Flavours of the Mediterranean
By Laurence Civil
This culinary style has been influenced by the region comprising of the 20 states that border the Mediterranean Sea; it is both diverse and flexible. Within that style there are three culinary regions that make up the Mediterranean culinary triangle; North African (especially Morocco), Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey), and Southern European (Italy, France, Spain).
Today it is fortunate that Mediterranean cuisine meets the current trend for lighter, healthier food but it was born from the ingredients its rugged terrain produces. There are no lush meadows so it is not a region that can raise beef. Rather, there are arid rugged hills that can support sheep or goats and as they are generally eaten young, the meat has very little fat. The sea provides a bountiful supply of fish plus seafood whereas the rest of their diet is fruits, vegetables, bread, potatoes and beans. The landscape is ideal for olive groves so the oil from its crushed fruit is their monosaturated fat source, used for flavouring, and rape seed oil is used for cooking.
Mediterranean cuisine has five basic cooking techniques, olive oil and garlic for basting plus marinades; the use of fresh vegetables; blending of herbs to be used naturally or as a paste for flavouring along with the use of fruits as well as nuts. Their sauces have two distinct styles; the classic French using a stock as their base or an olive oil base thickened with bread crumbs and crushed nuts.
The raw ingredients used in the Mediterranean kitchen are grown at home and in community gardens, used only when in season. Even whilst preparing dishes with store bought vegetables, the great mixture of foods are natural and wholesome. This is a pleasant survival cuisine that has recently become very fashionable; it is the latest western food trend.
Mistral
A contemporary Mediterranean restaurant with a combination of buffet items and those prepared à la minute in their open kitchen. They are eager to explore the culinary opportunities of the entire region with dishes from Greece, Morocco, Lebanon and Spain to add on to their dining experience.
Shy to suggest a signature dish, they prefer to be able to surprise and excite their customers based on what is available in the market on any given day.
The Royal Projects in Chiang Mai is now able to supply them with local ingredients that a few years would have had to have been imported. Their kitchen team is always striving to find the right product, balancing quality with cost. Items such as snow fish still have to be imported.
Having found the right product, they realize that a dish cooked using the same recipe will have a different taste depending on the origin of the product. For example, a bouillabaisse made with fish from the warm tropical water of the Gulf of Thailand will taste different to those caught in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Marseille. There is no substitute for cold water fish, however, they are doing the best of what is locally available.
The Royal Projects in Chiang Mai is now able to supply them with local ingredients that a few years would have had to have been imported. Their kitchen team is always striving to find the right product, balancing quality with cost. Items such as snow fish still have to be imported.
To demonstrate their style of Mediterranean cuisine their first dish presented was a combination of Grilled prawns and sea bass served amid bell pepper, onion and tomato stew garnished with a sprig of thyme. The taste was contemporary, lean plus light and healthy.
This was followed by a Trio of succulent lamb brochette served with a salad of lettuce, quartered cherry tomatoes and black olives with vinaigrette. This is honest quality, every day Mediterranean style cuisine with a great taste.
What makes Mistral dissimilar is that they focus on the culinary diversity of the Mediterranean region as a whole and do not solely focus on southern European dishes.
Cy’an
The restaurant has a minimalist design, bright with charcoal grey tables and seat coverings contrasting with the bright turquoise blue of the bar. The music is more cutting edge than the lullaby jazz found elsewhere, but it is to sound that sets the tone boldly stating the restaurants’ identity.
In charge of the kitchen is Executive Chef Daniel Moran from Sydney who has been with The Metropolitan since the hotel opened in 2003. Both he and the Group’s Executive Chef Amanda Gale are protégés of Neil Perry, Australian Master of Rockpool fame and Consultant Chef to Qantas Airlines for their First and Business Class menus, who has influenced their cooking style. Danny’s food is the ‘Cuisine of the Sun’, best explained as Mediterranean inspired including some Moorish influences with a strong seafood emphasis combined with subtle accents of Eastern spicing and exquisite non-conformist food presentation. To cater for the local palate he does have Thai and Japanese influence on his menu. The Cy’an tasting menu follows a classic traditional French dining sequence of seafood, soup, salad, foie gras, fish, meat, cheese and dessert. To start Sashimi of black kingfish, avocado, citrus caviar and peppery herbs which is Mediterranean food presented Japanese style. The Barron Point oyster in vodka tempura arrives at the table as a single item in a bowl and once in front of the guest, the sea vegetable broth is poured in to make it look like a sophisticated wonton soup. It is contemporary but remains a European inspiration with Asian presentation, Mediterranean inspired with reluctance to geographical limitations.
His Salad of raw & cooked vegetables with sprouts and green has all the basic freshness expected in Provence, yet with his own twist. He serves one thick cut of foie gras with hazelnut crust; the thin crunchy seal holds the soft flesh within.
The fish course was a Fillet of harpuka, a deepwater Australian fish similar to cod that holds its shape and texture while being cooked. This has been prepared in spiced yoghurt with braised eggplant salad and chermoula (a marinade made of herbs, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt used in Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian cooking).
The meat course presented a perfectly cooked Blackened wagyu beef sirloin with piquillo peppers, garlic puree and grilled tomato jus. The size of the cut was perfect for a mutli-course tasting menu.
Next, Coulommiers au Lait Cru, is an Artisanal premium cheese from the Brie family although slightly thicker and firmer. The colour is that of freshly churned butter, the flavour of soft mushroom plus a hint of sweet almonds in winter and a hint of chives in spring.
To conclude our Mediterranean experience, Strawberries in hibiscus syrup and the perfect tasting Caramel custard tart with reduced milk ice cream.
Le Beaulieu
Herve’s culinary influence comes from Marseilles, the heart of the French Mediterranean. From the age of 12 years, he started to learn his art in the kitchen alongside his parents before moving to study classical French cuisine in Paris, the solid rock foundation for his future culinary career. For one year of National Service, he was the personal chef for French president Francois Mitterand.
The art of dining Herve presents is based on the total experience. It is the location, atmosphere, preparation, delivery, service and the cuisine. When you dine at Le Beaulieu you are not just another customer, rather you are treated as you were a personal guest invited to sample this contemporary French cuisine that is a complete reflection of this culinary master Herve.
Herve came and sat with us and chatted amidst a glass of white wine to get a feel for my dining companions’ preference before going into the kitchen to cook for what he felt best represented his style of Mediterranean cuisine.
We started with an Artichoke soup with a white truffle foam made using Herve’s prized high tech culinary toy, Pacojet that splits food particles to microscopic size that maximizes the ingredients natural flavours. The texture of the soup was deliciously smooth with assertive yet balanced flavours.
Next, fresh Japanese scallops from Haikado with sea urchins on a bed of smooth celeriac puree. Each mouthful had a tantalizing experience delivered with subtle sophistication.
For the main course, a Fillet of Atlantic Cod on a bed of Salicone, an edible seafood often called the spaghetti of the sea. The dish included caper flowers, fish stock, sun dried tomatoes, fresh chervil, black olives and Guerande sea salt that contains less sodium chloride than processed salts. The fish was soft yet flakey and had deliciously balanced tastes.
“I am reducing the amount of red meat on my menu and increasing the fresh imported fish items”, says Herve. I agree that they are more expensive than some local products but I do not compromise on quality. For us, the philosophy is “we cannot afford to buy the best”. I have been working very closely with HSH Prince Bisadej Rajani of The Royal Projects to use as many of their ingredients, especially fruits and vegetables as possible”.
To finish the meal, a Mango & passion fruit cappuccino.
Herve’s Mediterranean cuisine is French Provencal, dishes from the regions bordering the sea in the south, with Spain on one side and Italy the other.
Aldo’s
Before taking up on this position two years ago, Executive Chef Olivier Castella was working for 12 years as the private chef of a wealthy German businessman. He was based half of the year in Monte Carlo and the other half of the time in Bangkok. His employer was passionate about the best food available but had a cholesterol issue so Olivier would be sent to the finest restaurants in Provence to discover the latest trends of fine dining that suited his dietary needs. This experience allowed Olivier to learn about the best of Mediterranean cuisine from some the finest chefs.
“Mediterranean cuisine is really a simple style of cooking. Just using the best of what is fresh, in season and locally grown”.
The meal started with Pissaladiere, a basic form of onion pizza that is available from food stalls all over the South of France. Olivier slowly cooked the onions in olive oil until he has extracted their natural sugar to caramelize them. He then coats his pizza dough with half of its thickness of caramelized onions and bakes in the oven.
His salad is an amalgamation of elements from the Middle East and the North African states that were former French Colonies. It is a combination of cous cous, a special granular pasta originating in North Africa mixed with Taboulli, an Arabic salad of bulgar wheat, finely chopped parsley, mint, spring onions, lemon juice and olive oil. This is a very refreshing salad that originates in Lebanon, a city once called the Paris of the East. “I don’t have this dish on our regular menu”, says Olivier “as the Thai customers do not like the taste but I do have it from time to time on my evening special menu to gage how customers are starting to accept it”.
The fish soup of Provence is made from what is left of the fish after he has filleted them, slowly cooked to produce a thick reduced broth. Traditionally it is served with rouille, the mayonnaise of Provence made with olive oil, breadcrumbs, garlic saffron and chilli powder to give the brown red colour from where it gets its name that means rust. This cream paste is served on a crouton of toasted French bread.
For the main course he serves Coq au Vin, a fricassee of roaster. Ideally this dish should be made with an older male bird from Bresse as it has a lot of connective tissue that creates a richer broth, cooked with lardoons, mushroom and garlic in a wine from Burgundy. The meat was deliciously soft and Olivier had served it with Potato Dauphinoise, possibly the best way to cook the vegetable.
For cheese before dessert, he serves a selection of Artisan cheese that he is passionate about. “All my cheese is made from unpasturised milk”, he says “for me anything made from pasturised milk, is not cheese as it is not something living”.
Finally for dessert, a selection of three dishes was presented of which the Sablé impressed me most. Made in layers similar to mielle feuille but using wafer thin biscuits. Olivier had served us a beautiful meal amid elements of the three regions of the Mediterranean.
Jester’s
The food style at Jester’s is evolving towards the Mediterranean and to make it happen they have recently appointed Nicola van Heemsbergen as the new chef. “We are looking to bring the distinct cuisine of the Mediterranean to Jesters by combining flavours from South of France, Italy, Spain as well as Morocco, in creating a new plus more pleasurable dining experience for our guests”, he says.
Nicolas has worked with renowned chefs such Roger Verge at L’Amandier de Mougins and Jean-Louis Nomicos at La Grande Cascade in Paris who inspired him to cook only the best.
Heemsbergen believes that fresh and seasonal ingredients are the heart of good cuisine. “My food is straightforward and as simple as it can be. Guests should be comfortable to enjoy new flavours that come with innovative presentations. I believe that great taste depends on the best ingredients I can source on that particular day” he adds.
To start the meal Saneh Prakosub, Jester’s charming restaurant manager insisted on serving me the Pen Ten cocktail; Belvedre Vodka, Australian Chardonnay and crushed ice, especially created to celebrate the hotel’s 10th Anniversary this year. It was served with veggie crisps, thinly sliced fried vegetables. I started with Chef Nicola’s Pate en croute, a slice of a delicious selection of pate baked in a pastry crust that had a pleasingly light texture. He suggested I try the ‘Collection Nicola’ five course menu.
His Globe artichoke velout had a perfect taste in which there was a goat cheese ravioli, most similar to a Mediterranean vegetarian version of a won ton soup, though the ravioli was soft rather than crisp.
The fish course was Pan seared John Dory perfectly cooked with the skin still attached served with a green zucchini emulsion. The main course was the classic dish Pigeon “Ande Malraux” originally created at Restaurant Lasserre in Paris where Nicola had worked with Jean-Louis Nomicos. The dish was created to outdo Le Grand Véfour with their Pigeon Prince Rainier. He is using birds from Bresse in the Southwest of France near Lyon which is famous for its poultry due to their unique flavour and texture, this is culinary excellence
Finally for dessert, Grand Marnier soufflé filled with orange confit bitter chocolate sorbet and a small sabayon on the side.
This dining experience is an example of the best the Mediterranean has to offer.
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