Dinner Theatre

At AURUM, Singapore’s first molecular gastronomy restaurant, dishes are served from syringes and metal canisters.  Think that’s weird? You also dine off surgical tables while being seated in gold wheelchairs. by Chan Hse May.

But first, a few things you should know: far from the unpalatable micro-plastic morsels that you might be imagining, molecular gastronomy cuisine is really regular food that’s prepared using a variety of scientific methods and equipment.  Fruits whipped in liquid nitrogen, for instance, produces a smooth sorbet, while calcium oxide turns lychee juice into golden globules that burst in your mouth.

Second, Aurum (‘gold’ in Latin) isn’t just making news for being the first dedicated molecular gastronomy restaurant in Southeast Asia. Its hospital-themed interior - which was conceived to suit the décor of its next door disco sibling The Clinic -  has raised more than a few eyebrows and has been called “inauspicious”  and in bad taste.

Third, molecular gastronomy maestros like Aurum executive chef Edward Voon would rather people not use the term to describe their culinary creations or the new-fangled methods that produce them.

“‘Molecular gastronomy’ doesn’t mean anything at all if you were to break it down,” says the 33-year-old Singaporean indignantly. “Let’s call it new-age food instead.”

That the confusing moniker sounds alienating and is therefore off-putting to the man on the street also makes it a bad word in the books of any self respecting molec… uhm… new-age cuisine chef.

Another thing Chef Voon could do without – the disproportionate attention and ink devoted to discussing Aurum’s quirky hospital-themed interior.  “Everyone keeps talking about the décor so much so that no one wants to talk about the food,” he concedes.

It’s not an easy task, diverting your attention from the off-kilter decor. There’s the stainless steel morgue entrance, then the dark flight of steps that leads to the restaurant proper. And when you finally enter the main dining room and stare down its golden wheelchairs, surgical tables and gold polka-dotted walls, you think… this is what you’ll get if you cross a mad scientist lair, a disco, and a dining hall in a mental asylum.  Good news for diners who can’t bring themselves to play paraplegic – there’s an adjoining private room which features regular tables and chairs. As for dancing fiends, Aurum (which is owned by Lifebrandz, the people behind Ministry of Sound and Café Del Mar in Singapore) turns into a disco after dinner.

Once you get over the restaurant’s ominous environs, pay close attention to your plate. Aurum manages to turn up quite a few surprises – and very tasty ones at that.  In fact, so impressed were we, we even came up with our own scientific formulae for the Aurum experience.

1. Passion + lots of nitrogen = Masterpieces on your plate

“Passion, creativity and a lot of nitrogen,” offers Chef Voon on what it takes to create molecular gastro dishes.  Having the right connections help too.  Voon, who is also Captain of Singapore’s Culinary National Team, created Aurum’s menu with some help from consultant Paco Ronchero, a disciple of Spanish molecular gastro master Ferran Adria (see box story). The pair met at the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore last year and Ronchero will serve as a consultant to Aurum, popping by four times a year to lend a hand in conjuring up new dishes.

Presently, Aurum’s 13-dish dégustation menu (at S$148) consists of tapas as well as more hearty main dishes like beef cheek, seared tuna and lobster laksa. Offers Voon, “With new-age cuisine, what we’re essentially doing is using advanced cooking techniques to create familiar dishes in different textures.”

To wit, on the menu is a lychee caviar dish created by combining lychee juice with calcium water to form golden globules. There’s also an escargot congee that looks more like a sunny-side up on your plate, and yet replicates the flavours and smells of any good congee you’ve ever tasted. Our favourite is the Spanish omelette. Consisting of caramelized onions, egg yolk, and potato foam, with everything served in a fluffy foam concoction in a martini glass, the Aurum signature dish is all warm, wholesome goodness in your mouth.

2. Over-eager palate + A plastic syringe = Disaster for your taste buds

Part of the fun of dining at the Aurum is really the enlightening introductions and instructions that precede each dish. Your server helps you make sense of the creation before you, enlightening you on its ingredients, preparation methods and most importantly, how best to lap it all up.

Some dishes are served with much theatrical flair and flourish. Artful squishes from metal canisters here, measured squirts from tubes and containers there – it’s a delightful performance, to say the least.

A tip: Listen closely to your server, and refrain from playing with your food until you’re told to.

A more complicated dish like the olive oil tempura noodles, for instance, involves squeezing a syringe filled with olive oil into hot dashi broth where the oil solidifies to form noodle-like strands.

We spied one overanxious couple seated at the next table squirting the syringe contents into each others’ mouths within seconds the instruments were laid before them. Suffice to say that didn’t go down too well with them.

Another tip: The 13-course dinner stretches over two hours, so be sure your dinner companion isn’t a total bore.

3. Mixed critiques + skeptical naysayers = A naked chef

It’s not what you’re thinking, honey. The good chef stayed in his kitchen whites the whole time. But sporting the slightest hint of frustration, Chef Voon lets on that getting enough people, including his own peers on the culinary scene, to embrace Aurum’s cuisine may be an uphill battle. The usual flak that comes with the territory – that such new-age cuisine is gimmicky, and an insult to revered traditional methods of cooking. Says Voon, “It took two years before people started warming up to what Ferran Adria was doing at El Bulli, how long do you think it’d take people here to accept it?”

Aurum’s fare is also subject to what Voon contends as unfair criticism. Some dishes have been criticized as lacking the creative spark so apparent in those at El Bulli, while others have been written off as mere imitations of dishes from acclaimed molecular gastro restaurants. 

“I’m trying to share with Singaporeans a new cuisine, a new way of eating and cooking,” shares Voon. “What’s wrong about that? With a restaurant like that in Singapore, they won’t have to travel all the way to El Bulli in Spain to sample similar dishes.

But the chef’s prepared to silence the critics. Aurum’s menu will change every three weeks, so diners will constantly be surprised by new creations. Featuring in March’s menu are such wacky and wonderful dishes like morning cereals with dehydrated fruits and lobster milk, as well as isotonic lychee caviar. Also in experimental stage is ’Salad in a Bag’, where your greens and the bag it comes in are entirely edible.

And if that doesn’t tempt your taste buds and pique your curiosity, get this:  Voon has just put in an order for a cotton candy machine.

Aurum is at #02-03, Block 3C The Cannery,
River Valley Road, Tel: (65)6887-3733
Opening hours: 6.30-1030pm daily

Your Cheat Sheet to Molecular Gastronomy

Impress your friends with its history, interesting facts and perfect pronunciation.

Molecular gastronomy explained

When explaining food science to the uninitiated, assume a know-it-all air and proclaim, “It’s not that difficult to understand, really. It’s just using new cooking methods to alter the texture and structure of regular food.“

Go back to basics

Nothing says ‘expert’ like a little history-telling.  What you need to know about molecular gastronomy’s origins: the term itself was coined by Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti in the ’60s for his studies on applying the techniques of chemistry to food.

Restaurants and chefs to name drop

Foreign names are a mouthful, but with some practice, they’ll be dripping off your tongue like honey. Top molecular gastro restaurants and their masters, or at least the ones worth name-dropping, include:

• El Bulli in Spain, helmed by Ferran Adria
• The Fat Duck in the United Kingdom, where Heston Blumenthal holds fort
• wd~50 in New York, under the charge of Wylie Dufresne

Random fact to wow them

Watch jaws drop when you pull something only a true connoisseur would know out of the air:

In Chicago restaurant Moto, chef Homaro Cantu serves edible menus made from fruit and vegetable ink printed on paper made of soybean and potato starch.

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