Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 2: Jay-Z cooked me dinner

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It was pissing down pretty hard by the time we arrived at Sense for our dinner. We would be the only customers on this rainy night.

Chef Jay Zhao - who stylizes himself as "Jay-Z" on his chef's whites - hosted us in the restaurant's private room, whose decoration tonight reflected the feminine touches of Chef Jay's Korean wife. We would also be able to see some Korean accents in Chef Jay's cuisine, along with influences from Chef Jay's past - given the time he spent the in kitchens such as Restaurant André and Eleven Madison Park.

A long menu is par for the course when you're dining with Mr. Chichi, but this was looking ridiculous tonight... and it would turn out to be disastrous for me. OK, I wasn't the least bit hungry when I sat down to dinner... but even if we hadn't had that big lunch today, the amount of food we got tonight was still wrong... And I don't eat like a bird!

First came some canapés:

浑身是胆 : Sea urchin | nori | pistachio | elderflower | finger lime - I initially rolled my eyes a little when this arrived, thinking "Oh great... yet enother chef who starts the meal with some sea urchin just to get clicks on social media..." But I admit I was wrong. The sea urchin from China was refreshing, rich, and creamy, and worked well with some umami from the nori (のり) along with a little dose of acidity from finger lime pulp. In the end there was a little bit of the Iranian pistachio miso, while the elderflower was very subtle.

江南乌蓬船 : Corn-stripe shrimp | yuzu chili paste | cumquat | radish - this kind of presentation reminds me of the kyo-ryori (京料理) I love so much at places like Nishiki (京 嵐山 錦) in Kyoto, and I do love it when chefs take time to create a pretty scene for their dishes.

The coonstripe shrimp (富山海老) inside the Shaoxing black awning boat (紹興烏篷船) came with some yuzu and soy sauce, but the kumquat (金桔) wasn't particularly obvious. The diced radish (水果萝卜) added some crunch.

蚝遇牛 : Beef tartar | oyster mayonnaise | tosa vinegar - while the presentation include a real oyster shell as part of the illusion, the edible portion had a crispy "oyster shell" made of flour, wrapped around a whole Marennes-Oléron oyster, topped with a mixture of beef tartare and oyster skirt mayo, and some powdered oyster leaves.

I thought that the horseradish that came with the tartare had a nice kick to it.

At this point the Arrogant Prick decided to announce his presence, and requested for the restaurant staff to remove all the perfume candles from the table. I couldn't properly enjoy the aromas of the dishes, nor the glasses of wine in front of me, if I kept getting inference from perfume.

溏心鹌鹑蛋 : Smoked quail egg | dried scallop sauce | 5J ham - so we have a little donut topped with a slice of jamón ibérico from Cinco Jotas along with a dab of conpoy X.O sauce.

There was a whole smoky quail egg inside with runny yok, and also some crunchy bits of young lotus stem (藕帶).

Augustin Feu - there was some sharp acidity on the nose, with Chinese sour plum. While the palate was on the acidic side it was somewhat tempered.

Moving on to the appetizers:

杭城•印象 : Kaluga caviar | lotus seeds ice cream | osmanthus jelly | nasturtium - I still haven't had an opportunity to watch the show at Impression West Lake (印象•西湖), but here is Chef Jay's interpretation with ingredients from Hangzhou. Sitting on top of the osmanthus jelly and Kaluga caviar from 9-year-old sturgeon is a quenelle of ice cream made with lotus seeds and yogurt. Tiny nasturtium leaves have been trimmed to mimic lotus leaves to create this visually-striking presentation.

Unfortunately I didn't care for this dish. First off the green flavors of the nasturtium wasn't to my liking, and in this case they stood out because the lotus seed ice cream was too mild and bland. The fragrance from osmanthus helped, as did the addition of salty, fishy flavors from the caviar.

丰收季节 : tuna | caper | sunflower seed | vinegar shiragiku - another dish with pretty presentation, with a crispy chip made of sunchoke to form the petals of a sunflower. Pearls of spider berry (蜘蛛果) juice take the place of sunflower seeds, adding fruity acidity and sweetness.

Underneath it all is tuna tartare made with capers, sunflower seeds, and a combination of tosa vinegar (土佐酢) and Shiragiku vinegar (白菊酢). While the dish is visually beautiful and it tastes just fine, some of us wondered why the chef chose to serve two tartare dishes (actually, three if one counts the prawn tartare in those little boats) in one sitting.

异曲同工 - we get three different types of bread:

Man tou (馒头) - made with Chinese hickory nuts (山核桃仁) from the Linan District (临安) of Hangzhou. Actually I was just happy to munch on the nuts that came underneath the mantou...

Sour dough - FAIL. This did not taste sour... other than a tiny, tiny hint of it. It just tasted sweet, which any decent sourdough should not. Yes, it looks cute like a bamboo shoot, but...

Tang zhong milk bread (日本汤种面包) - yudane (湯種) makes it more on the sweet side, so one doesn't taste the butter. Soft and fluffy for sure.

鸭肝豆花 : foie gras | dried bamboo shoots | dried shrimp - anyone who has been to Restaurant André and familar with André Chiang (江政誠)'s Octaphilosophy will immediately recall Mémoire when looking at this dish. And tasted pretty similar, too... but I didn't taste the dried shrimp.

延豉汤 : season vegetables | fermented black bean | miso | longsnout catfish ball - originating from the Southern Song (南宋) Dynasty, the broth was made with black beans and indeed similar to Japanese miso or Korean doenjang-guk (된장국). Served with some water shield (蒓菜) from West Lake (西湖), and also gexianmi (葛仙米).

The fluffy and airy fish ball came with some diced water chestnut (馬蹄) for crunch. The flavors were really intense and I loved it.

2023 Bessin-Tremblay Chablis Valmur - the nose was a bit green, and also a little reductive.

Unbelievably, after four canapés, five appetizers, there are still FOUR main courses coming our way...

鱼游春水 : horse mackerel | white asparagus | salmon roe | fermented Buddha's hand vinegar - nowadays when I see fish fillet served up in triangular shape, my first thought goes to Mosu. The skin was nice and crispy with smoky flavors, and the fish itself was very, very tender. Very well executed. We had diced water bamboo and white asparagus together with salmon roe in the light, creamy sauce with some acidity.

The abalone was wrapped in caul fat and roasted the same way as char siu, caramelizing the fat and the edges.

叉烧黑金鲍 : char-siu black abalone | salted mayo | abalone jus | bay leaf vinegar | gooseberry - that sweet, caramelized sauce made the edges of the abalone a little crispy, and almost tasted like braised shiitake. I thought the choice of salted egg mayo was an interesting one, and the flavors here were certainly very familiar... and pretty Chinese! The gooseberries had been pickled and were so sour it made me wince.

两百万分之一的宠爱 : blue lobster | fruit bamboo | laver | may chang oil - and when I see a tofu shaped like this, I also think of Mosu... or André's black mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐) at Sichuan Moon (川江月). The lobster came with a tomato- and Sichuan peppercorn-infused shellfish sauce. Initially they forgot to serve me the tiny little lobster-shaped crisp so I was confused while listening to Chef Jay's introduction. They did, eventually, give it to me, and when I bit into this tiny little thing... WHOA! It was definitely SPICY!

This was almost cooked mi-cuit. Unfortunately I was waaay too full and gave up. Didn't finish the dish.

The black soy bean (黑豆) and black sesame tofu came stuffed with shrimp mousse.

2022 Benoit Moreau Volnay 1er Cru Santenots - prominent coconut butter notes on the nose, but this also seemed a little dusty.

时间的风味 : M6-M7 beef sirloin | fermented perilla leaves | fermented broad bean chili paste - this plate could have been at a table in Seoul, seeing the condiments on the side such as perilla leaves and sardine fry.

I'll be brutally honest here... There was nothing wrong with this piece of beef... EXCEPT that it was just too damn big! Irrespective of how stuffed I was from lunch, the reality is that in a meal with FOUR main courses, why does the chef serve up such a big piece of fatty beef?! I lost my appetite when I saw this hunk of meat, because I knew I could only take a couple of mouthfuls if I wanted to be able to try desserts. The portion was all wrong.

2022 Place of Changing Winds Heathcote Syrah - served nearly 2 hours after opening. There was lots of coconut butter and mint, very ripe and sweet, with a little smoky grilled meats and woodsy notes. Definitely too young and still got the tannins.

We also had two desserts coming our way...

凤梨 : pineapple sorbet | pickled pineapple | coconut mousse | chili - pretty interesting that we're having pineapple for dessert two nights on a row, in an area not known for producing the fruit. The pineapple sorbet spread on the inside left of the cup was light. The coconut mousse in the middle was a little savory, came with some grainy desiccated coconut, and got wrapped in nice slices of marinated pineapple. There was also a hint of chili oil bringing its lovely fragrance and a slight kick into the refreshing, fruity mix

蜜桃成熟时 : peach | yogurt mousse | jasmine kombucha | shiso - everything about this was really nice... from the fresh and ripe peaches from Yangshan (阳山) in Wuxi (无锡), to the peach sorbet, and the perilla. So good to have another light and cold dessert to finish up our heavy meal.

The yogurt mousse had some peach jam inside.

2009 Coutet - nose of honey, pineapple, apricot, and saffron.

Finally, a whole spread of petit four and mignardises showed up:

Cherry - the liquid center was made with cloves.

Wagashi (和菓子)

Madeleine

Chocolate

Gummy candy - these are sooooo cute!

I can't believe how small they made them!

Ding shen gao (定胜糕) - a traditional cake popular in this area. The filling was made with jujube, and not too sweet.

I had a couple of reservations about our meal tonight, but overall I found Chef Jay's creations interesting and mostly tasty. There's a fair amount of story-telling, and while that is pretty common these days and appeals to many, my concern is whether food is tasty. In this case, they are. I was grateful for the kind hospitality of Chef Jay and the team, and for the opportunity to visit the location on such a special evening.

We were completely stuffed, and we needed to get back to our hotel. Thankfully the drive back was uneventful, and I got a nice view of town from the safety of my room.