When I asked several people who eat out frequently and whom I consider to have more than a passing interest in food, what they understood by the term “fine dining”, I received very different replies. “Expensive” and “overpriced” were common responses; “tablecloths” and “fancy tableware” were others. What about the food itself? That evoked mixed responses. In the old days, you knew it was fine dining when there was caviar, lobster or truffle on the menu or if the ingredient was imported or if the recipe required a high level of culinary skill like a soufflé. Most of the preparations claimed to be French or thereabouts and the portion sizes were miniscule implying that you were expected to order several courses. And you had to dress up. In fact many establishments even specified a dress code.
Today, expensive or up market restaurants are distinguishable not by the starched tablecloths, snooty waiters and French sounding dishes but by the menu itself and the “experience”. Caviar and truffles serve only to garnish or accentuate. What seems to stir people today is exotic ingredients and flavour – full flavours – and that means Asian recipes with aromatics like kaffir lime leaf and galangal and strong spices like wasabi and star anise and anything Japanese sounding rules the roost. The etiquette of 3 or 4 defined courses ordered for yourself and paired with wines has been dropped in favour of a more casual style of service, sharing dishes and experimenting with Asian inspired cocktails. One trend I think is here to stay in the new “fine dining” brigade is “provenance”. Where our food comes from is important to us; unusual mushrooms from far-away places, a large ugly faced fish weighing sometimes 400 lbs, found in the depths of the Patagonian waters called Chilean sea bass, chocolate of a particular darkness defined in terms of percentage from one single estate, wagyu beef, graded and marbled with the right amount of fat from a particular district in Japan. The list is endless. It is all about taste and source but it is also about trend.
In the 70’s, Europe witnessed a trend know as ‘nouvelle cuisine’. This was a term to describe the cooking of legendary French chefs like Paul Bocuse, Roger Vergé and so on, which was a reaction to the classical, stuffy, orthodox style of traditional cooking. They replaced heavy, flour thickened sauces with light ones and cooking times were reduced to preserve the natural flavours of the food. The result was a new simple cuisine which was both elegant, light with an emphasis on presentation. There were many jokes about Nouvelle cuisine for at least a decade after that: people complained about the small portions – the famous joke doing the circuit at the time “waiter, waiter, I’ve ordered steak and I can’t find it on my plate. Waiter – move the pea over and you’ll find it underneath”…and the fact that the food was always under cooked and over-priced. Looking back, what emerged was a whole new way of looking at food. Food moved into the world of artistry and theatre and this trend I now see creeping into Asian food too.
So where is all this going…to dinner at Dashanzi, the new “Nouvelle Asian” restaurant at the JW Marriott in Juhu, Mumbai. It is described as “progressive Asian cuisine” and I must admit I found that misleading. I half expected the foams, froths and pretensions of molecular gastronomy at its worse. Happy to say – none of that nonsense here. It’s straightforward great quality sushi and sashimi sourced directly from Japan, Cantonese dumplings, innovative little small plates and one dish main courses which you can choose to share or not. And expect a theatrical finale. Start with a spectacular cocktail – the Asian inspired G&T is a good way forward – Jasmine tea infused gin with honey and tonic (remember the old Gin bar at Arola which was here before? Well, it’s still here). There’s also a Bloody Miyagi where wasbai replaces tobasco, an Oolong fizz and a delicious Dashanzi sour with home-made lemon grass syrup, egg white and gin. I love Japanese food. The sushi sashimi platter with 10 pieces can be customised (for example I don’t like mackrel but I love sweet prawns and smoked eel). For those who want to experience sushi without the “raw” tag, try the California rolls and tempura soft shell crab maki rolls. Everything is perfectly fresh and perfectly presented on dry ice which makes quite an entrance. So do the tempura – big, bold and sassy, JW Marriott style. I was stunned by the dumpling presentation. Really, what can you do to make a dumpling look more appetising? Well, they do. They play around with shapes and colours and garnishes. The vegetarian ones especially are extraordinarily creative: mushroom and kaffir lime pesto, shitake and lotus root, edamame and truffle). In the mains, you must try the miso smeared silver cod (an ode to the black cod by Nobu but actually lighter than his) and the infamous sea bass from Chile. It flakes like a dream and truly deserves its exalted reputation. If you are conservative about trying unchartered waters, fear not, they have lots of familiar sounding dishes like Penang curry, stir fried aubergine in hot bean sauce (used to be Golden Dragon favourite if I remember?), lamb in malak sauce and a toned down version of chicken rendang….and of course more for the theatre than the taste alone …you must experience the frozen chocolate balloon. Its theatre on the table, forget the plate. It’s off the wall, round the bend magic- an explosion of taste, colour and texture created on your table by a chef. Splashes of creams and purées and deliciousness. This is why we take the trouble of getting dolled up and coming to a five star restaurant. If the glamour and glitz of eating well has moved away from French dining and European etiquette to Asian razzamataz, so be it.
