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Festively Fusion IF you are looking for more fusion fare for Christmas celebration this year, don't miss Doc Cheng's four-course trans-ethnic set dinner menus. Executive sous chef Dave Heng, who created the festive menus, said: "The inspiration behind producing these menus was that I wanted to use traditional and modern cooking styles to come up with something exciting that my guests can enjoy. I did not want to conform to one particular cooking method and style." Take his masala beef tenderloin with tamarind merlot reduction. The beef is prepared using the same method as a chicken masala but is topped with a merlot red wine reduction with tamarind. The intense concentration of western and eastern flavours gives a perfect marriage of taste, he said. The chef considers his menu "unique,innovative and daring". "For instance, for the foie gras wonton, if I conform to traditional methods, I would simply make a wonton noodle soup or a foie gras terrine or pan-sear it, but instead I produced foie gras wonton, which is a classic example of what transethnic cuisine is all about." Heng does use traditional and familiar festive ingredients, such as turkey and chestnuts, to his dishes, but adds a creative twist. So where many restaurants are serving traditional roasted turkey, at Doc Cheng's, diners will sample a unique consommé of tom turkey.
A hearty main course for Christmas is roasted lamb rack with kaffir lime on a bed of butternut pumpkin curried mash, with mint and coriander salad. The lamb sauce is a combination of veal jus, red wine, port wine, garam masala and an assortment of Asian herbs and spices. One of the seafood-based items available for Christmas is the seared diver scallop with Szechuan orange dressing. The chef pan-sears the scallops, then dabs a mixture of black beans, chilli, ginger, truffle oil, butter and breadcrumbs on top, finishing them off in the oven. The shellfish miso broth served with sea urchin and silky smooth egg custard is yet another inventive dish - a light consomme-style dish made with an Asian-style fish stock, fish sauce and some miso. The desserts on its two Christmas menus are equally offbeat. Pastry chef Roxan Villareal said that his desserts don't follow any particular rule or style, "due to the restaurant's concept". During the festive season, only the baked chocolate tart with chestnut ice-cream has a festive tag. The rest of the desserts will include products normally found during the festive season (grand au chocolates) and seasonal fruits that remind him of childhood. Said Villareal: "For example when I was younger, lychees used to be only in season during the year-end. So I've included in the menu warm lychee crumble with grand cru milk chocolate ice cream and cranberry jelly." Doc Cheng's Christmas Day and Eve set menus are priced at $88+++. Doc Cheng's is at Raffles Hotel, 1 Beach Road. Tel: 6412-1264. OPENING HOURS: Lunch: Noon to 2pm (Monday to Friday). Closed for lunch on public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. Dinner: 7pm to 10pm (Monday to Saturday) and 6pm to 10pm (Sunday). |
While
Heng's main ingredients are Western, such as lamb from Australia,
he regularly melds Asian spices into the dishes.