Asia's European Twist

Some of Europe's top chefs are signing on with luxury hotels in Asian financial centers and serving up French and Italian fare with a local accent.

By Bret Okeson, Adam Majendie and Le-Min Lim
Bloomberg Markets April 2008

TOKYO

Chef Patrice Martineau, a veteran of London's Savoy hotel and New York's Daniel, is creating European dishes accented with Japanese flavors at Peter, a restaurant that opened in September atop Tokyo's Peninsula hotel.

Martineau likes surprising combinations. Try the shredded Hokkaido crab with grapefruit jelly and fennel sauce or the apple and artichoke salad as a starter. Beef brisket from Sendai in northern Japan is slowly cooked in a red wine sauce until it falls apart at the touch of a fork. Roast foie gras, graced with lemon slices, comes with a side of foie gras ice cream.

For dessert, Martineau pairs chocolate fondant with red-bean ice cream and serves cheese soufflé as a house specialty. Tasting menus range from 11,000 yen ($102) to ¥14,000 per person. The wine list is devoted almost exclusively to half-bottles at ¥7,000-¥11,000, catering to those who want to sample different labels during the meal. If you want a full bottle, order ahead.

The restaurant, on the Peninsula's 24th floor, overlooks the Imperial Palace, Hibiya Park and the Marunouchi financial district. Couples can get love seats to sit side by side. Business diners can opt for private rooms. Mellow music, black tables and mirrored columns complete the ambience. - Bret Okeson

Peter, Peninsula Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku, Yurakucho 1-8-1; 81-3-6270-2763; http://tokyo.peninsula.com/ptk/restaurants.html

SINGAPORE

Executive chef Frédéric Colin has been handed the task of keeping diners happy all day at the new St. Regis hotel in Singapore, which opened in December. Its French restaurant, Les Saveurs, switches from gourmet brunch to high tea, to opulent dinners, in a setting complete with custom-designed crockery, high-tech chandeliers and a multicolored fountain playing outside three-story-high windows.

Dinner portions are deliberately small. The restaurant recommends a couple of selections from each course, with dishes such as king crab ravioli beurre blanc au vin jaune among the starters and roasted wild cod Rossini with truffle-and- Madeira sauce for a main. From the dessert menu, which is the same for breakfast, lunch and dinner, try the pineapple tempura with a spice reduction and Sichuan pepper ice cream.

The cellar has more than 1,000 labels, including one bottle of grand cru 1978 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti for 50,600 Singapore dollars (US$35,703). Sommelier Derrick Lim adds monthly tasting selections of vintage wines, such as a recent list of 16 "second labels,1 winemakers' less-expensive offerings, from top Bordeaux houses such as Château Latour and Château Lafite- Rothschild. Diners could sample all of them for S$280.

For a real Lucullan meal, try the nine-course weekend brunch with a free flow of 2000 Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage champagne. While the menu changes every few weeks, recent offerings included crème brûlée foie gras and cauliflower velouté with Baeri caviar. So no one need go away hungry, waiters circulate with trays of oysters, desserts and cheeses. - Adam Majendie

Les Saveurs, St. Regis, 29 Tanglin Road, Singapore; 65-6506-6888; http://www.starwoodhotels.com/stregis

HONG KONG

Aspasia in Hong Kong's Luxe Manor hotel is under the direction of Roland Schuller, one of the city's most respected chefs. To understand why, try the gingerbread-crusted venison steak or the pan-fried foie gras set in a moat of grape-and-vinegar soup.

The restaurant, which opened in December, marks Schuller's return to Hong Kong after a year cooking aboard the Christina O, once the private yacht of Aristotle Onassis, who used it to entertain guests including his two great loves: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Maria Callas. In Hong Kong, Schuller runs a tight ship, checking each dish before it leaves the kitchen, says restaurant manager Kevin Yu. Dinner at a place of like caliber in Hong Kong Island's business district would cost at least 1,200 Hong Kong dollars (US$154) a head. Aspasia, in the Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district, offers a five-course dinner for HK$628.

With oversized leather couches, cat's paw chairs and vanity mirrors, Aspasia is a madcap blend of The Addams Family and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, so eccentric it's bound to cheer even the most jaded guest.

Don't part the curtains, though: Outside is a gritty, neon-lit neighborhood packed with gaunt and grimy buildings pressed shoulder-to-shoulder along narrow streets. The restaurant is tucked a good 10-minute drive away from the main road between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Bring a map. - LeMin Lim

Aspasia, Luxe Manor, 39 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong; 852- 3763-8800; http://www.aspasia.com.hk

Bret Okeson is a restaurant critic in Tokyo for Muse, the Bloomberg News arts and culture section. bokeson@bloomberg.net

Adam Majendie is the Singapore-based editor for Muse. adammajendie@bloomberg.net

Le-Min Lim writes for Muse in Hong Kong. lmlim@bloomberg.net

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