Thursday, August 22, 2013

Jaan - Degustation dinner

I headed to Jaan for dinner with a bunch of foodie friends to try the degustation menu on a Monday evening, when up to 5 people can eat for 50% off with the FAR card. We had a great time, sharing a bottle of wine among 4 of us, and the eventual bill came up to $160-$180 per person (I cant recall exactly how much it was).


I cannot remember what this was, perched on top of a sardine tin. 


Croquette and smoked eel with pickled apple - definitely very interesting.


Chicken skin with spices, and hummus.


Hummus is (as hummus usually is) boring.


This was a mushroom tea+Sabayon+mushroom slices. Some visual showmanship here - the mushroom tea in the plunger was poured into the foamy Sabayon.


This was a pretty good mushroom tea, I thought. And I was so glad they didn't utilise the cheap trick of adding truffle oil.


The sabayon was very light, and the entire ensemble went down very easily. I could have had 2 of these.

Our table shared a bottle of red, which I think was a South Australian Cab Sav Merlot blend. It was very easy to drink, and went very well with the food. But then again, it's very hard to go wrong with a South Australian red, no matter how young it is. 


Pretty fancy-shaped butter there

To go with the black truffle brioche and olive roll

First course was Obsiblue Prawn and Avocado Canneloni, which came with bubbles of light jelly, ikura and caviar. A very very pretty dish, with all the flavours coming together very nicely. It was easy to taste the freshness of each ingredient.


It was served with seaweed butter on brioche on the side.

Jaan's Garden- basically a salad that was super colourful and pretty.

Mozambique langoustine - this was a pretty large langoustine that could have passed for a lobster. It came with peas, raspberry and mint.


A very decent dish. The langoustine was fresh (which should be the case), and the sauce wasn't terribly special but nothing to complain about.

Grilled foie gras with strawberries- very pretty, but I detected a ginger flavour that I didn't quite like.

Roasted Atlantic Brill - asparagus, crayfish and garlic cream. Also a very decent dish, but one wonders why a tasting menu would have both langoustine and crayfish.

The main meat dish was hay-roasted bresse pigeon confit leg with barley and morel mushrooms. It was sweet and tender, although I would have preferred it slightly more done.


I didn't have the guts to ask for it to be better cooked, for fear of looking suaku. So I ate it.


I thought the barley risotto with morels was pretty yummy. A good accompaniment.


Sorbet as a palate cleanser

Then came the choconuts 4 – different flavours of chocolate, including gianduja. 

And lastly,  petite 4s comprising marshmallows, nutty chocolate, a rock melon sorbet stick, and I have no idea what the last thing was.


But everything was SO PRETTY.

Compared to the other atas restaurant helmed by the chap who used to work at Jaan, I would most happily head to Jaan again for another degustation meal, but only with the FAR card. At 50% off, or around $140, this was much better value for money than the $400 per person I paid at the other place, especially since the food at Jaan was just as good.