Jaan comes to town
Chef Westaway bring his modern French cuisine to Bangkok
Sanpellegrino, a mineral water and sparkling fruit beverage brand from Italy, will bring to Bangkok Kirk Westaway, chef de cuisine at Singapore’s Jaan modern French restaurant, which is a regular on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants listing. The event is part of Sanpellegrino’s “Fine Dining Lovers Guest Chef Series”, designed to demonstrate how the finest natural mineral water can be used to enhance the greatest of dining experiences. Guest chef Westaway will be in residence at the Tables Grill, Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, on May 25 and 26, to showcase his culinary expertise that has made Jaan one of Singapore’s dining hot spots.
Thirty-year-old Brit Westaway has recently taken over the top spot at Jaan, and has developed a modern French menu with English subtleties that relies on seasonal produce and handcrafting techniques to extract the ultimate in flavours and textures from the fresh ingredients. In one of his classic signature dishes, he explores the many flavours that can be coaxed from the humble tomato. A vine-ripened heirloom tomato is cooked sous vide in a tomato consommé to intensify its flavours and then stuffed with a mixture of cubed Oxheart tomatoes, gherkins, capers and oregano. Through the process of dehydrating and rehydrating the fruit, the stuffed tomato is then restored to its original shape.
In another signature dish, he prepares richly marbled Kagoshima wagyu beef, with coarse white polenta, mushroom soy and buckwheat salt. Another signature menu is the organic hen’s egg, cooked in a water bath and served with globe artichoke prepared sous vide, providing a contrast of textures, colours and flavouring.
For dessert, Ivory Caramel is the chef ’s newest chocolate dessert, in which white chocolate and flourless chocolate sponge with tempered chocolate sheets are joined by French caramelised hazelnuts and sous vide Aero chocolate. A sea salt caramelised white chocolate ice cream, which further enhances the taste of the dessert, is made from white chocolate prepared at 95C for three hours till it becomes golden caramel.
The tradition at Jaan, in which wines are matched with each course, will be followed at Tables Grill with Bellavista finest sparkling wines from Franciacorta area in Italy, along with Sanpellegrino sparkling and Acqua Panna still natural mineral waters.