A Summer Festival Of Flavours
Lewin Terrace unveils sumptuous Summer 2017 menus
For Japanese-french fusion restaurant Lewin Terrace, the sultry heat of summer inspires exquisite 5-course and 7-course menus rooted in the restaurant’s produce-driven approach and enlivened with the season’s bounty.
The Wakon Yosai is a 7-course menu carefully designed to evoke vicarious pleasure, salving the heat of summer with tantalizing and refreshing courses conceptualized by Executive Chef Keisuke Matsumoto. As the ultimate manifestation of the restaurant’s deft duality in marrying Japanese cuisine and French techniques, the menu straddles the fine line between clean, simple Japanese flavours and rich French cuisine.
The exploration begins with a cold hirame appetiser, where cubes of summer flatfish, cured in kombu broth, crown a dashi jelly accentuated with beetroot and apple cider vinegar for a touch of bright acidity. The dish is finished with ginger cream, its spicy undertones serving to whet appetites, priming guests for the gastronomical adventure ahead.
The French-inspired Abalone course flaunts Provençal ingredients in carefully calibrated amounts, such as a chèvre cream sauce, to yield a perfectly balanced dish. A Japanese-influenced bagna cauda, enriched with shuto, a popular Japanese bar snack of fermented bonito entrails, cuts through the richness with a heady, savoury flavour. These full-flavoured sauces help articulate the dish’s main focus - Hokkaido abalone steamed with sake for 3 hours to yield sweet, tender flesh which is then coated in a light layer of batter and fried tempura-style for a crisp shell. Lastly, paper-thin sheets of pickled daikon and kombu sandwiching vibrant flower petals pressed within, artfully draped atop the composition, present an image evocative of a washi paper veil waiting to reveal what lies beneath.
Another menu highlight is the Miyazaki wagyu, first introduced at the table amidst billows of smoke in which guests are invited to take a whiff. The multi-sensory experience is Chef Matsumoto’s way of drawing inference from the searing hot grills at summer
barbecues, an activity synonymous with the season. In this dish, the beef loin is first roasted and then smoked with oregano and Japanese wara straw for flavour, searing the succulent meat with a perfect crust.
Accented with seasonal herbs such as red shiso and accompanied by a deep, rich jus embellished with cubes of salted beef tongue, the course encapsulates the playful spirit of summer. In an interplay of textures, a creamy ring of potato mousseline is studded with razor thin zucchini crisps for a delightful juxtaposition of velvety smoothness and crunch.
Diners seeking to explore an atlas of flavours may opt for the 5-course Sho-mi Summer menu, featuring sophisticated dishes prepared by Chef de Cuisine Hiroyuki Shinkai, whose culinary vision has been profoundly influenced by insights gleaned while honing his skills at Michelin starred French establishments in Japan and Singapore. For one, the Amera is plated like a work of art, with drops of raspberry and tomato emulsion leading up to a pristine dome of luscious burrata cheese that encases an Amera tomato. The accompaniment to this Italian-inspired dish is a green tomato and basil sorbet, balancing the rich cheese with just the right amount of tartness.
Known for his minimalist approach to technique-driven dishes, the Kadayif features a New Caledonian angel prawn enrobed in kadayif (finely-shredded filo pastry), and poised elegantly atop a bed of capsicum, celery and zucchini. Patrons may find this next component reminiscent of a locally lauded dish – a decadent sauce perfumed with laksa leaves, coconut and pineapple.
Chef Shinkai showcases his culinary prowess in French cuisine with the Challans Duck course, where the warmth of summer unfurls with a blend of spices comprising ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and white pepper, but countered with the sweetness of dates and sauteed mango.
To conclude the meal, dessert is presented with the season’s harvest at its heart – cherries, juicy and stained a deep red. Laced with a kirschinfused cherry sauce, an airy sponge meets luxurious white chocolate cream with just enough bite from the accompanying crumble and tuile.
Lewin Terrace’s Summer Menus will be available from 1 June 2017 to 31 August 2017. To make a reservation, please call +65 6333 9905 or e-mail info@lewinterrace.com.sg, address 21 Lewin Terrace, Singapore 179290.