Six stars in Kowloon

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Chef Sung Anh (안성재) has become a global household name this year, thanks to his part in the Netflix series Culinary Class Wars. Although he was already well-known in the culinary world after opening Mosu in Seoul and receiving 3 Michelin stars, it was only after the airing of the Netflix show that those who don't regularly patronize fine dining establishments became familiar with his name.

Mosu Hong Kong opened in the first half of 2022 while Hong Kong's borders were still closed, and I've had the opportunity to dine there twice - although I've not been back in some time. When it was announced that Chef Sung would be in town for a collaboration with Jimmy Lim of JL Studio - making it "6 stars" in the kitchen - I was pretty excited to see how the menu would look like. I had thought about grabbing a table when booking opened, but hesitated as I was still unsure of my travel plans around this time. Thankfully an invitation came to join a tasting today with other media and "KOLs", and I happily crossed the harbor on a beautiful day for lunch.

I was a little apprehensive about the seating arrangements today, as things didn't work out so well the last time I accepted an invitation to join a tasting at one of restaurants from this group. Thankfully they seated me with the boss man, who got so tired of my company that he started to socialize with guests at other tables...

We started with a few small bites from both kitchen teams:

The welcome drink was a Korean rice wine, with grains of (glutinous?) rice, cinnamon, ginger, and interestingly lemongrass for a touch of Southeast Asia.

This bite from JL Studio was introduced as "traditional Taiwanese waffle" with Japanese botan shrimp (牡丹海老) in between the thin layers, then topped with some caviar and a bit of lemon peel. Well... this was actually the updated version of Jimmy's kueh pie tee but using kueh kapit instead - not Taiwanese whatsoever. Anyway... the shrimp had clearly been seasoned with some kaffir lime zest or leaves, and the flavors were more complicated than just the straightforward flavors of the shrimp. The kueh kapit itself was lightly sweetened.

The staff introduced this bite from Mosu as a "vegan dish" that's "like a roti", but in reality this is a gujeolpan (구절판) where the jeon (전) itself was a thin slice of crunchy raw radish. Inside we had leeks, what looked like oyster mushroom, perhaps snow fungus, and I also tasted the strong and distinctive flavors of ginseng. Pretty interesting, and it really had to be eaten in one bite.

Apple, pineapple, and potato spring roll - HUH? "Spring roll"?! Which part of this is a "roll", exactly? It's a sandwich, dammit... We've actually got alternating slices of apple and pineapple in between two thin, crispy layers of potato pastry. Served with a dip that was made with cashew nuts and grated bottarga meant to mimic peanut-based satay sauce. This tasted great with some heat.

King crab taco - Mosu always has a taco on their menu, with the shell made of charcoal-grilled tofu skin and lined with perilla leaves. Today the filling was steamed King crab, topped with some shredded cabbage and onion and garnished with fennel fronds. This was actually a little bit spicy, which was a surprise. Nice and tasty.

2015 Bollinger La Grande Année, dégorgée en Octobre 2023 - first sip delivered a dose of high acidity, but the palate also had some roundness. Some toasty notes on the nose.

Hamachi, white kimchi, perilla oil - looks like JL Studio's ikan assam pedas has been reshaped into an 8-petal flower, where the petals were alternating between crunchy radish made into baek-kimchi (백김치) and chewy strips of raw squid stuffed with yellowtail. The kimchi juice naturally had a lot of acidity, and our server took pains to make sure we understood that there were 9 drops of perilla oil added to the dish because 9 is considered lucky in Korea.

Oh the staff told us that this was supposed to mimic "the experience of eating live squid in Singapore". HUH? I've lived in Singapore multiple times over a span of 30 years, and feel that I know the food culture reasonably well. I've never heard of people eating live squid as a thing in the Lion City. If anything, it's Koreans who are well-known for eating live octopus.

Gonin Musume Shizen No Manma (五人娘 自然のまんま) - seimaibuai of 70%. Showing lots of savory fermented notes on the nose initially, but so sweet on the palate like Chinese fermented rice lees. Soon after the nose changed and showed tons of caramel, toffee, or dulce de leche. Very fruity with a bit of citrus, and also like Japanese konpeito.

Abalone, maesangyi, white truffle - they love abalone in high-end Korean cuisine so I wasn't the least bit surprised to see it again. This one from the island of Wando (완도) came topped with shaved white truffle.

The abalone was very, very tender. This was served with both parae (파래) and maesaengi (매생이) at the bottom, and their flavors were really lovely and added so much to the dish.

2017 Coche-Dury Bourgogne Chardonnay - initially the nose was not very open despite having been decanted, showing only a little citrus and a hint of green apple. Acidity showing on the palate, and there was some ripeness on the palate with the oak. But totally not what I had expected.

Red grouper, Taiwanese bamboo shoot, pandan - I was so happy when this arrived, because I remembered the amazing dish that was served last year at the JL Studio collaboration with Neighborhood that I rated as one of the best dishes I tasted in 2023. Unfortunately, the fish was served tepid today, which brought out the, well, "fishy" flavors of the fish. The magic of the original dish, of course, was the sauce made by straining the liquefied pandan-flavored rice typically served with Hainanese poached chicken. Today, though, the flavors weren't strong and punchy enough to help mask the fishy flavors. This was a shame, as it took some shine off what should otherwise have been a stunning dish.

2018 Domaine de la Roseraie Bourgogne Senex - showing animal notes, lots of eucalyptus, dried herbs, big and toasty, and a little farmy that made me think of natural wines. Pretty fragrant.

Rempah, Korean rice noodle, soybean milk - we've got multicolored noodles made with white rice, black rice, mung beans, and chives.

The thickened soybean milk worked really well when mixed with the rempah as we've got a nice kick that was enriched but slightly mellowed down. The shrimp tartare hidden at the bottom was pretty nice, too, with all the sauce. A very good and refreshing noodle dish.

2022 François Villard Crozes-Hermitage Cour de Récré - this was a lot more fruity on the nose than I had expected, with some acetone. What was really interesting was that it almost started to smell like Oolong tea!

Spanish mackerel, maeuntang, dongchimi - the fish came with diced vegetables which were a mix of dongchimi (동치미) and "local vegetables". The richly-flavored maeuntang (매운탕) was packing some heat, with beautiful fishy flavors since, well... it's a fish stew. The acidity from the dongchimi worked pretty well with the richness of the maeuntang.

2022 Keller Sylvaner Feuervogel - big nose of petrol, flint, and muscat grapes. Good and crisp acidity.

Hanwoo and coconut rice - naturally this was Hanwoo 1++, with pistachio purée, marinated kohlrabi, and what we were told to be "wasabi leaves" which looked or tasted nothing like any wasabi leaves I've ever had. As it turns out, this was primarily wasabina (わさび菜) or wasabi mustard greens which, to me, still didn't carry the familiar pungent flavors of wasabi - plus some perilla leaves and mustard leaves.

The beef was marinated like galbi (갈비) but with spices normally used for satay. OF COURSE the beef itself was beautiful but the marinade totally made the dish.

This was made with three kinds of rice, coconut, and herbs. Really nice and fragrant. Sooo good!

2015 Bressan Schioppettino - this was really fragrant with tons of herbs, like a chinotto, but also a little savory. This was very, very lovely.

We finished with some small sweets:

Yaw Kun Kopi Tiam: frozen kaya, butter, burnt toast - the signature dessert from JL Studio and a favorite of mine. How to combine the iconic Singaporean breakfast of Hainanese kopi, kaya toast with butter, and runny soft-boiled eggs in one bite. I was so, so happy to see this. One nibble and I felt I had been transported back to a place like Killiney Kopitiam, or maybe more like Ya Kun Kaya Toast where the bread is more brown from being toasted longer.

Millecrêpe - not your typical Lady M mille crêpe but one made with acorn cream, gochujang, pineapple, and slices of black truffles. I thought this was kinda interesting, but not sure why all of these flavors were put together in one bite.

This was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon, with delicious food and wonderful wines. The meal was so leisurely that we finished at 5pm... just in time for me the cross the harbor and meet a friend for my 6pm dinner. This was a pretty interesting collaboration, and it was nice to see Jimmy again. Very grateful to the powers that be for the kind invitation and for their kind hospitality.