Restaurant Gaig’s first ever four-hands collaboration dinner — on 23 and 24 August only — celebrates two young Spanish chefs’ heritage styled in their own worldly interpretations.
In most industries nowadays, it is becoming harder and harder to find young people who will willingly protect and preserve old traditions in a global landscape that prizes the new. It’s always about moving the bar higher, pushing boundaries, because traditions are inefficient, fixed and stubborn to change; customs are meant to stay customary as they always were in the past.
But not for these two young Spanish chefs. After interviewing Chef Marti Carlos Martinez not too long ago for Restaurant Gaig’s spring menu, the only outpost of the famous Gaig Barcelona welcomed the self-described nomadic chef and friend of Marti, Iñaki Bolumburu into its kitchen for its first-ever four-hands dinner of four snacks and eight plates.
Chef Iñaki Bolumburu.
Growing up in a family that loved the process of farm-to-table, Iñaki was always very hands-on when it came to foraging and hunting for meals. While he decided to enrol in culinary school at 15 and become the first professional chef in his family, he never left his intimate touch with produce behind — which explains the eclectic cuisine he stirs up, that is strongly rooted in Basque heritage while being open to the influence of local flavours.
He must have picked this openness up along his travels, first from his stints at renowned restaurants like Denmark’s Noma and the Netherland’s Pure C, then as a nomadic chef that cooked through the Baltic regions, Bangkok, and now to our sunny shores.
Mushrooms with spiced hen stock and egg yolk by Chef Iñaki.
This explains why Chef Iñaki’s dishes can be both foreign and familiar to the local palate — an exciting experience nontheless. While the shiso-wrapped tuna tartare and miso-infused mushroom egg yolk broth is spiced with cinnamon, star anise, black pepper and lemongrass, the battered pan-fried hake, a favourite fish of the Basques, feels homely in a different way. Chef Iñaki said that the hake is the first fish a child will eat from where he is; and it’s these little notes of their personal memories that make this menu all the more heartful to experience.
Chef Marti’s “surf and turf” courses also blend seamlessly into this culture-meets-contemporary lens. A cuttlefish stew with potatoes and green peas is a dish adapted from his mother’s recipe of a childhood favourite, and is presented on plates specially hand carried from Barcelona into Singapore. A tender milk-fed lamb shoulder also emanates the classic flavours of the Pyrénées mountains, the meat just firm enough to be broken down by minimal chewing.
But the most impressive dish had to be Chef Iñaki’s vegetable harmony, a modern take on the traditional menestra. With freshly picked greens from Edible Garden City sitting atop roasted carrots and potatoes, you would expect the herbal aftertaste to dominate the mouth. But it surprises with the savoury and nutty tang of Iberico ham, foamed as a broth that masks the greens beneath and a pleasant interlude of rich, broccoli and burnt aubergine cream. Garden of treasures, true to word.
Scallop, artichokes, and glazed veal sweetbread by Chef Marti.
Last but not least, on the front of desserts, the two chefs came to play with interesting concoctions of sweets. From Chef Iñaki’s temperature and texture-changing goxua (a cake-in-a-cup that consists of lemon, honey and hazelnut) to Chef Marti’s white chocolate cheesecake (a hardcore tribute to cheese lovers), no tooth was left unsatisfied or unsweetened.
Now be quick with this, as there’s no reason to miss Restaurant Gaig’s serendipitous pairing of delectable talents. Restaurant Gaig’s 4-hands collaboration dinner is priced at $200 per diner and will only be available on 23 and 24 August from 6pm to 10pm. If you’re feeling fancy, you can add on a wine pairing for $150.
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