A date with three Michelin-Star chefs at Solaire
Twelve years. Three chefs with eight Michelin stars among them. Nine-course meals in three fine dining restaurants. Solaire Resort in Entertainment City is celebrating its dozen-year anniversary in grand gastronomic style.
Chef Jun Yukimura, three Michelin Star chef/owner of Azabi Yukimura in Tokyo; Sun Kim, two Michelin Star chef/owner of Meta Restaurant in Singapore; and Heinz Beck, three Michelin Star executive chef of La Pergola in Rome, will all showcase the best of their culinary creations at Solaire during its anniversary celebration this month.
If the nine-course lunch prepared by chef Yukimura in Yakumi was any indication, diners will be in for a memorable gastronomic experience. The amuse-bouche of uni (sea urchin) was just the beginning. Harvested from the pristine waters of Hokkaido, the uni was a vibrant, yellow-orange color. Served in its spiky shell, its velvety smooth and delicate texture whispered of the sea from whence it came, suggesting a hint of sweetness. Nonchalantly, as if it were part of its DNA, the topping of caviar beads provided a sharp contrast in texture and flavor.
As the meal unfolded, chef Yukimura’s philosophy became more apparent. His was a guiding force of simplicity, freshness and harmony in contrasts. There were no bold statements, no dramatic intrusions. Instead, as in the imagery of a haiku, everything was subtle, suggestive, or inferred, leaving much left to one’s interpretation.
The cold soba noodles, for instance, were buried beneath shavings of bottarga, which had been extracted from cured fish roe. Its saltiness was a juxtaposition to the subtle flavor of the soba.
Next was the duo of flounder sashimi and Japanese cockle all dressed up in mounds of daikon cress. Similar to micro greens, the daikon’s slightly bitter taste puts a sharp accent to the raw translucent sashimi.
The pike conger—a variety of eel that grows in Pacific waters—was almost unrecognizable beneath the fine strips of greens. Like the flounder, it was an understatement in flavor. Apparently, chef Yukimura didn’t want to intrude into the intrinsic quality of this sea creature. Let it speak for itself, he seemed to be saying. And it did.
Meanwhile, the expressive sounds of the koto, a 13-string Japanese musical instrument, provided a melodious soundtrack as exquisite as the meal. Outdoors, visible from the glass windows, trees swayed to the rhythm of a gentle breeze, even as the waters of Manila Bay shimmered in the summer sunlight.
I was enjoying the serenity of it all when a more complex arrangement arrived: a tableau of snow crabs, Australian lamb chops (or in one case, hamachi fillet) and granules of sancho pepper. A creative arrangement of fresh leaves, broad beans, egg omelet and caramelized walnuts harked back to the chef’s Japanese artistry. Robust in flavor, the lamb chops yielded tenderly on the palate. Leaning against it was a sweet, crisp lotus wafer. Meanwhile, in what was once its shell, a snow crab lay alongside a cucumber fanned out like an origami, beside which was a spoonful of mashed ginger, in which the snow crab had been lightly seasoned.
But the highlight of the meal was yet to come: A5 Wagyu beef, cooked shabu-shabu style. We watched as the staff neatly apportioned thinly sliced Wagyu beef beside pots of simmering broth. Yukimura dipped each mound of beef into the broth, then deftly transferred them with long chopsticks into bowls, where assistants had already spooned in some creamy sesame dressing.
A5 is the highest grade of Wagyu beef and is defined by the generous marbling of fat woven across the meat. At the slightest bite, the beef dissolved into a rich buttery indulgence, making it both sinful and heavenly, delicate and juicy. There was finesse in its fatness, a refinement imbued on the meat by years of dedicated and gentle breeding.
As if in conclusion, steamed rice with green peas was offered to balance the richness of the beef.
In keeping with the mood of the meal, dessert was straightforward: a scoop of icy pineapple sorbet that was frothy and refreshing.
On the menu card given each diner, chef Yukimura had affixed his signature. That autograph may be valuable later on, someone remarked. To us, it is valuable now, as a symbol of a brilliant chef’s poetic imagery made marvelously edible.
