Mike Peters

much appeal,” Thesing says with a grin over lunch early this week.

Iraci’s revamp of the Jaan menu may be the biggest change the new regime has implemented so far, but even there, the mantra was good, simple, easy French food, but at a very high level.

The spring set lunch, for example, offers a choice of three appetizers, three mains and two desserts (145 yuan or $21.50 for two courses, 178 for three).

Starters include a delicate smoked salmon cannelloni with cream cheese, caper and chive, served with mesculin greens and lemon dressing. There is also a salad of pulses and fregola tossed in smoky eggplant caviar and candied cherry tomatoes (adding smoked duck breast is optional), but the zestiest plate was the pate-like pressed pork shoulder with parsley coulis and grilled country bread.

Leading off the mains is a photogenic pan-seared sea bass in a “Mediterranean mantle” of tomato carpaccio fragrant with olive, served on a harlequin of vegetables. There’s also a roast beef fillet with shallots and thyme jus, and a fresh-made tagliatelle with mushroom ragout.

For dessert, you can choose ice cream or sorbet or a composition of fresh fruit, but this is also a good time to abandon the “good, simple, easy” formula. Go for the gloriously vulgar option: crusty choux buns filled with rich French pastry cream.

The new dinner menu has more flourishes — and a new wine list is evolving — but we’ ll let you explore those on your own.