Dining @ The Kitchen (Macau)

The last time I was here, it was to taste a very special gala dinner prepared by Chef Kishida all the way from Tokyo Quintessence. This time, I wanted to appreciate The Kitchen in it’s own one star glory. Known for it’s selection of beef, just glimpsing the glorious cuts of bovine showcased at the entrance and admiring the different grades of marbling you can choose, meat lovers you know you are in for a treat! Those that are not inclined towards the cow, don’t worry as you are catered for with seafood (fresh fish live from the tank) otherwise there is pork, poultry and lamb for your choices.

Starting with bread that is made fresh in the open kitchen when you arrive. Two types, a chocolate chip brioche (yes choc chip!) and a gorgeous crusty country loaf. No picture as we were too busy tearing into the fresh bread, but let me tell you it was worth allocating stomach space to, especially when there is mango butter to be spread with it.

For appetisers, Mr. C started with grilled abalones. Stealing a bite, I had a pang of food envy. Perfectly cooked and utterly tender paired with a tasty vegetable salsa, crispy ham and a drizzle of chicken jus.

When in Macau, I can’t go past the traditional Caldo Verde. A lovely creamy vegetable soup served in a toasted bread bowl with bites of grilled chorizo on the side.

We originally wanted to order the bone-in-ribeye to be shared between two, but we lucked out as it was all gone. Instead Mr. C decided to go with a 14oz New York sirloin. Grilled to a medium rare with nice char marks, and his sides of sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and a little cup of tomato egg custard?

Since Mr. C ordered steak I decided to choose something different. Fish. Grilled sea bass to exact. They give you a choice of being served a whole fish or if you don’t feel like working for your meal, they can also de-bone it for you. I chose the whole fish and it certainly looks intimidating. Some parts were tender, some parts a little chewy, being grilled does take away some of the juices in the flesh and that is where your choice of sauce will come in handy. Lemon butter sauce is recommended for fish and it added a little zest to the dish.

Apple tarte tartin and creme brulee for dessert.

Presentation of the tarte tartin was pretty, but the actual tartin did not look like I imagined… I was hoping for a big puff pastry with sticky caramelised braised apple slices, but here it looked like a mass made version. Flavour was decent, hints of cinnamon, but a little disappointing.

What makes a creme brulee special is a thick, full bodied creamy custard fragrant with vanilla and coated in a thick caramelised sugar layer that shatters with a satisfying thwack with the back of the spoon. The version served here was a little lackluster, just a thin sugar layer that gave way when a spoon was dipped into it and the custard a little liquidy. Tasted like creme brulee, but it was missing what a few key elements.

I will definitely order steak next time and the bone-in-ribeye has our name on it!

Address:

3/F, Grand Lisboa

Quintessence. A little bit of Tokyo in Macau~

I have heard that a lot of hard work goes into securing a table at Quintessence in Tokyo. A two month booking in advance where you can only call within two 1.5 hour periods throughout the day and provided you can actually get through the line, there is still the possibility of your preferred date being booked out.

So when hearing Chef Kishida and his team would be flying in to hold a 2 night Gala dinner at The Kitchen in Macau, Mr. C thought it most worthwhile to reserve a table for the first night 😀

My loves bread and butter~ Slices of freshly baked country loaf accompanied by The Kitchen’s famous mango butter. Oh my god, the still hot crusty slice soaking up the salty sweet mango studded creaminess… Combined both of us went through four slices of the butter just because we could.

And then it began~

A perfect slice of shiitake mushroom atop a cepe biscuit. The typical foamy texture of the mushroom filled the mouth with its perfume and paired well with the herby buttery biscuit.

Baked onion soup served chilled. The temperature struck me a little odd, but I shouldn’t have had any doubts. Being chilled, it concentrated the essence of the onions enhancing the intensity and it was just so sweet~

This was a signature dish of Quintessence. A delicate goats cheese bavarois with the most heavenly texture. Think thick and full like Greek yoghurt, but whipped till it was almost cloud-like, then drizzled with Chef’s favourite olive oil and sprinkled lightly with sea salt. If angels ate food… this would be it.

The scallop tartare was most refreshing, a little herby pairing well with the zesty marinated tomatoes and of course the caviar. Most delightful, I polished this off in no time while Mr. C was still halfway through slowly enjoying his favourite seafood.

Sea urchin is always a favourite and it was featured here as a savoury clafoutis with ginkgo nuts all arranged on top of a mushroom. Being baked the sea urchin gave a stronger briny flavour while being just as creamy and I loved how big the ginkgo nuts were ihere with its signature gummy chew.

The most flavoursome dish would have to be the socca of blue lobster and prawns. Left slightly undercooked the prawns were tender and sweet, while those brown cubes you see had a crunchy crust melting easily in the mouth and leaving behind the most concentrated essence of the lobster. Just amazing.

The first of the main dishes was fish. Kinme-dai with sauce of passion fruit. A most generous slice with the skin fried to a thin crisp. The fish itself was lovely, flaked easily, but the middle was too undercooked for me and eating a mouthful of solid raw fish was not too appealing…

Pigeon was the meat dish for the evening, slowly cooked for two hours the blushing meat retained all it’s juices and was so soft. Pleasantly gamey paired with roasted potatoes and a hearty savoury sauce, if I hadn’t been so full I would have enjoyed it even more.

The savoury dishes were pretty amazing, but the desserts were even more so. Don’t be fooled by how simple they looked as the taste of them were anything but…

Looking like a dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, Mr. C was puzzled by it when he came back to the table and saw this staring up at him :p In fact it was a most silky panacotta, so smooth and creamy you just don’t want to think about how thick a cream was used to whip this up. Tasting lightly of coconuts, it paired surprisingly well with the much bolder shot of bitter espresso and the heady pistachio oil. This dessert alone deserves three stars and I could hear the diners at the next table murmuring their pleasure too.

Freshly baked pastries always taste good and the savarin served to us was no different. Just a simple slice a hard crunchy crust protecting its soft inside of frangipani goodness. The tart pieces of apricot were a nice contrast to the sweetness of the cake, if only it was paired with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream…

Not to be disappointed, we did have ice-cream to end our meal. Not vanilla flavoured, but meringue. I have never tasted meringue in ice-cream form, but the flavour was absolutely spot on. Even the slight tang could be felt on the tongue as an afterthought. What made this dessert special though was the sea water that Chef Kishida sprayed over the ice-cream prior to serving playing up the welcome concept of sweet and salty. No wonder this is yet another signature dish.

Accompanying us all night was this bottle of Pinot noir.

I’m not a big drinker nor a wine connoiseur, I’m one of those people whose faces become swollen and tomato red after a few sips, but Pinot I like and this was deep with fruity notes, a slight sour tang mixed with the sweetness.

We had finished our dessert by the time Chef Kishida came around to greet us and at 39 years of age he looked so young and so humble too even for all his accomplishments. Hopefully we will have a chance to visit his restaurant in Tokyo as there had been murmurings that the dinner here was only about 70% of his actual ability so imagine what 100% would be like!