[Shanghai] Dinner at Jean Georges

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Jean Georges

Add: 4/F, Three on the Bund, 17 Guangdong Lu / 广东路17号, 外滩三号4楼
Tel: 6321 7733
Hours: [lunch] 11:30am~2:30pm [dinner] 6:00pm~11:00pm
Website: www.threeonthebund.com
Price: [lunch] 218 RMB+ 10% [dinner] 668~1458 RMB + 10%
Visited: Aug 2012 (visit 2, 3)

At the end of my internship at Jean George’s pastry kitchen, Executive Chef Lam Ming Kin and Pastry Chef Seani Lin very kindly treated me to an extravagant meal at the restaurant. Now am I lucky, or am I lucky?

Kin put together a special tasting menu for me and my dinner companions that evening. It looked similar to the Seasonal Menu (1458 RMB + 10%), but a few dishes have been substituted.

It all started with a glass of Perrier-Jouët…

Sourdough and figs.

Amuse bouche: melon, duck, peach soup, each a delightful bite.

Egg toast and caviar with dill. Now this dish really made me feel quite special because it’s not on the menu – apparently it’s Kin’s secret specialty – and look at how lavishly he piled on the caviar. The egg yolks, slow-cooked in 65°C up to the point where they are still slightly gooey but not liquidy, were also exquisite.

Kingfish Sashimi, Avocado, Yuzu and Radish. Clean, refreshing.

Sauteed Foie Gras, Black Olive, Lychee and Brioche. The foie gras was really, really rich, but the lychee did help a bit with cutting back the grease. Black olive powder on the side was rather interesting – the making of it involved liquid nitrogen, you know, molecular gastronomy, a field that I don’t know much about. It certainly is very fascinating how ingredients can be physically transformed into a completely different form, while maintaining the same intense flavor.

Baked Cod with Mushroom and Miso, Stewed Goldbar Squash, Yuzu and Shiso. Lovely heady aroma, firm texture, very well-balanced flavor. My picture looks horrible, but this was one of our favorite dishes of the evening.

Canadian Lobster, Snap Peas, Potato Gnocchi and Smoked Butter. Smoked butter smelled and tasted absolutely heavenly in complement to the lobster. The only small thing was that the gnocchi were softer than my usual preferred texture.

Grilled Beef Tenderloin, Cherry Mustard, Mustard Green and Crispy Onions. Too full by this point to fully appreciate this dish…

Chocolate Tasting, from the top left: chocolate milkshake with orange yogurt cream, dark chocolate souffle with pistachio ice-cream and sour cherry foam, milk chocolate sorbet with biscotti tuile, and a mini Jean Georges cake with vanilla ice-cream.

Seasonal Tasting, from right: basil salt popcorn with tomato granite, chocolate parfait with orange cream, mango semifreddo with ginger-lime foam, warm almond souffle with berry compote.

I’m not a good judge for these desserts because I’ve tasted so much of them in the kitchen, but I personally really liked the chocolate parfait with orange cream, the warm almond souffle with berry compote, and of course the Jean Georges chocolate Cake. For my dessert plate, Seani pieced together a few items I haven’t tried before, and I particularly loved the tropical fruits with white pepper sorbet and hibiscus foam, a light and refreshing finish to an extravagant meal (this is available on the menu a la carte). The other two desserts are new items that are still being tested, so I will refrain from mentioning their names here.

Fully satisfied and beyond grateful for the special treat, my dinner companions and I wobbled out of Jean Georges in a state of blissful food coma. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work in this restaurant, and to be able to end it on a note like this was just out of my expectation…

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