Sniff and savor the ‘diamond of the kitchen’
Chef Michele has done it again.
It is the time of year when several city restaurants showcase their truffle menus to coincide with the white truffle season that runs from September to December.
With the truffle only available for the short time of the year, Executive Sous Chef Michele Dell’ Aquila of The St. Regis Macao’s The Manor ensures his guests leave the restaurant with a happy face and a full stomach.
For this year’s “Diamond of the Kitchen” event, the Italian chef has curated a six-course Alba white truffle menu to delight guests with the earthy and woodsy flavors of this rare gem.
Majority – if not all – dishes are showstoppers.
One of the menu highlights is the amadai, a Japanese tile fish that is moderately fatty but light and fascinatingly sweet, resting on a bed of Italian white polenta with French heirloom pickled beetroot, watercress, nashi pear and topped with generous shavings of the Alba white truffle.
If anything, the Chef has made a savory to sweet dish that ensures all elements add a dash of the woods to flavor the seafood.
This dish will be a reason to return sooner rather than later to the restaurant.
Everything in the bowl makes sense as the subtly sweet dish prepares the palette for the transition to the upcoming Miyazaki Wagyu Beef Striploin, accompanied by a cannellini bean purée, chanterelles, Tokyo turnip and the pièce de résistance of each dish, Alba white truffle shavings.
The dinner ends on an exemplary note with the Piedmont hazelnut, a dessert mousse made from the hazelnut and comprised of Italian chocolate from Domori, gianduja chantilly, Ferrero Rocher ice cream and Alba white truffle essence, fine-tuned by Chef Michele to present a wonderful mix of flavors.
Simple divine, I would say.
Just when what I thought I had savored all that was on offer with the “diamond of the kitchen”– another surprise arrived: a last curation by Chef Michele that ensured guests departed a tad more satisfied – the white truffle ice cream. It. Is. To. Live. For.
