Nobu Chefs Take Creativity to New Culinary
Heights
Chef
Hervé Courtot is back! And he’s up for a challenge together with Executive Chef
Philip Leong and Head Sushi Chef Micheole ‘Chico’ Anung Dator from Nobu Kuala Lumpur. Chef Hervé,
Corporate Chef of Nobu Worldwide and team is putting their chef’s hats on to
curate a menu using selected local ingredients.
Off
to an early start, the Nobu team headed straight to the iconic Pudu wet market
together with members of the media and blogger to select the ingredients for
the challenge. The Pudu market is filled with every imaginable ingredient and
produce, ranging from familiar ones to local interesting ones. The chefs spent
quite an interesting morning checking out the market while the media had fun
selecting the ingredients for the team.
After
a fruitful morning, the whole team took the bountiful ‘Mystery Black Box’ ingredients of Indonesian mud crab, huge tiger
prawns, parrot fist, catfish, Chinese stem lettuce, purple beans, petai, lychee
and more back to the restaurant. It was certainly an anticipated evening meal
with much excitement to look forward too!
Nobu has always take pride in their fine Japanese Peruvian
inspired menu. Ardent gourmands sip Nobu’s creative cocktails while savoring
Nobu’s fine menu of Salmon or Octopus Carpaccio, Yellowtail Sashimi with
Jalapeno, Tuna Tartare with Caviar, Rock Shrimp Tempura, Kobe Beef and more.
The dining experience is also enhanced with a gorgeous scenic view of the
city’s beautiful skyline along with our nation’s iconic twin towers.
That
evening kicked off with a monthly special of Jinzesuto. Utterly refreshing and fruity notes of passion fruit
juice jazzed up with gin, sake, plum wine and finished with Yuzu citrus, Shiso
and mint with a spritz of soda, the cocktail certainly perked up the palate for
the highly anticipated menu to come.
Before
we dine, we caught some chefs’ action in the kitchen and sushi bar. Chef
Chico’s clever take on using the catfish at the sushi bar won some brownie
points from us. Echoing similar flavour and texture to the classic Japanese
unagi, the catfish was prepared in two ways as a starter for the menu.
Chef
Phillip took the local vegetables and elevated them into fine Nobu appetizers
as well as main dishes for the evening while Chef Hervé whipped the seafood
into gastronomical dishes fit for royalty.
Our
starter of the evening was a trio mélange of Sushi Bar Moriawase from Chef Chico. A pop of finely minced Spicy
Tuna on baked Mountain Yam was cleverly balanced with a pickled Yamamomo
Japanese mountain peach. Followed by crispy Catfish on Avocado with a drizzle
of teriyaki sauce and finished with grilled Catfish Nigiri Sushi. Chef Chico
masked the catfish heavy aroma well through the clever process of smoking and
grilling the fish and paired it with the bold savory and sweet teriyaki
flavour.
Kudos
to Chef Phillip for his creation of Petai
with Fresh Corn in Chili Garlic Sauce! Perhaps this may be the only time
one will ever get to taste the stink beans on the menu of Nobu and yet, many of
us may yearn for the Nobu team to consider putting this on their menu since the
dish was so well-received. The bold smoky charred aroma took the dish to new
heights as it worked so well with the unctuous flavours of petai and sweetness
of juicy corn kernels. Coupled with the brash usage of Japanese Shichimi spices
to give the dish some heat, this appetizer is a keeper for our local palates.
Chinese
stem lettuce or Wo Sun, more commonly
used in Chinese cuisine, has taken on new profile in Japanese cuisine. Chef
Phillip has paired the sliced crisp stems with juicy sliced fresh water
chestnuts and flavoured them with miso. The nutty savory sprinkled of dried
miso worked very well on the stem lettuce and chestnuts, giving the Chinese Stem Lettuce with Miso a hint
of bitter ending with crispy Yuba as
an added crunch factor.
Chef
Hervé did much justice to the Indonesia mud crabs by using the shells to churn
out a sublime Crab Bisque Cappuccino.
Relatively small served in a cup, the crab bisque boasted of magnanimous
essence of the crab and other seafood. Lusciously delicious, each sip of the
bisque was divine on the palate.
The
Parrot Fish with Black Bean Paste
made quite a grand entrance with the whole fish perched on the side of the
plate. The fillets of the fish are beautifully steamed in the rich dark bean
paste sauce before being finished with splashes of hot oil on to the julienned
ginger and spring onions. The flesh is silky smooth and delectable sweet and
firm. A rather classic preparation that ultimately delivers a delicious dish to
the diners.
The
steamed flesh of the Indonesian mud crab is handpicked and gracefully blanketed
with Nobu’s creamy spicy sauce, sprinkled with freshly cracked black pepper and
broiled to perfection. Each spoonful of Steamed
Crab with Spicy Sauce is a revelation of scrumptiousness in the mouth,
lending small peaks of satisfaction of the pleasures of sweet crab meat with
hints of heat and cream.
Grilled Tiger Prawns with Anticucho doesn’t not only looks fabulous at
sight but in taste as well. Cooked to perfection, the firm and tender
crustaceans had a good dose of smoky chargrilled aroma that paired so well with
one of Nobu’s signature anticucho sauce. Expect sweetness from the prawns and
robust notes of heat and umami notes from the sauce.
An
interlude from seafood and meat, the sizzling Purple Beans Tobanyaki had us enjoying buttery beans cooked al
dente. The aroma wafting from the tobanyaki was amazing…
Tuna Poke Nobu Style reminded us again what Nobu is all
about. With a based of lentils and brown rice crowned with cubes of tuna,
avocado and cucumber, the poke also had seaweed and generous sprinkling of
sesame seeds for textures. Dressed with a garlicky spicy miso sauce, the poke
is easy to enjoy and healthy too.
A
trio of vegetable dishes followed pursuit, perhaps a clever timing from the
chefs, to appease our palate for some greens amidst the indulgence. Crispy Bok Choy with Miso, simple and
sufficiently tasty, showed off crispy fried bok choy leaves flavoured with
dried miso dust.
There’s
also local Asparagus with Shiso Salsa,
an artfully arranged batons of crispy asparagus on a pool of herbaceous Shiso
sauce. It’s the sauce that makes the dish rather unique. Asparagus has a unique
flavour profile and the aroma and taste of the shiso leaves seemed to work
wondrously well as a countering note to balance the vegetable.
Creativity
takes on new heights again with Chinese
Stem Lettuce & Four Angle Beans with Yuzukosho Kombu Dashi. The most
unlikely pairing at first thought, it was surprising on how well the dish
turned out to be. The spicy moreish notes of jalapeno heat with citrus and the
umami notes of kombu jazzed up both crunchy veggies well, even to the extend of
enhancing the sweetness of the stem lettuce.
Our
final main of Lamb Chop with Eggplant
Puree was exceptionally delicious. The French trimmed cutlet was cooked to
perfect pinkness and served with Tozasu butter sauce on a bed of eggplant and
pumpkin puree. The Tozasu butter sauce, a simmered down bonito flakes and ponzu
sauce, is what made the lamb chop bursting with much flavours.
To
sweeten the evening, our much beloved local lychee fruit was turned into Lychee Panna cotta with Grapefruit Sorbet.
Served with lychee and grapefruit segments, the dessert was vibrantly
refreshing and tangy with a little hint of creaminess.
Chef
Hervé was present at Nobu Kuala Lumpur to showcase Nobu Trilogy Osusume promotion that took place from 1 July to 7
July, 2019. The Nobu Trilogy is a prelude to the latest Nobu restaurant to be
open in Nobu Hotel Barcelona in September 2019.
A
big thank you to Nobu Kuala Lumpur
for the priceless excursion and dining experience with the Nobu culinary team.
Chef Hervé, Chef Phillip and Chef Chico has certainly outdone themselves in
curating a truly unique Nobu menu with the ingredients that were given to them.
An unforgettable Nobu experience like no other…
For
inquiries or to make reservations, please call 03.2164.5084 or Whatsapp
019.389.5085.
NOBU
KUALA LUMPUR
Menara 3 Petronas
Level 56 KLCC 50088
Kuala Lumpur
Phone: +60 3 2164 5084
Fax: + 60 2164 5085
Reservation:
nobuklreservations@noburestaurants.com
Website:
www.noburestaurants.com/kuala-lumpur
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/nobukl
Business Hours:
Mondays to Fridays Lunch - 12noon to 2pm daily
Mondays to Sundays Dinner - 6pm to 10.30pm daily
Saturdays & Sundays High Tea - 2.30pm to 5pm
