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| Grand Mandarina |
It was
more than 18 months ago, I was invited for food tasting in Grand
Mandarina Singapore. (Review available here). I still remember
vividly of their melt-in-your-mouth Char Siew, Crispy Roast Pork and
the stir fried pork neck with glass noodle. It was one of the
highlights of my food escapade in 2014.
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| Executive Chef Eric Yeo and CEO Chef Benson Tong |
In 2016,
Grand Mandarina will reposition themselves to target more of communal
dining, as well as Wedding Banquet. With New CEO, Chef Benson Tong
and Executive Chef Eric Yeo, at the helm, Grand Mandarina ('GM') will
introduced new items to the menu progressively to tie-in with their
current favourite dishes in GM.
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| Private Room in 2nd Floor |
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| Amuse-Bouche |
Steam
Vegetarian dumpling with dice assorted mushroom and vegetable in
black pepper (野菌蒸素饺
- $4.80 for 3 pcs). An almost transparent crystal skin provide
a sneak peak of the fillings of the dumpling. It is springy and the
mushroom fillings is juicy yet subtle. The piece of chive is used to
tied the dumpling and provide contrasting taste than the mushrooms.
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| Steam Vegetarian dumpling with dice assorted mushroom and vegetable in black pepper |
Crispy
Rice roll filled with smoked shredded duck and bamboo shoot (烟鸭脆肠粉
- $7.50). What a creative dish. The rice rolled is soft
and smooth, covered the crispy spring roll skin filled with smoked
duck. A soft and crispy combo, that can be eaten by itself, or pour a
dash of soya sauce onto it.
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| Crispy Rice roll filled with smoked shredded duck and bamboo shoot |
Pan-fried
bun filled with mince pork and cabbage (椰菜生煎包
- $5.00 for 3 pcs). This remind me of the pan-fried bun
in Beijing. Except, the version at GM is less oily. The skin is crisp
and flaky, while the fillings of mince pork and cabbage provided a
similar taste as the Chinese dumplings.
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| Pan-fried bun filled with mince pork and cabbage |
From the
oven, we have the platter combination of Signature Crystal Char Siew
(蜜汁叉燒
- $18),
Crackling pork belly (化皮烧腩肉
- $18) and
Roasted Duck with summer truffle sauce (黑菌脆皮鸭,
- $32 ). The Char Siew itself is definitely worth a visit
to GM. It is glossy, sweet and succulent, almost to the point of
melting in your mouth. The secret to it is the char siew was cooked
to about 95 percent complete. Upon order, it was dipped in liquid
sugar and torched to perfection.
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| Signature Crystal Char Siew, Roasted Duck with summer truffle sauce, and Crackling pork belly |
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| Signature Crystal Char Siew - Up Close |
The mini
cubes of crackling pork belly has a thin layer of the crispy skin,
with delicious fats and succulent meat as well. A touch of mustard
provide a nice tangy touch to the roast pork. Meanwhile, the roast
duck with summer truffle sounds like a star dish. The skin was crispy
and the meat is lean and tender. There is a touch of gaminess as
Malaysian duck used for this dish. Though GM infused truffle to the
sauce, it tasted really subtle almost non existent. Personally,
Chinese herbs should be used in this dish instead of being fusion.
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| Roasted Duck with summer truffle sauce |
Deep
fried Chilean Seabass with crispy fish skin served with egg white
crumble and golden broth ($26/pax). This is one of the new item in
the menu. A fine dining dish to showcase Chef Eric's creativity and
skills. Presentation – Perfect; Taste – Perfecto. The seabass was
a combination of crisp, with slightly firm yet juicy meat. The fish
skin is has a nice crispy bite to eat while the egg white and robust
golden broth provide different texture and flavour to the dish.
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| Deep fried Chilean Seabass with crispy fish skin served with egg white crumble and golden broth |
Vegetarians
are not forgotten as well. GM new creation of Steam wild yam in
Imperial sauce ($12) was just delightful. Simple and subtle flavours
of the yam was enhanced with imperial sauce and finely chopped chilli
padi. So watch out for the spicy kick after your first bite.
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| Steam wild yam in Imperial sauce |
King
prawns in Coconut, coconut crustacean broth with silken longevity
noodle ($26). Prawn noodle, atas version. Using whole Thai coconut as
a bowl, it gave you the wow feel on the presentation. The cloudy
broth is filled with sweet prawn flavours, robust with a bitter twist
of the prawns shell used. The broth is quite peppery and it makes
your stomach warm up after you slurp the broth. I find the mee sua
type noodle used are to soggy for my liking, however it did well to
soak up the broth. The prawn is big, juicy and fresh. For additional
flavour, you can add a layer of charred leek to the prawn noodle.
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| King prawns in Coconut, coconut crustacean broth with silken longevity noodle |
Dessert
was a special creation by Chef Eric, not in the menu. A combination
of Durian Pengat in black sesame bowl, with red bean and coconut ice
cream. The light coconut ice cream goes well when paired with the red
bean. The colourful gels on the plate acted as the sauces to the ice
cream. While the pungent durian pengat is full of Durian yumminess in
it. Yum Yum.
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| Dessert - Off the menu |
Overall,
I was pleased to comeback for second tasting at Grand Mandarina. The
standard of the food remain as good as I remember and I hope the new
direction is able to garner more customers for GM. My pick for this
tasting is the Deep Fried Chilean Seabass and GM version of Prawn
Noodle. Cheers!!
Thank you
very much to Miss Chocoholic and Grand Mandarina Team for the tasting
invitation.
Food:
8.5/10
Value:
8/10
Service:
n/a (Tasting Invitation)
Ambiance:
8.5/10
Budget per Person: $51 - $80; $81 &
Above
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