FOOD NEWS
All meals at Aziamendi88 begin with a picnic of anchovy mille fueille, caviar-topped corn toast and mojito bon-bons.
It begins – in typical Alice in Wonderland fashion – with a picnic in a “garden,” or rather, an antechamber that was recreated to resemble a garden. Perched on a tree trunk beside a tangle of willows is a basket, its lid cracked opened to reveal a trio of nibbles: caviar-and-sea-urchin-topped charcoal-coloured corn toast; anchovy mille-feuille embellished with pink “butterfly” petals; and jade-green bon-bons filled with mojito.
Go on, it seems to say, eat us.
You pick one of the spheres and pop it into your mouth, whole. It explodes upon contact, drenching your tongue in a refreshing blast of cocktail.
Next, you’re marched to your table, where bonsai trees bearing plump cherry tomatoes and edible tree barks made from brown savoury crackers await, like a scene straight out of Willy Wonka. You’re encouraged to pick the tomatoes off the branches and eat them, and you do so, unleashing another mouthful of fireworks, this time tinged with flavours of raspberry and lemon.
Surprise, surprise.
What a fitting welcome to Eneko Atxa’s world, where rules are broken and reality as you know it is distorted. The brains behind the highly feted Bilbao-based restaurant Azurmendi, Atxa was in KL for the launch of his pop-up restaurant at Mandarin Oriental. At Aziamendi88, Malaysian diners get to embark on a delectable journey through his subconscious. It is the subconscious of an artist, a wizard, a scientist, a thinker, an anarchist and, most of all, a stage performer.
Expectations have been high ever since Atxa was crowned Spain’s youngest triple-Michelin-starred chef at 35, three years ago. Despite having to bear the weight of this colossal title, he remains creatively unencumbered and quietly confident in the kitchen, an enfant terrible of the Basque culinary world, thrilling a captive audience by deconstructing traditional Basque recipes using a combination of science and imagination. In this feverish realm of haute gastronomy, where the pursuit of the next transcendent culinary experience is the sole mission of many diners, Atxa makes his mark by employing a vast range of techniques and ingredients to manipulate the human emotion.
The eight-course meal at Aziamendi88 is not short on wonders. The Truffled Egg, one of Atxa’s most famous dishes, comes cruising to the table wobbling on a spoon and crowned with tiny slivers of truffles. One-half egg yolk and one-half hot truffle consommé, this miniscule dish is made to be consumed in a single mouthful so you can fully savour its rich, earthy flavour.
Slow and steady does it. The brains behind it all, chef Eneko Atxa puts the final touches to his dishes in the kitchen.
Messy yet oh so worth the pain, Foie Gras Ashes is a sublime dish that turns foie gras into something incredibly sublime yet unrecognisable.
Another signature of Atxa’s, The Garden is a stunning culinary sculpture of a vegetable patch in miniature (see top image). Fully edible, with a colourful variety of springtime vegetables sprouting from dehydrated black beetroot soil infused with tangy tomato emulsion, the dish perfectly encapsulates the sense of playfulness that underscores Atxa’s best, most ethereal creations.
In Foie Gras Ashes, the fistful of soot balancing precariously on a piece of driftwood is actually a scatter of smoky goose liver that’s blackened by salt and pepper. Light and creamy, messy yet oh-so-worth-it, the fine flakes of foie vanishes the moment you take a bite, offering your tongue a fleeting glimpse of life’s most hard-to-come-by pleasures.
Throughout dinner, there are moments of quiet contemplation, when diners slip into what-the-heck-am-I-eating mode, and moments of child-like jubilance filled with snorts and giggles. It’s an intriguing social experiment, designed to grab and shake haute cuisine by its over-starched collar.
But make no mistake: Atxa is no Adria or Blumenthal although his work echoes a similar ethos. Chemistry and physics are merely culinary aids to Atxa, whereas the ingredients harvested from Mother Nature take centre stage. And while his dishes, too, are presented in unconventional ways, they reference the past and future of Basque cuisine and his life so far on a plate.
Perhaps this is what drew business magnate and founder of Iniala Beach House Mark Weingard to Atxa. Weingard, who wanted a groundbreaking restaurant to go with his string of luxury villas in Phang Nga Bay, Thailand, went on a 10-day eating expedition, hitting all of Northern Spain’s best restaurants, to locate “the one”. On the very last day, Weingard – who was by then suffering from foie gras fatigue – visited Azurmendi, where Atxa welcomed him with open arms.
“He was very nice, very humble. His food blew me away,” says Weingard of Atxa. He had finally found the one. In December 2013, Aziamendi, Atxa’s first outpost in South-East Asia, was launched. It was where new, Asian-inspired creations see the light with the help of Chef de Cuisine Alex Burger, one of Atxa’s protegee.
Meanwhile, several original dishes also make their appearance at Aziamendi88. There’s the Squid Noodles, a fun, Asian-tasting dish that reduces squid into three parts: noodles, broth and croquette. But first, you start with the spoonful of crunchy tobiko. Next, you proceed to the main dish, or noodles made from thin strips of squid and onions and swimming in a warm squid reduction poured from a teapot. You end with the squid croquette, a diminutive brown orb of savouriness. The play on tastes, textures and temperatures as well as the generous dose of umami make this one a winner.
Asian-inspired with a hearty dose of umami to boot, Squid Noodles deconstructs squid into three forms: noodles, sauce and croquette.
The Grilled Tuna comes accompanied with a tiny but incredible side crouton dipped in traditional Basque sauce.
Perhaps the purest, most untampered dish of all, the Lamb Shoulder Lettuce is a lovely representation of Atxa’s Basque roots and background.
Your enthusiasm is temporarily dampened by the Grilled Tuna, which arrives flanked by two golden egg croquettes and topped with marigold petals. Sure, the fish looks lovely enough with its glistening red centre, but the chewy, overdone flesh is insufficient in flavour, despite being slicked in a cauliflower emulsion. The traditional Basque Marmitaka sauce and crouton with flecks of tuna tartare it comes with, on the other hand, holds so much promise that you wonder why Atxa didn’t shine the spotlight on those.
Not all of Atxa’s dishes rely on culinary bells and whistles. The chef returns to his roots with the Lamb Shoulder Lettuce, a dish lacking in scientific innovation but is no less delicious. Combining lamb, lettuce, pesto sauce, wafer-thin pastry dough and a glob of Parmesan cheese on a plate, it’s a solid, emotionally-charged finale to a most satisfying dinner.
It doesn’t end here however: for his final encore, Atxa cranks up the mischief with Strawberries and Roses. A bowl containing a single red rose and some dry ice is brought to the table, and some champagne infused with rose water is poured into it, releasing a fragrant cloud of smoke. That’s the signal to dig into your dessert, which is essentially an icy volcano of strawberry sorbet perched atop a bed of rose-flavoured marshmallow. It’s simultaneously pretty and delicious – a saccharine-sweet love ballad composed by Atxa for his many admirers.
It is about this time the chef emerges from the cavernous kitchen, a shy, solemn figure dressed in white. His modesty is impressive, especially in the face of overzealous, compliment-heavy diners. With Burger as his translator, he answers a few questions and gamefully obliges for pictures. Still, he remains as enigmatic as ever, and one could only guess what goes through his mind.
Whatever it is, he cracks a battle-weary smile from time to time, making you realize that, although the night is over, his quest to reinvent the culinary world is far from done.
Aziamendi88 has taken up residency at the renowned Mandarin Grill at Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur, from July 22 to Oct 31. For more information or to make dining reservations, please visit aziamendi88.com or e-mail az88@mohg.com.
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