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Food review: JAAN

Same but delectably different

Same but delectably different

SINGAPORE — It is impossible to talk about Jaan without referencing the chefs who made their names there. The restaurant’s claim to fame was its peerless aerial view of the city, but Jaan shot to prominence when a young Taiwanese chef named Andre Chiang took its helm in 2008. In 2011, another young chef Julien Royer became its chef de cuisine. By 2014, Royer had steered the restaurant to 17th place in the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

But now that Royer has gone on to open his own establishment, Jaan has yet another young maestro at its helm: Kirk Westaway. (The 30-year-old, however, is no stranger to the award-winning kitchen — he had been Royer’s sous chef for more than three years before taking the mantle this June.)

This strategy of promoting from within looks to have served the restaurant well. The changing of guard has done little to disrupt what regulars have come to know and love about the restaurant.

As usual, the restaurant serves its vaunted set menus. Those for lunch range from S$78 for three courses to S$168 for seven courses, while dinner menus are priced from S$168 for five courses to S$298 for 10 courses.

On the plate, Westaway’s dishes barely appear to be different from his predecessor’s. His rendition of the now-signature Forest Pigeon is done much the same as it always was, except Westaway now cooks the breast at a slightly higher temperature (2 degrees Celsius more, if anyone’s interested). This is to eliminate the delicate pooling of blood on the plate when the meat is cut into. Flavour-wise, there is more intensity, not only in this pigeon dish, but throughout the menu.

Westaway’s plates may bear the same artfully elegant presentation made popular by Royer, but it seems his talents lie in really distilling the essence of his ingredients so that their flavours are exceptionally pronounced. The Tomato Collection is a fine case in point: The vine-ripened heirloom tomato’s essence is parlayed into the dish’s every scrupulously produced component.

To make this dish, the kitchen slow-cooks the tomato in a tomato consomme, which intensifies its flavours. The tomato is then stuffed with a piquant mix of diced oxheart tomatoes, gherkins, capers and oregano, which taste a lot like beef tartar.

In an elaborate process of dehydrating and rehydrating the fruit, the stuffed tomato is returned to its original shape and served with a basil and mimolette cheese pesto, as well as Japanese tomato berries, burrata and a brightly flavoured basil sorbet that ties it all deliciously together.

There are gentle jolts of flavour that delight the palate with every bite, and this statement is true of just about every dish we sampled during our weekday lunch. The soft flavours of a confit rainbow trout were boosted by a drizzle of deeply savoury chicken jus, while in the Farmer’s Harvest, a warmed plate and slivers of Carrasco ham magnified the placid flavours of barely cooked seasonal vegetables.

What Westaway looks to have brought to Jaan’s table is a seamless continuity coupled with the remarkable ability to surprise and delight diners both regular and new. Our bet is it is only a matter of time before this young chef’s name goes up there in the culinary spotlight shared by those who went before him. ANNETTE TAN

JAAN

Where:

70th floor Swissotel The Stamford

2 Stamford Road

Telephone:

6837 3322

Opening hours:

Noon to 2.30pm, 7pm to 10pm Mon to Sat

Click to eat

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