At Shangri-La: Toque Blanc Met The Pen

The affair had us all intrigued by its title. Were we to be hands on in the preparation of our dinner? Would it be an ongoing interview set-up throughout the cooking until the presentation? Jitters! (for me!): would we be asked to concoct our own recipe under the watchful eyes of le chef de le toque blanc?

It was with great relief when we saw all the beaming chefs at the reception line in Acqua, led by Executive Chef Emmanuel Guemon with his tall, dark, Latino look. The Shangri-La bigwigs were all there, with no less than GM Raymond Bragg leading us to what was to be the first stop of a culinary pilgrimage that balmy evening.

F & B Director Darren Conole explained the dinner concept of treating friends from media with the latest additions to the menu of the various outlets. To imbibe the ambiance of each was to walk to the outlets along with the effulgence of the multi-course repast. What an innovative way of highlighting the outlets!

For the full report on the dishes served that night, watch out for the savory coverage of our learned food critic, Dr. Nestor Alonso. We now just glide through the gustatory phenomenon, per se.

Acqua’s toque blanc chef Giancarlo Visciglia – Executive Italian Chef – whipped up an authentic antipasto in the mushroom risotto with white truffle oil, that brought to mind the fantastic risotto we tasted in Burano, the lace-making island in Venice. He has really made true his menu passion: “to present true Italian flavors apart from what most locals associate with Italian dining – pasta and pizza.”

With huggable teddy bear of a toque blanc chef Kenny Yong Tze Hin – Executive Chinese Chef – hovering at the door, we were off to our next stop: Tea of Spring. No wonder, as serving the perfect bowl of soup is quite tricky in Chinese dining. The double boiled abalone soup with sa sam and yoke chuk would have pleased the most discriminating of Chinese palates. Paired with the rich aroma of the strongly herbal 8 Treasures tea, it was an imperial experience.

We were glad for the walk to Cowrie Cove, which braced us somehow for our main course…laid out under a full moon! The moonshine however waned in the warm smile of toque blanc chef Paul Chia – the Cove’s Chef de Cuisine. His aim is “to introduce various elements of Southeast Asia food in Cowrie Cove.”

We had giant prawns prepared in two different ways. Group favorite was the one generously coated with salted egg yolk granules. (Uhmmm, yummy!) There were also a mushroom dish and some spicy kangkong with shrimp paste.

Let Nestor delve into the desert in his column. Suffice it to say, that lightning bolts or no lightning bolts illuminating the horizon, we could have savored each morsel of that al fresco seafood dinner until dawn.

It was truly an exquisite experience in Shangri-La!