Nordic tempura

I wasn't sure how I felt about Tempura Tenon (天ぷら 天穩) after my first visit earlier, so I wasn't in a hurry to book a return visit. However, Ugly Shoe Girl asked me if I was interested in going to a collab event between the restaurant and Chef Gabriel Chung, and that got me intrigued. I have a number of friends who are apparently fans of Gabriel, and have gone to his other events or even had him cater meals at home. I knew that Nordic flavors are his gig, and although that doesn't work for me every single time, curiosity got the best of me. I said 'yes'.

Then a few days ago, I realized to my horror that I had signed up for lunch, not dinner. Truth be told, I was pretty slammed at work... so the last thing I needed was a three hour lunch on a work day. But I felt bad about cancelling as I hate being one of those dicks who bail, so I sucked it up and showed up as promised.

Surf clam (北寄貝), fermented wampee juice, fig leaf oil, pickled pine needle, plum - well, the surf clam was that it was, and came with a mix of clarified juice from wampee (黃皮) harvested in July, fresh Nordic pine needle, oil from winter pine as well as autumn figs. There was fruity acidity as expected, and the pine flavors definitely stood out. Unfortunately the flavors of the clam was fairly strong, and all the juices and oils weren't enough to tame them.

As early as the second course, I realized that while the other groups of diners were getting detailed explanations from Gabriel, when it was our turn... he simply listed the key ingredients that were already printed on today's menu. Basically, I had to listen to his introductions to others around the counter in order to get the details.

Botan shrimp (牡丹海老), elderflower tartar sauce - yes, the batter was thin and delicate, but once again it was soft and wet instead of crispy. The shrimp itself was pretty sweet, and the tartar sauce was nice and floral.

Good execution to deliver this doneness.

Cod shirako (タラ白子) Scallop (帆立貝), yuzu hollandaise - I had raised my objection to fish cum before arriving, so I was served a scallop with a nice, springy texture. It was actually tasty enough with just with little dab of yuzu (柚子) zest on top, and we actually got thin and crispy batter here. The yuzu hollandaise actually had plenty of yuzu flavors with just a hint of egg.

The sight of a whole tray of shiny Pacific saury - one of my favorite hikarimono (光り物) - all rolled up was drool-worthy.

Pacific saury (秋刀魚), strawberry, perilla, rose vinegar gel - the rolls were cut in half and each diner got 2 halves. However, some of us did not get the two halves from the same roll... and I was one of them. This may not seem like a small and insignificant detail, but a Japanese shokunin (職人) wouldn't be caught dead doing this.

The strawberry flavors were interesting, and this was very delicious. My second piece, though, somehow got some of the liver and/or guts of the fish... and was slightly bitter as a result. Not what the chefs had wanted to deliver, methinks.

The rose gel was very fragrant, and worked well with the fatty fish.

The next tray was bearing thick slabs of another shiny fishy...

Japanese Spanish mackerel (鰆), straw and onion foam - this was not warayaki (藁焼き) but the fish was smoked with straw before being deep-fried. The foam was made with onions from Awajishima (淡路島), and was very tasty thanks to the wine and/or vinegar.

Alaskan king crab (鱈場蟹), magnolia foam - the flavors of the King crab were nice and distinctive, but unfortunately the batter was of course no longer crisp with all the crab juices being released. The foam didn't help, either. Thanks to the doneness, the texture of the crab was nice and soft. Meanwhile the foam was definitely floral and fragrant.

At this point, my camera fell to the floor and the mechanism inside my lens got fucked up. I could no longer focus - not even manually. So I switched to taking pics with my trusty old (5-year-old, to be exactly) phone for the rest of the meal.

Abalone (鮑), white truffle, liver sauce - the liver sauce was on the salty side.

Yellowtail (鰤), sea urchin (雲丹), caviar, lime, green apple, fermented bamboo shoot foam - this was a dish that made me (and Ugly Shoe Girl) utter the words "WTF". Gabriel introduced this as a "palate cleanser", which is so fucking laughable...

...because with sturgeon caviar, fatty yellowtail and rich sea urchin foam - how is any of those refreshing enough to cleanse one's palate?! All those ingredients bring strong flavors to the mix, and worse of all they don't work together - at all.

Maitake (舞茸), fermented celeriac juice - mushrooms tend up soak up a lot of oil when deep-fried, and the acidity in the sauce - made with Danish celeriac? - helped to cut through that grease.

Potato and bacon millefeuille (ポテトとベーコンミルフィーユ), crème fraîche, French onion - the only potatoes I like are deep-fried, and even better when it comes as a millefeuille. Instead of the usual sour cream, we had crème fraîche sprinkled with bacon powder and diced chives. A classic combo.

Shrimp taro (海老芋), blue cheese foam - I love shrimp taro for their fine, smooth texture, and this was nice.

Splendid alfonsino (金目鯛), aqua pazza, basil oil - the splendid alfonsino was as tasty as I remembered from last time, and the batter was nice and crispy. Interesting match with the aqua pazza as the fruity acidity from tomatoes worked well with the fried fatty fish... and the basil oil was tasty, too.

Hairy crab yuba roll (上海蟹湯葉巻き), yellow wine ginger sauce - the flavors from the Shanghainese hairy crab (大閘蟹) and its roe were pretty nice, and at the very kind I felt a little kick from ginger. The accompany vin jaune sauce was made with some walnut oil, too.

Pigeon (鳩), sansho pigeon jus - this came with some charcoal oil, and while I love pigeon and this was tasty, one of the pieces came a little more cooked than what I normally prefer. The flavors were still nice and gamey, though.

The sansho (山椒) flavors - coming from 4 different types of pepper - were pretty strong here with the pigeon leg.

Shark's fin (フカヒレ) Sea cucuber (海鼠), sour vegetable broth - once again, I said no to shark's fin and got sea cucumber instead. Well... both ingredients are bland and practically flavorless, and would be pretty boring without the sour broth. There's some smoked chili, diced wood ear, and pickles. This was maybe supposed to be 酸湯魚(翅), and there was definitely the acidity and also numbness.

Chestnut cheesecake - the chestnut cheesecake was made with rum, which made it extra tasty. Sweet persimmon on the side.

I found most of the meal to be pretty tasty, and the flavor combinations had mostly been thought out and were definitely interesting. However, I left today with similar feelings as last time - where I see the chef trying to throw "premium" ingredients at diners - which many in Hong Kong clearly appreciate. The "palate cleanser" was a case in point. There may or may not be a better tempura restaurant in Hong Kong, but it may be a while before I think about revisiting since my mind has taken over - and philosophically it's just not my type of place.