Food review: Lazy Susan

SINGAPORE — If you haven’t already checked out Lazy Susan, the Spa Esprit Group’s rotating pop-up dining concept, there is time yet. Earlier this week, the exceptional menu by Canadian chef Haan Palcu-Chang, spun its way from House to Open Door Policy where it will be served until January 24.

Since they debuted in late November, Palcu-Chang’s renditions of Singapore-inspired fare have quickly won fans thanks to some delicious ingenuity and use of local ingredients that must have local chefs muttering, “why didn’t I think of that?”

As one impressed Singaporean restaurateur said: “Sometimes it takes an outsider, someone with fresh eyes, to see what’s always been right in front of us, and take that, and make it better.”

Palcu-Chang’s food is exciting, more-ish, refreshingly different and yet wonderfully familiar. For instance, he takes the sweet, pungent flesh of young jackfruit, braises it till it pulls apart easily and drenches it in a gula Melaka barbeque sauce, before slapping it between a soft bun with a creamy pistachio-strewn guacamole (BBQ Jackfruit Bum, S$12). The result captures all the bright, satisfying flavours of a Tex-Mex pulled pork sandwich in a vegetarian dish that seems downright carnivorous.

The 30-year-old chef is himself a melange of mixed heritages. Born to a Chinese father and Romanian mother, he grew up in Toronto and has lived and cooked in France (at the trendy Le Mary Celeste in Paris), Copenhagen (at the acclaimed modern Thai fusion restaurant Kiin Kiin), and now runs his own consulting and pop-up dining company called Mama Flo’s in Toronto.

His inherent multi-culturalism serves him well here as he draws from his familial memories and work experiences to yield dishes such as Fried Carat Cake (S$9). The creamy cubes of Chinese-style carrot cake are sheathed in a light, crisp and springy crust (“this was how my grandmother used to make it,” he said) and placed atop a thick, punchy Thai yellow curry sauce in an unexpectedly addictive combination.

Indeed, such is the vein of Palcu-Chang’s refreshingly original menu: Think blocks of deep-fried haloumi cheese in a chilli crab-inspired ragout (S$14) and mussels steamed in a chilli bean sauce and served with grilled choy sum, crisp shallots and ricotta on toast (S$11), yielding flavours that bring to mind orh luak (fried oysters). As imaginative as these ideas may be, what underpins the success of these dishes is the chef’s sharp technique and palate.

To wit, for a guy who hadn’t tasted har cheong gai (fried chicken marinated in fermented prawn paste) before he set foot in Singapore, Palcu-Chang has shattered the har cheong gai ceiling with his boldly flavoured and almost always perfectly executed version. Zi char stalls across the island could take their cue from this wildly tasty version. That he serves it with light and crisp rice flour waffles (that must be eaten warm because they stiffen as they cool) with a sunny side-up egg and sambal maple syrup is reason enough to jostle for a reservation while the menu is still on offer. ANNETTE TAN

Lazy Susan at Open Door Policy

19 Yong Siak Street

Telephone:

6221 9307

Opening hours:

Daily noon to 3pm, 8pm to 11pm