of the Japanese.

Ayu is born in autumn, swept out to sea in winter, swimming upstream in spring, bulking up in summer and spawning and dying the next autumn. It lives briefly, for one short year.

The Gifu Ayu Cooked Three Ways presents the three chefs best interpretations of the iconic Japanese freshwater fish.

The very transient nature and elusiveness of the ayu makes it desirable; like how a weak and fragile child has a special place in your heart. Even in Japan, ayu is only eaten fresh next to the river. Wild caught ayu is hardly found away from its source. If available, the price would be prohibitively expensive, in the region of ¥1,000 (RM38) for a little fish the size of a kembung, says Yuki Yoshimi of Akindo Inc. Tokyo, a facilitator for the ayu showcase.

Ten Japanese restaurant Signature Ayu menu promotion with chefs (from left) Chikara Yamada, Daisuke Miyake and Hisashi Yamashita.

Ten Japanese restaurant Signature Ayu menu promotion with chefs (from left) Chikara Yamada, Daisuke Miyake and Hisashi Yamashita.

Ayu thrives only in clean rivers and dam building across Japan has wiped out suitable habitats for fish, and the ayu finds itself in the middle of stimulating a growing environmental awareness in Japan.

The region famous for ayu is Gifu in central Japan where the three great rivers of Nagara, Ibi and Kiso flow. The deeply cleft mountains of Gifu hide many cold, clear springs and brooks where the finest ayu are caught.

Come June, the start of the official ayu fishing season, anglers whip out their 10m long rods and head for the mountain streams. Fishing for ayu is prohibited except during a specified season, to make sure the ayu remains a plentiful species.

Anglers bait ayu with another live ayu – ‘buddy fishing’ – taking advantage of the fish’s territorial instinct. Each ayu defends a 10m to 20m territory where it feeds on algae that clings to rocks and will attack any fish that comes near. It gets hooked when it rams the live bait.

Yamada’s sashimi starter platter of two kinds of tuna, octopus, scallop, prawn, and sea bream with el Bulli inspired “nube” soy sauce cubes.

Later in the season, in early autumn, they begin to swim downstream, growing meatier and larger. Now they are caught by diverting part of the river into a broad bamboo deck – a yana – where they are collected in a traditional fishing technique. One yana can catch tens of thousands of ayu a day.

Yamada’s sashimi starter platter of two kinds of tuna, octopus, scallop, prawn, and sea bream with el Bulli inspired “nube” soy sauce cubes.

Yamada’s sashimi starter platter of two kinds of tuna, octopus, scallop, prawn, and sea bream with el Bulli inspired “nube” soy sauce cubes.

On the Nagara River, bonfires are lit to attract ayu to fishing boats, and trained cormorants are sent to catch the fish and bring them back to the boat. This ancient way of fishing dates back 1,300 years and now serves as a tourist attraction – Charlie Chaplin was so moved by the experience he came to see it twice. Edo poet Matsuo Basho wrote two haikus about it.

Ayu of the Nagara River has been mooted for United Nations certification under the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) for sustainable, significant agriculture to safeguard indigenous knowledge and resilient ecosystems. As of 2015, it is pending approval from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Considered the most important species in Japanese freshwater fisheries, farm-raised ayu, as for wild ayu, survives in pure, fresh water. In Gifu, ayu farming channels natural spring water flowing from the same mountain streams that harbour wild ayu and Gifu’s ayu farming leads the world in both technology and technique, according to an official brochure on the region.

READ FULL STORY

http://www.star2.com/food/eating-out/2016/01/14/ayu-fish-sweet-sign-of-summer/

Ten Japanese Fine Dining

A-G-1 Grnd floor, Marc Residence

3 Jalan Pinang

50450 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2161 5999

Open daily for lunch and dinner