Ho dishes up a scintillating experience at Seed by Whitegrass.
EDIBLE flowers, herbs and gold leaf are among garnishes chefs use as embellishment and often a representation of flavours in a dish.
Aesthetically pleasing dishes are not only designed to impress but add value to one’s dining experience, and giving attention to detail is close to the hearts of young culinarians at Seed by Whitegrass in Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
The new bistronomy space shares the same passion for nature-inspired cuisine as its Michelin-starred parent restaurant Whitegrass in Singapore.
Here, chefs lean on French and Japanese culinary techniques by painstakingly finding ways to make ingredients shine while giving gastronomes a meal worth talking about.
Behind a scintillating experience at Seed by Whitegrass is none other than its chef de cuisine Joshua Ho.
In person, Ho is soft-spoken and possesses a blend of passion, precision and imagination in handling seasonal ingredients both local and imported.
His passion for cooking can be traced back to stints at renowned restaurants such as Esquina, Caffe B and Tamago En before joining Whitegrass.
Seed by Whitegrass from Singapore, bistronomy concept restaurant opens in Kuala Lumpur.
Hand-picked to lead the team at Seed by Whitegrass, Ho focuses on ingredients to curate degustation menus designed to leave a lasting impression.
Ho gives soul to his cooking, bringing to mind Thomas Kellar’s words, “A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.”
While Japanese ingredients are the backbone of menus, Ho does look West for novel ideas in keeping things current.
At Seed, only degustation menus (two at most) are choices.
Ho said the four seasons played a pivotal role in how menus were designed.
For autumn, Ho has unveiled a five-course degustation menu priced at RM488 and eight-course gastronomic experience for RM638.
Pretty presentation of saba with sauce de poireau and kyuri.
Here, the chefs’ playground is visible in plain sight as they assemble dishes, building anticipation of what is to come.
Their personalised effort of explaining each dish helps heighten sensory expectation before diving in for a taste.
Salmon, saba, matsutake, octopus, ris de veau (sweetbreads), amadai (horsehead tilefish), miyazaki ribeye and guinea fowl are Seed by Whitegrass’ representations of autumn.
The gastronomic meal begins with delicate amuse-bouche as a welcome touch before a serving of salmon, ikura and herb yogurt step into the scene.
Then the oily and appetising flavour of saba paired with kyuri and sauce de poireau (leek sauce) is followed closely by dishes of matsutake, riso and pickled shimeji as well as crunchy octopus in citrusy lemon and smoked capsicum.
Ris de veau or sweetbreads is, to me, an acquired taste.
This dish takes things up a notch in a pairing of foie gras terrine, woodsy porcini and sauce perigeaux with chopped truffles unleashing earthy, meat-flavoured creaminess on the palate.
Marinated with milk and rosemary, the sweetbreads are double deep-fried and served with caramelised apples, passion fruit and vodka sauce.
Octopus in citrusy lemon and smoked capsicum.
The softer flavours of amadai is next, accompanied by salty umami flavours of chopped seaweed and clams.
The mains offer bold options of guinea fowl with celeriac and rich camembert sauce or A4 miyazaki ribeye with sweet potatoes and a touch of heat from sansho sauce.
This satisfying eight-course meal comes to a close with white chocolate blanc manger and chestnut gelato but not before house-made petite mignardises get a chance to sneak in on the dinner menu.
For those who missed the flavours of summer, Ho highlighted Komochi Yari Ika (spear squid, yuzu kosho aioli) with texture-filled anchovies crumble to start with.
Yuzu kosho, a citrusy Japanese paste, is a wow-factor ingredient with its tangy, slight spiciness and salty appeal.
Sawara (Spanish mackerel) starred in a fish terrine and this cold dish is a sure winner with roasted aubergine, thinly sliced zucchini, pickled ginger with fennel tapenade and wasabi creme fraiche offering layers of goodness.
Ivory-coloured, tender bamboo shoots (takenoko) with dashi and kinome (young leaves of sansho pepper) calm the excitement on the taste buds in preparation for deep-fried agria potatoes.
Biteful of goodness in agria potato with comte cheese and dill creme.
“We use agria potatoes from Germany. The potatoes are creamier than russet and for this dish, they are paired with comte cheese (aged for 12 months) and dotted with neuvic caviar from France for a burst of flavours,” he said.
The menu also highlighted Hokkaido scallops, presented with garland chrysanthemum and white butter sauce.
Expect to taste Whitegrass’ signature sesame whitegrass bread which comes hot from the oven when dining here.
Japanese strawberry, mascarpone with salted sakura sorbet.
The summer menu presented an option between duck with forest mushroom (earthy tones of morel, white maitake and brown shimeji) and miyazaki Wagyu with fukinotou miso (spring mountain herbs).
Colours of summer evident in Japanese strawberry, mascarpone and salted sakura sorbet is what Ho had in mind for dessert.
The autumn menu is available until mid-November before the winter line-up takes over.
Seed by Whitegrass, Block E, L1-04, The Five@KPD, Jalan Dungun, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: 010-552 6891) Business hours: Noon to 3pm, 6pm to 11pm (Tuesday to Saturday). Closed on Sunday and Monday.
This is the writer’s personal observation and not an endorsement by StarMetro.
