I am thankful that Chef Agustin and the team opened the door for a few of us on a Sunday afternoon for a special lunch with guest chef Manu Buffara. There’s no lack of high-caliber chefs passing through town for crossover gig but this one caught my eye as Chef Manu has just been voted the Latin America’s Best Female Chef by the World’s 50 Best team, and I wasn’t sure if I will ever make it to her restaurant in Curitiba Brazil, some 18000 km away from home.
Our lunch menu was essentially the same as the sold-out dinner event that they were doing over 2 nights in June. Only the main ingredients were listed as the teaser to what was to come over the next 3 hours. We began with tuna and caviar from Manu – hardly a new combination but having the beurre blanc with clam juice and saiqui honey in the mix added the extra dimension of creaminess, acidity and sweetness to the equation and still maintained the right balance of flavor. Beef Tartare was often served at Ando but this time Chef Agustin presented it like a bite-sized taco, with avocado puree, jalapeno mousse and tomatoes piled on top of a piece of crispy tortilla and epazote garnish. Got all the good flavor together in a single bite.
Chef Manu’s cooking style was said to be “plant-based”, with majority of the menu vegetarian with some pescatarian dishes. I was impressed by her next dish of a single floret of cauliflower served with passionfruit beurre noisette with peanut milk underneath and grated bottarga on the side. The contrasting flavors just worked together perfectly in this eccentric mix of ingredients, cooked in straight forward style. Chef Agustin matched with his next course of peas and plankton sauce served with aori ika on top, with the parsley emulsion, shiso flower and sudachi zest giving it a garden-like refreshing flavor and aroma.
With that we moved on to a couple more “green” courses, in terms of color tone. First was the “pasta” by Chef Manu, with a thin piece of cooked pasta kneaded with cassava flour and spinach on top. Underneath was loads of ingredients, including roasted leeks, green grapes, crispy wild rice, mussel sauce and cashew nuts paste. The nutty, acidic and rich flavor was avant-garde and worked well with the bottle of sparkling wine served as part of our wine pairing experience. Second course was served in a similar presentation, this time a piece of kinmedai steamed in low temperature in kombu wrap and served with lily bulbs, razor clams, shiso sauce underneath, and on top, an aonori “veil” in nice bright green color. The sauce was complex and flavorful with good umami flavor, going well with the delicate piece of fish with good fatty texture.
The next few courses were unmistakably of summer theme. The botan ebi was salivating and refreshing with tomato “dashi” and grilled pineapple with the refreshing summer flavor, then we turned up a notch in richness with Chef Agustin’s beef and corn done 4-ways, with Japanese baby corn, corn puree, salsa fresca de maiz and huitlacoche sauce made with corn smut. The fat, rich piece of meat was balanced by the sweetness from the corn. Carrot was Chef Manu’s take for her main course, served whole with punchy flavor, with the rich yeast sauce and the slightly crispy cassava farofa on the side. Ando’s caldoso course took a bit of a twist, with Brazillian style Moqueca broth served with scallops – always anticipate this last savory dish from Chef Agustin and I love the exotic coconut flavor bringing in the sweetness and creaminess to this signature course.
Two desserts were served. Manu’s Uni and Yogurt was the adventurous one, pairing the unique, savory flavor of sea urchins with super sweet white chocolate crumbles and super acidic ponzu foam, then brought together neatly by the quenelle of yogurt ice-cream on top. Good try. The alfajor with chocolate, hazelnut and coffee was the familiar one – couldn’t go wrong with this combo with nice presentation. Then it was the series of cute mignardises (by the way, that banana bread was excellent!)
Calito brought us a few Latin American bottles to go with our lunch. The non-alcoholic sparkling blood orange “mate” tea that they did with a local bottler was the most interesting one with nice refreshing taste that would go with everything or just on its own on any summer days (and nights).
More pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/albums/72177720309047766
When? June 11 2023
Where? Ando, 1F, Somptueux Central, 52 Wellington Street, Central
Menu Highlights? Roasted leek, green grapes, cashew nut paste, crispy wild rice, fermented brazil nut, mussel sauce, cassava flour “pasta” (and yes, that’s all in one dish)
Drinks?
Sparkling Blood Orange Roasted Mate Tea, Mindful Sparks x Ando
Miolo Cuvee Tradition Brut NV, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
2021 Bodega Garzon Estate Pinot Rose de Corte, Maldonado, Uruguay
2005 Catena Alta Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina
Web:
(Ando) www.andohk.com
(Manu) restaurantemanu.com.br/home-en/
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