A couple of months ago Virgilio Martinez pinged me to let me know that he was coming to Hong Kong with Pía León for an event with the Bromance Twins - Agustin Balbi and Ricardo Chaneton. At the time I wasn't sure that I was going to be in Hong Kong, since it was just a couple of days before the start of the lunar new year holidays.
This '8-hands collaboration' (imagine my eyes rolling to the back of my head as I contemplate this) became 'Raices I' - which implies there are more to come... The collaboration was meant to showcase the common 'roots' shared by the four chefs from South America. Thankfully I don't fly home to Taipei until tomorrow, and I was fortunate enough to have Ricardo save me two seats tonight at Mono.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I would run into friends tonight - including The Great One. So we moved ourselves one seat down the counter so I could be seated next to her.
I was very happy to see Virgilio and Pía again, especially since I still have not managed to fly over to visit them in Peru. And Virgilio didn't hesitate to remind me that I had promised to visit them since 3 years ago...
I was busy fidgeting with my camera as soon as I sat down, since the restaurant's lighting produced some banding. In the middle of all this, we were offered a complimentary glass of bubbly as an aperitif:
Ulysse Collin Les Maillons - nice and ripe.
Each of the boys came to present his starter:
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Arepas, from Mono - with sea urchin, plankton emulsion, and coriander. The sea urchin flavors were a little stronger than I expected, but perhaps this was a result of the combination with the plankton emulsion.
Saba tataki, from HAKU - while others got their tuna, Hello Kitty and I got mackerel instead. With akegarashi (あけがらし), deep-fried "white kombu" (白板昆布), and Goldfinger being Goldfinger, decided to top my serving with a little gold foil which he claim to have come from the Incas... (*cough* BULLSHIT!)
The soy sauce - which Goldfinger's team smoked themselves with some apple wood - was pretty smoky. The flavors were especially strong as I still had some remnants of sea urchin on my tongue.
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Maca purée was ladled into dried shiitake and topped with maca ash. This had a combination of both sweet and salty flavors, which was really nice.
Local root / avocado / carabinero / Andean mountain grain, from Kjolle - so we've got carabineros chopped up and mixed with chunks of avocado and jicama - all served in a jicama bowl.
On top there was a sprinkle of some powder along with kiwicha that had been dyed with purple corn, and thin strips of crispy pumpkin skin. There were good depths of flavors here, which involved nice savory flavors without being too overpowering. We've also got a nice contrast of textures from the creamy avocado to some bite from the prawns, then crunchiness from the pumpkin skin and kiwicha.
The foie gras from Landes came in a thick cut, and was very nice. Topped with some puffed buckwheat for texture. The little propagules (零余子) from Japan came with the mole, and apparently similar aerial yam also exists in South America.
Monkfish / salsify / green sauce, from Mono - besides the piece of salsify which came with shaved lime zest and spices, the green sauce on the side was made with lemongrass, tamarind, ginger, and kaffir lime. One would think that it was inspired by Southeast Asia, but these were, apparently, flavors found in the Caribbean. It was wonderful. The monkfish itself was beautiful with a bouncy texture. A stunning dish.
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But that's not all! Goldfinger arranged to put some of my beloved gold foil in my bowl - although he fell far short of covering the whole bowl with it. This was certainly disappointing, and something that needs to be corrected on my next visit.
Yamabuki Gold (山吹ゴールド) - definitely oxidized like vin jaune or Shaoxing.
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This was the pure unfermented cacao, crushed and simply heated with some sugar...
This was the crema, the result of whisking fermented cacao with some of the white pulp of the pod.
Mucilage - the gelatin was made from the mucilage that covers the seeds.
Seed paste with cacao oil
Cacao nib crackers
This used the dehydrated skin of the pods, with red powder coming from annatto and the yellow coming from curcuma/turmeric.
Alfajores, from HAKU - I've had these from Goldfinger before, although tonight the dulce de leche seemed a little less viscous and rich. Still damn good, though.
The mate was supposed to help wash off all that corn flour sticking to the insides of our mouths, but I found it rather unnecessary. I didn't mind, though...
2018 Yves Cuilleron Condrieu La Petite Côte - very floral, very ripe with tropical stone fruit, almost a little sweet on the palate.
I was really happy to have been able to come to dinner tonight and taste the series of new dishes. It was especially gratifying to see the four chefs working side-by-side, with a 'guest chef' in the form of Victor Moreno from Caracas. With the boys standing next to each other, Hello Kitty and I joked about "small, medium, and large". I'll let y'all figure out which one is which...
P.S. I promised Virgilio that this is the year I will make it to Peru, as my flights to/from NYC have been booked months ago. I just need to book the NY-Lima leg and firm up on the itinerary details...
4 comments:
Hi Peter. How do I get to know collaboration dinners like this? I live in Manila and HK is so near. I've been to Central, Kjolle and Mil. You definitely should go.
Meg, you just need to pay attention to the social media accounts of the restaurants and chefs... Often these are for 1-2 days only and so seats are taken very quickly once the events are announced.
Nice blog thaanks for posting
Hi thanks for shaaring this
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