The first course is the Bird’s Nest Soup. Chef Heinrich explains that Bird’s Nest soup can be made either savoury with chicken stock or sweet. His offering is sweet and has a nice, light hint of coconut in every sip.
Our next dish is the Chinese Salad. It’s made with pickled bamboo, water chestnuts, Sichuan pepper, lotus root chip and served with a soy and rice wine vinaigrette. What I really enjoyed about this dish is the different textures. I’m usually not a big fan of so many, but every one complimented each other well and felt well thought out. The vinaigrette packed quite the punch and I loved it.
An additional dish was brought out, they were the Matsutake mushrooms. These mushrooms are meaty and absorbed the delicious flavours of the dish.
Up next was the Xiao Long Bao (XLB!). I commend Chef Heinrich for attempting to make this dish, it’s incredibly difficult to nail the right amount of meat, juices and wrap. The filling hails from Gelderman Farms (the pork anyway) and complimented with Spot prawn. It reminded me a bit of the lumpia my dad makes at home with both pork and prawns, which makes a delicious combo.
They are a little larger than most XLB places, but bigger is better! The wrap is a little on the chewy side, but with a little more practice, I’m sure Chef can nail this recipe.
The Maopo Doufu (Mapo Tofu) dish was next. Beautifully plated with miso powder and fried noodles on the top of the tofu. The tofu is fried and the delicious Szechuan pork sauce is drizzled on top. I am so used to this dish in Chinese restaurants (it happens to be one of my favourite dishes) but I have to say that this is my favourite way to enjoy this dish. I love that the tofu is fried but soft, meaty and slightly sweet on the inside. The Szechuan sauce has all the beautiful flavours of the dish but concentrated so they really stand out.
House-Made Brom Lake Peking Duck was served next. Chef Heinrich explains that there is a variety of duck called Peking Duck that is bred specifically for Peking Duck dishes! Chef’s take is slices of duck rolled into a gluten-free pancake. On the plate, the house-made hoisin sauce is splashed around the main part of the dish to compliment the sweet and salty flavours. The duck was flavourful and moist making Mosaic possibly the only place I enjoy the taste of duck. I’m used to the Peking Duck dish served with the crispy skin, tortilla like wrap and hoisin and scallion. But this is an interesting take.
Finally, dessert. Mango Tapioca Gelee. Chef Heinrich found a way to use those mirrored plates again! The dish features the mango gelee mixed with tapioca, served with some coconut, lychee, crispy mung bean and mango coulis. I appreciated that the mango tapioca glelee was slightly sweet and not too overly so. This is a great nod to the mango pudding you may receive at the end of the meal at a Chinese restaurant. The more interesting flavours included the puffed mung bean that was slightly sweet and the sweet lychee. If you fuse all the flavours together, it really makes this dish quite enjoyable.
The Chef Tasting Menu runs until August 14th and is a great way to enjoy popular Chinese dishes with a unique twist.
Disclaimer: I was invited to try this menu out and received a complimentary meal – I was not expected or paid to write this review.
