Intermezzo - Fascinating Fusion

It is rather difficult not to look into the Intermezzo Restaurant as you walk by it — fronted by clear glass planes, the restaurant lays itself open for gazing. One sees the lounge area with dark brown plush armchairs beckoning oneself and a well stocked bar offering comfort.

The next day being a working Tuesday, my dining companions and I did not spend much time at the lounge cum bar — a real shame since Intermezzo’s wine list was extensive, with mainly New World wines on offer (displayed in a rather impressive refrigerator showcase).

Rather regrettably, we moved quickly to the dining room. The cover of the menu says simply ‘Asia-Pacific Cuisine’. We soon learnt that this meant a narrower definition of fusion food — at Intermezzo, it refers to a blend of Chinese ingredients, Western cooking methods and Japanese presentation (as opposed to the usual ‘East meets West and everything goes’ variety). And ‘Intermezzo’? This refers to the movement of music connecting major sections of a musical work. The musical theme plays on in the menu.

From the ‘Overture’ (the starters), we selected Smoked Snow Fish, Salmon and Mackerel, Broiled Hotate on Daikon and Unagi Triangles. The first dish was a selection of generous and daintily presented slices of these types of fish. The snow fish, which none of us had tried before, was firm and had a delicate nutty flavour. The mackerel was moist and tasted of hickory. The smoked salmon was firm and tasty. The hotate turned out to be scallops broiled in a piquant sauce which we could not identify — however, we enjoyed the scallops which were simply broiled and went well with the sauce. The unagi triangles were really a sliced roulade of sweet marinated eel encasing a filling of creamy potato. This dish really shouted ‘fusion’ and was an interesting mix of textures and flavours.

From the ‘Overture’, we moved on to the ‘ Prelude’ (mainly soups, but it also features a tempting shark’s fin ‘chawanmushi’). We decided to share a herbal mushroom broth with medallions of gindara. The broth was clear and robust — the taste of ‘tong kwai’ was strong but very agreeable. The fine slices of gindara (cod) had a delicate flavour and was exceedingly fresh.

Following the soup, we were treated to a little drama. The ‘Intermezzo’ — the connection between the prelude and main courses — came in the form of a dainty Chinese teapot sprouting fumes of dry ice, with the inverted teapot lid cradling a dessert spoonful of lime sorbet. The sorbet was tangy and left a strong aftertaste of kumkuats. It certainly cleansed the palate of any lingering aftertaste of tong kwai.

The main courses came swiftly. The main courses on the menu are divided under ‘Concerto 1’ and ‘Concerto 2’. The first ‘Concerto’ group contains the fish and seafood dishes whilst the second contains the meat dishes. We had four dishes from the ‘Concertos’: the Venison Chinois, Char Siew Rack of Lamb, Duck Breast with Goose Liver Puff and Wok-Charred Salmon.

The venison was served with a potato rosti pancake topped with grapes which had been marinated in some form of liquor and lightly fried in batter. The deep red sauce which accompanied the venison turned out to be the unadulterated juice of wolfberries. The wolfberry is better known in Chinese as ‘kei zhi’ — the little red teardrop-shaped dried fruit commonly found in Chinese herbal soups. We found the sauce somewhat too sweet for our liking and were surprised to learn that the sweetness was all natural, from the wolfberry itself with no added sugar. Overall, the venison won our vote for being supremely tender.

The rack of lamb was served with a puff of pastry and asparagus. The lamb was also tender and the char siew flavour subtle. It was, we thought, a rather innovative way of cooking lamb.

The duck breast was served with goose liver in puff pastry. The texture of the duck breast was firm and had a smoky flavour. It was served with a honey sauce that went well with the duck. The goose liver in the puff pastry was slightly disappointing and the puff pastry was a little too oily.

The dish that impressed us most was the salmon. We had wondered about the quality of the dish upon noticing that the table of eight next to us had all ordered it. It came served with a slice of sun dried crisp salmon skin and sat in a soya butter sauce. The salmon was beautifully seared on the outside, encasing a tender pink interior. The salmon scored for its freshness and its crispy skin provided a good contrast of texture. The soya butter sauce lent just enough richness to the fish without being cloying or overpowering.

To accompany the main courses, we were recommended the William potato. It was a sight to behold: whipped potato moulded into a perfect pear shape and beautifully fried. As we cut into the ‘pear’, a creamy sauce oozed out. It was delicious.

Well stuffed, we nonetheless decided that we had to sit through the ‘Grand Finale’ which was, of course, the dessert.

During the main course, we had ordered the Apple Tart, having been warned that it would take twenty minutes to prepare. The Apple Tart would have been worth the wait even if one had not pre-ordered it — thin slices of apple ringed paper thin puff pastry, baked to perfection and served with ice-cream and a delightful toffee sauce. The Hashima with Seasonal Berries was served in a cocktail glass rimmed in sugar. It was the lightest of the desserts we had and it was refreshing although the strawberry and blueberry did not complement the subtlety of the hashima very well. The Jack Fruit Fritters with Marscarpone was a pleasant surprise. The fritters were fried and drained well and the marscarpone, in place of the more usual ice-cream, provided a good balance to the sweetness of the jackfruit. We finally came to a rest with a Triple Chocolate Mousse. The mousse was served in the form of square layers of milk and white chocolate mousse, sitting on a crunchy bran-based biscuit. It was accompanied by a delicious tangy orange sauce which complemented the chocolate exceedingly well.

We were, to state the obvious, too stuffed by the end of the evening for coffee. We did, however, have time to consider, before leaving, the quality of the restaurant’s service: it was attentive but not obtrusive. A left-hander in our group was pleased to note that between the Overture and the Prelude, a member of staff had, without us noticing, adjusted her cutlery accordingly.

All in, we had a very enjoyable evening at a restaurant with good food, where freshness is a priority and the chef clearly unafraid to experiment.

Vicky Yap
Lee & Lee