53: Boarding 4 Seasons

Thanks for the free dinner, Mr Tay Boon & Mr Patrick Daya. *ahem*

Anyway, yesterday I was called in to do coverage of an event organized by the Diploma in Hotel Management (DH) and Diploma in Culinary Arts (DC) Batch 26 students in Taylor's College School of Hospitality & Tourism. Across the table: really great job guys!

Titled 4 Seasons, this food promotion simulates a first class airliner, with food, well dressed cabin crew, and even some in-flight airplane chimes to boot (*ding ding ding* "This is your captain speaking...").

Simulating an sounds like a pretty tough job already, but with a FIVE course menu, decoration and table settings based around the 4 Seasons (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring) the DH and DC students will have something to boast about for a long time to come.

But, enough with the chatter. On with the pictures.

The restaurant was split into 4 section, with each section having their very own theme according to the 4 seasons.


First we have the setting for Spring.

Then Autumn.

Followed by Winter.

Sadly, I could not get (my excuse for forgetting) a shot of the Summer table. Rest assured. I have one of the table's centerpiece.

Summer = Fun in the sun = Beaches. Geddit?

A nice touch to the whole thing is that each seat had their little door gift. A mini-pouch with sweets. The smaller things in life are those that really count, yeah?

If anyone is reading this, I left my door gift behind :'(

Another nice touch to each table is the mocktails! Each section AGAIN gets their own complimentary mocktail themed on the seasons.

For Summer, Tropical Blush!

Tropical Blush is a blend of mango juice, pink guava juice, longan, grenadine syrup and soda. On a personal note, I thought it was one of the best, really. My only regret is not whacking the cherry. I'm a sucker for those things.

Then there was the Autumn mocktail; August Fall, a blend of mint leaves, soda mango juice and orange juice. (Okay, so I was blind tasting this. Someone care to correct me?)

Only 2 more mocktails to go, and I saved the most peculiar (tasting) one for last.

The best decorated one was probably Winter, with Frostbite Winter.

This one is ice blended, so there's something akin to a blue iceberg floating in there. The sides of the glass are decorated with sugar snow (or what 5 year olds call "cotton candy" haha) and the drink is made up of a nata de coco, blue soda and ice-cream soda mix.

Last but not least was the Spring mocktail, who's name eludes me (I need more corrections! Gah! Also present: bad grammar on my part. Huzzah)

This peculiar tasting one has nata de coco, green guava juice and cucumber. Peculiar, but refreshing. Especially the cucumber in this hazy period. Yes, blame my mother for passing down her über health-consciousness to me.

Anyway, the dinner began with much applause after a message from the pilot and even air stewardesses which came out to describe which cutlery is for which course, a la "the life jacket is under the seat" or "air masks will drop during turbulence" mime style.

I managed to sneak a peek of the DC students preparing the appetizer in the kitchen.

Not to long after that, the "air line" crew came out with the food... And their own theme music.

Coquille Salad: seared scallops on a bed of alfalfa and swiss brown mushroom sautéed with garlic with a little drizzle of balsamic reduction, served with a side of salad in a savoury tuile basket, dressed with lemon juice. This dish represents Autumn.

Phew. That was a mouthful.

Anyway, the dish is served cold, but it was fresh, especially the scallops. Copious amounts of garlic was probably used, because of the after effect (one: garlic breath). Tuile was something new to me. A cross between an almost soggy prawn cracker (minus the prawn) and a crêpe which ended up too thick, the tuile actually melts in ones mouth and was sweet! Score!

Next up is the Bettrave Soup.

A creamy and thick beetroot (did you know that beetroot is an excellent anti-oxidant? What? Alright, I'll shut up now) soup, topped with a blob of cream and a beetroot compote. This was my first time with beetroot also, and I had to admit, it was pretty good, although it tasted a little like corn. Curious. Anyway, this dish represents Summer.

Before the next course, I made myself scarce once again and entered the kitchen.

Here, I caught the chefs preparing the Sakura Bloom.

Looks good, amirite?

Not too long after that, the crew served it.

The sakura Bloom is actually a red snapper tempura and fennel salad with a (copious) drizzle Japanese soy dressing. I for one, like fish and seafood, so this was a bonus. The only downside is that the soy seeped into the light tempura batter too quickly. Once again, very fresh, so that was okay :D The fennel was crunchy too. A nice complement of textures. This dish represents spring. You know, when the Sakura blooms?

Suddenly, in-flight entertainment appeared halfway through the dish.

Sizzling dancers! Must be something to do with spring, yeah? Anyway, I think everyone was too busy watching to think, "how did they get on a plane?". Lame jokes aside, notice the mini head on one of them? A very jealous person across from me (name omitted :P) thought it was un-airline-ish. Well, let them have some fun, yeah?

Once they left, the main course was served.

The star of the night.

A dish bearing a simillar name as the whole even itself...

The Fusion Four Seasons! A lamb cutlet served with cranberry compote & lamb jus risotto with sauteed spinach; an epitome of the 4 seasons.

The lamb was well seasoned and tender, and the risotto was pretty al dente but creamy. Nice, really. I can actually hear John's disbelief of me relating the word "nice" to the food from all the way over here. Har har.

During an intermission, as sudden as the flying Fist of the North Star; THEY appeared!

*dun dun dun*

After a romp with The Pussycat Dolls music, and even MJ's "Thriller" the crowd was left in stitches. Of course, their real reason up there was revealed soon enough: a lucky draw! (Of course, Carol and I were not entitled, since we was mooching the food for free *sheds a tear*)

From left to right: Hawaii Girl, Geisha, Santa's Naughty Helper and the Greek Goddess. *muffled laughter*

One of the lucky winners was this sporting chap, who I caught in action.

After all of that, the cabin crew called out all the chefs.

Pose of the group photo guys. Also, scattered behind are all the cabin crew. Sorry guys!

After a few minutes of pictures, the em cee suddenly announced that dessert will be served soon. And just like that, the cattle prods and whips were taken out, and the poor chefs were rushed back into the kitchen to slave for everyone's enjoyment.

And slave they did.

Just look at this beautiful thing!

Noix Glace, although bearing a very French name, was very local, I can assure you. The dessert is a coconut mousse with screw pine jelly & azuki beans & Melaka sugar. One the side is a stick of dark chocolate (I was wondering whether it was A Pocky stick or a Cinnamon stick when it first came out) and a honeycomb on a screw pine leaf (pandan leaf). This dish represents winter.

For all of you who are wondering, screw pines are from the family Pandanus, a.k.a. Pandan! Put two and two together, and magically, screw pine jelly means those little green "worms" you find in your cendol. Azuki beans (which is Japanese) on the other hand means red beans.

It could have been an excellent way to end the dinner, actually. But my only peeve is that it was really sweet. Gula Melaka, a honey comb, and a stick of chocolate? On the other hand, its creative design with local ingredients won merits in my book. Job well done.

Overall, the dinner was fantastic. Kudos to all the groups involved in making this happen, even though they only had around a month or so to plan and execute this gargantuan task. Kudos guys, I'm looking forward to things like this again!