Jiang Nan Chun...old favourite

Hotel cuisine can be extremely good, or rather passe. This is an example of one which is very good. Suffice it to say that all dishes were very good, and a few outstanding.This was a banquet, recently organized by The Hour Glass and Moser (a very unique watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland).

The starter is a two piece combination of a prawn in a mango sauce and a pancake of roasted duck.



The prawn was fresh, of course...crunchy, and the rich mango sauce complemented it very well. The duck pancake reminded me of Peking Duck, but the within there was a crispy bean curd, and instead of a piece of crisp duck with skin, the duck was roasted nicely, with a great aroma, but I did not detect the crisp skin. Nice nonetheless.

The soup was a di regeur of a shark's fin soup with conpoy and shreded chicken.



This dish was not exceptional, but was deftly prepared by the chef, and tasted good.

We next had the fish, which I declared a total winner



This is a baked cod in a miso sauce. The fish was superbly fresh, cooked just right...and the sauce, as we already know from other samplings elsewhere, goes very well and plays accompaniment to the fish...allowing the fish to shine, but complementing always.

The braised pork ribs were next:



This was again quite normal. I found the pork to be a bit too fat. And the lean parts of the meat not as tender as I would have liked. The mantou was excellent...good flavour, soft and moist within with a nice crisp crust.

The rice was next



Quite nicely fried. No oily texture. The rice was beautifully fragrant. Bits of prawn and scallop liberally found within. The addition of chilli padi lifted the dish for me.

And finally the dessert...a bit avant garde...



Chilled mango sago with lemongrass jelly...nicely finishing the meal.

Definitely worth revisits, with some outstanding dishes, and some good, but not spectacular ones.



Jiang Nan Chun
Four Seasons Hotel
Singapore