This bar-like restaurant is located in a plaza where it has a variety of different food places. It has a very fun and diverse spirit and a small group of chefs that serve food right in front of the diners. Their main specialty is obviously pasta, even though there weren’t too many courses related to pasta. We started our meal with three compliments from the chef that are served apart from the menu.
Canapé 1 (front): Caviar, Custard, Meat Jus
Our first snack starred White Sturgeon Caviar, which was presented in a dome shape on top of an egg custard. A warm sauce made from a variety of meats was then poured in the dish. The rich, creamy texture of the custard paired well with the snappy caviar. The meat jus provided some warmth to the dish. However, I felt that the dish was overall a little salty, especially with the caviar.
Canapé 2 (upper left): Cannoli, Mushroom, Parsley
This small roll was a crispy fried cannoli filled with a mushroom purée that contained fresh herbs as well. A crispy shell around a creamy filling pairs nicely together, and this small bite was no exception. The cannoli provided that crunch, while the rich mushroom flavor bursts in your mouth. Perfect, but a little overpowering for some.
Canapé 3 (upper right): Duck Liver, Strawberry, Brioche
This last one-biter appeared to be a cake and ended up tasting like a cake with small differences. It consists of a rectangular brioche topped with a duck liver mousse and finished with strawberry jam. The since the duck liver can be greasy, the sour/sweet jam paired with it perfectly, and with the brioche, this snack was definitely my favorite.
After our canapés, we were served some Margarita’s Sourdough Bread that was homemade by the restaurant, and paired with some lightly salted, cultured butter (background).
- Black Kale, Avocado, Manchego, Beef Fat
Surprisingly, this first course was interestingly big, since we expected something smaller to be the first appetizer. Instead we were given a satisfying portion of a raw black kale salad stuffed in an avocado wrap, and topped with some julienned crouton looking things, a warm beef fat sauce, and some fresh edible flowers. This dish was served cold with the kale providing a firm, almost crunchy texture to the avocado, while the beef fat gave the dish a saltier profile.
2. Hokkaido Scallop, Green Papaya, Fermented Pineapple, Basil
Like most courses with Hokkaido Scallops, this one is served raw with many vegetables to add to the shellfish’s texture and flavor. This dish in particular uses
papaya spaghetti, daikon, and baby shallots as the vegetables to add that excellent crunchiness. On the other hand, the sauce was made with an extremely sweet pineapple juice because of fermentation, as well as a basil oil. Mix that all together, and add some spice, will create this complex course with many flavors.
3. Dungeness Crab, Black Garlic, Peanut, Finger Lime
As this is a pasta based restaurant, we got our first pasta dish for the third course! There was only one piece of ravioli that contained fresh crab meat with a sauce made of black garlic and Thai curry finished with some coconut. Despite the small portion, this course was very delicious that provided texture and flavor together.
4. Sunflower, Vadouvan, Coriander, Black Truffle
Our next pasta course was rather interesting, with the star being shredded sunflower petals. The farfalle pasta was instead hidden under the huge mass of fresh flower. The sauce was made with a rich mushroom sauce with black truffle as well. Although the pasta itself was perfectly cooked al dente, it was covered with that slightly bitter sunflower, which I felt overpowered the whole dish, especially with the overly rich vadouvan puree
5. Ocean Trout, Allium, Dill, Everything Bagel Spice
Next, we had a cylindrical slice of half cooked ocean trout wrapped in toasted sesame seeds, which did in fact make the whole course like a pink bagel. There was also this giant green piece of what looked like toasted, stripped lettuce, which gave a deliciously crispy texture to the smoky, tender piece of fish.
6. Cannelloni, Calabrian Chili, Meyer Lemon, Halloumi
Our third and last pasta course was tubular pasta stuffed with halloumi cheese finished with a Calabrian Chili sauce and Meyer Lemon. This was also a unique pasta, but in a good way. There was that nice chewy pasta with the firm, slightly funky cheese, which was covered with the flavor from the chili. The lemon also added some acidity to the dish, which made the dish quite “refreshing”.
7. Chicken, English Pea, Morel, Smoked Cherry
What was fun and interesting was that the final savory courses contained bits of pasta inside of the dish. For instance, this course contained potato gnocchi with green peas and morels on the side.
However, the main attraction was that tender, flavorful chicken topped with a fried shiso leaf and some smoked cherry sauce. This whole course gave me vibes about fried chicken, with a side pasta as well. I only think that the gnocchi was a little too soft and the sauce was slightly too salty.
9. Lamb, Snap Peas, Kohlrabi, Fennel
This dish consisted of sliced fresh lamb cooked with snap peas and kohlrabi. Also, there was a piece of what I think was a piece of snap pea agnolotti (behind the lamb). The lamb was nicely seasoned, but I thought it was a little too tough and should be cooked more rare. The snap peas and kohlrabi added nice texture to the course, but I thought the kohlrabi was oddly sour. On the other hand, the pasta was perfectly cooked with that tasty pea filling.
9. Meyer Lemon Granita, Malted Milk Custard, Black Lime
This was our first desert and palate cleanser that had a cup lemon shaved ice with a custard underneath served with a dried lime. I thought that the whole thing was a little sour, including the custard. However, it does serve as quite a good palate cleanser, especially for people who like sour flavored desserts.
10. Calamansi Semifreddo, Caviar, Smoked Emulsion, Candied Brioche
This was probably the most unique ice cream that I have ever eaten. Firstly, this dessert is made out of a hybrid between an kumquat and lemon. Secondly, it contains an interesting amount of smoked caviar on the top. Overall, this dish had a particularly odd flavor, with a tasty, cold, citrus ice cream that was paired with salty/smoky caviar.
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