Evoking sweet memories
Sum of its parts
Lin updated the menu after the restaurant moved to a new location in November.
Decorated by Yang Dongzi, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Arts, the design of the space is based around the concept of walking through a valley, which is enhanced by the effect of the simulated natural light.
Lin occasionally updates the menu to reflect the season, most recently to feature autumnal memories and flavors.
The foie gras wafer is her signature dish, which juxtaposes two of her favorite ingredients, creating a wonderful combination.
The foie gras is marinated in red wine and is stuffed into the wafer after dried black currents are added-the crunchiness of the wafer pairs perfectly with the creaminess of the foie gras.
Lin has also created a vegan version of the foie gras which is a mix of peanut butter, sesame sauce, white wine, coconut oil, cashew nut and matsutake powder.
After the foie gras wafer, Lin selects several fresh vegetables and asks diners to eat them raw. "I name the dish 'the sound of your chewing is melodious', because if you listen carefully you will enjoy the crunchiness of the vegetables," she says.
Lin likes to explore the possibilities of each of her ingredients to the full. Her tomato sonata, for example, combines dried tomato, tomato jelly, fermented tomato soup and fresh tomato.
There is one chapter of the menu titled Sea Wave, which literally transports her diners to the beach to enjoy the sound of the waves.
The first dish in the chapter is oyster and hairy crab. Lin marinates fresh oysters from France for 48 hours and then slices them open and stuffs them with frozen crab roe and crab meat with homemade pepper vinegar. She also uses the juice from the oysters to make a seawater smoothie. One bite of the dish immediately sparks memories of the sea.
The second dish is crab porridge, which features crab meat boiled for hours in a chicken soup base with clam juice and rice milk.