Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Christmas Eve Dinner 2022 :: 28 Wilkie


We finally got around to checking out 28@Wilkie. Helmed by Chef Seth Lai who joined the restaurant in 2020, the five-year-old restaurant has flown under the radar, but trotting out innovative menus, and consistent standards in the quality of food. It also touts itself as a 'caviar bar', alongside Dom Perignon branding. 

We bravely turned up for dinner on Christmas Eve. Oof. Popped an antihistamine and tucked in to dinner. There was a complimentary glass of champagne. The meal began with lovely light flavors in the form of Hokkaido snow crab with granny smith apples and hybrid caviar. That caviar was oddly sweet. Not quite for me. I loved the lobster with Jerusalem artichoke and kinkan

Since we're both not white wine people, we opted for red wine. I chose an easy 2011 Barolo Riserva Bussia Cascina Dardi from the family estate of Alessandro e Gian Natale Fantino that would go with the menu. Then we had monkfish with turnip and perilla, and drizzled with ankimo gravy. Not bad at all. Then we had pasta!!! It didn't disappoint — tajerin with parmigiano reggiano and white truffles. The man had the Tochigi wagyu with foie gras, and he enjoyed it, surprisingly. I skipped that and asked to swop out the beef. They replaced it with amadai (tilefish) for me. That was really tasty. 

There was a palate cleanser of mikan with pomelo and lemongrass. The savory dessert was pretty okay. The man really loved the Nagano apple with cinnamon, matcha and buttermilk. The petit fours were weird, and too sweet for me. There were nougat, osmanthus chocolate, and salted egg macaron

Food was delicious and well-executed, and it was a really pleasant experience because the kitchen knew what they were doing, and we needn't wait forever for our food to arrive. It made Christmas Eve dinner very memorable. I suppose I'd pop in again at some point, but it wouldn't be my first choice of restaurant since we have too many similar options around. 

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