Make the most out of your mealtime with our roundup of timely treats
This week, "new menu" is going to be your your go-to excuse for dining out more than usual. With these many chefs revamping their offerings to give us more delectable and exciting food choices, you hardly need to look too hard to partake in new and delicious discoveries.
1. The Black Swan
Its art deco-inspired interiors have helped this restaurant stand out, but there’s a new head chef in the kitchen—Alysia Chan, formerly of now-defunct Crackerjack—who is looking to make a bigger difference to your dining choices. Her revamped menu is anchored on her culinary ethos of minimal wastage, so expect creative dishes, such as the broccoli and pine nut hummus, where the often discarded stems of the vegetable are used, blended with carrot leaves, sun-dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts, and served with crisp polenta chips. Under the mains, Stella Artois beer leftover in the keg is used to make an umami-packed sauce for the dish of Venus clams that's finished with a generous sprinking of bacon bits.
Of course, steaks take pride of place here. And with Chan’s expertise in butchery, having worked at the famed Meatsmith in Singapore and Feather and Bone Providore in Australia, she prefers to feature lesser-known cuts. The grass-fed Mishima Reserve Wagyu Ultra Flat Iron (MBS 8+) is a fine example; it comes from cattle that’s at least 60 months old, and the meat is dry-aged for 30 days for richer and beefier flavours.
Complementing Chan’s menu are innovative cocktails, inspired by classic favourites, by bar supervisor Joanna Lee.
(Related: The Datai Langkawi Raises The Bar On Eco-Initiatives)