
Caviar, the delicate sturgeon roe, procured from different parts of the world, never fails to lend a touch of lavishness to culinary creations. Pops of brininess from caviar can elevate any egg or potato dishes, or even vegetables. Here are some new and established restaurants to savour this delicacy.
This new restaurant at the historic Jinrikisha Station offers contemporary cuisine – a melding of chef-owner Zor Tan’s Chinese heritage with French culinary techniques. Featured in the nine-course Chef’s Menu is a dish of Jerusalem artichoke with Chinese lily bulbs and caviar.
When Zor was working at Restaurant Andre, he was introduced to the Jerusalem artichoke, which became one of his favourite vegetables. At Born, he decided to create a dish with a sweet and savoury profile. He cooks the Jerusalem artichoke with burnt butter and chicken stock, and blends it with cream. This is then paired with the milky sweetness of white chocolate and contrasted with savoury Caviar Colony Russian caviar.
This caviar is derived from the Russian Osetra sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) found in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea. Harvested at a minimum of 10 years of age, the fish produces brown-bronze roe with a distinct salted egg yolk flavour with creamy notes, a subtle briny finish, and hints of green olives.
Get more info: Restaurant Born
Related: Restaurant Born Review: Rousing retrospective of life through food
This one-Michelin-starred restaurant by chef and co-owner Jérémy Gillon is known for placing emphasis on a variety of fresh vegetables and alpine herbs. Guests can enjoy JAG’s vegetable-centric découverte menu that showcase the ever-evolving flavours of vegetables through the seasons.
For his summer menu, the romanesco dish is presented as a chilled appetiser, topped with Royal Oscietra n4 Caviar from Eight Gems Caviar — a local brand working directly with the farm in China. The nutty Romanesco florets are prepared in different ways – torched, braised, raw, puréed, and as a velouté. The fresh and nutty notes are elevated with Sapin, an alpine herb, and complemented with briny caviar. For this romanesco dish, the chef uses oyster, clams and bamboo clams to showcase the flavours of ocean.
He may however use a range of other proteins, subject to the availability and special delivery from suppliers.
More info: Restaurant JAG
Chef Sebastien Lepinoy enjoys the challenge of creating something ‘simple’ yet sublime. For instance, his ‘la pomme de terre roseval au caviar’ or caviar served on petals of roseval potatoes with condiments and fresh herbs. This ‘potato salad’ of sorts was created back in 2011, and has evolved since then. Inspired by the classic condiments that complement caviar – blinis, onions, sour cream, and crème fraiche – this impressive creation contains these elements, but elevated to the next level.
The dish’s highlight is Les Amis’ exclusive ‘Reserve’ caviar. Sebastien uses a unique selection of caviar from Kaviari that’s exclusive to Les Amis. Every year this three-Michelin-starred establishment receives around 400kg of caviar (it’s one of the largest buyers in Asia). This Reserve range that Les Amis procures includes Baeri, Sevruga, Kristal with complex delicate almond flavours, and Oscietre with subtle aromas of the sea and hints of hazelnut.
Diners can of course enjoy other creations crowned this prized caviar. Think: cold angel hair pasta with kombu, black truffle and caviar.
Related: Wine & dine at Les Amis restaurant’s new Magnum private dining room
Head to Bedrock Origin at Oasia Resort Sentosa for its signature The Great Beef and Reef Series 17 August to 30 November. This third edition features two menus highlighting a diverse repertoire of cooking techniques such as dry-aging, woodfire grilling, steaming, curing, and smoking. In the six-Course Dinner Tasting Menu, the first course that diners get to savour is the Smoked Caviar with smashed potato, egg, sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped chives.
Steamed mashed potato is seared to achieve a layer of crispness, then stacked with chopped boiled eggs and applewood cold-smoked Kaluga/Schrenckii crossbreed caviar that lends a silky, buttery flavour and smoky aroma. This caviar is harvested from a crossbreed species of Kaluga and Shrenckii sturgeons that have matured for 10 to 12 years. The roe is popular thanks to its well-balanced creamy texture and bright refreshing finish.
This gourmet restaurant plus French patisserie-haute chocolaterie at Outram has rolled out a new summer menu using imported seasonal ingredients. One of their new creations is Kilppfisk Nordic Salted Cod Katafi finished with caviar in uni sauce. This is inspired by Brazilian codfish balls (Bolinhos de Bacalhau), using cured cod from Faroe Island and Norway. The dish is uplifted by the umami flavour of caviar and the sweetness of sea urchin. The caviar that Mad About Sucre uses depends on seasonality and availability. The current batch, which comes from Europe, has a buttery richness and is slightly on the saltier side. End your meal with gluten-free handcrafted desserts in the form of summer fruits.
Related: Try 8 types of caviar at Singapore’s first Caviar fine dining restaurant