Every food adventure we have been on has been unique but ION created one which was truly special – our first sea food taster menu 😱! We secured a table on the last day of the restaurant’s 100 days with Chef Alex Dilling and let me tell you, there are not enough words to truly capture what this experience was! It was a gorgeous day with boats out and what not
When we were told that the menu was very much sea food based, I was initially hesitant, why? Neal is not really a sea food person and having a ‘fishy’ taster menu had me worried. It was all for nought, because Chef Alex did his THANG right of the bat with the amuse bouche aka his intro!
when Yoan (our waiter) placed the dish on the table with instructions to eat from right to left, we knew this meal was gonna be LIT! Tuna with quinoa, potato twirl and gazpacho. The potato twirl though? It had a hidden secret, when flipped over, it had a cream cheese anchovy centre 🧐, we were so ready to eat everything that was coming out of the kitchen!
Aged Kaluga Caviar with Sicilian red Prawn, ginger and crème cru! Visually, it was a layered plate of gorgeousness paired with a muscadet wine. The bowl was deceptively deep, hidden within the layers was yummy mayo, shrimp, cream fraiche… I mean if salt, fat and acid was a dish, it would be this! The sensations of smoky and buttery on your palate! My goodness 😋
The oyster course had me floored. Oysters with oyster vinaigrette and chives. It was plated up in a bowl?, exactly! Usually I expect oysters to be on a plate, likely in the shell and all that right?. These oysters were peppered with caviar and a cheesy base which was revealed when dipped into it! It was an explosion of texture, bite and crunch which Neal and I like 😮
It was brilliant! Whilst I don’t want to say that I am quite knowledgeable on foie gras, I have had my share of delicious foie gras in places like Petrus. however, Chef Alex took me to school with his foie gras dish! He was like ‘you are gonna learn something tuhday’ and yep! I sure did. The foie gras up in this here ION, as my naija people say ‘it is not your mate’! This foie gras graced our table looking like some scrumptious dessert.
I had to double check with Yoan like ‘dude, you sure?’ I mean do you see this? Looking like 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream with hazel but in the middle right? Accompanied with toast that had the foie gras fat coated on it? I was not READY!!!
Paired with a glass of South African wine! Ouuu this just made your gyal triple happy! I love me some South African wines, in my opinion, they have the best grapes for red wine.. FACTS!
Moving on to the next few courses, our sommelier, Petar, presented us with a glass of chardonnay which doubled up as a palate cleanser. Red Snapper with coco bean, clams and chorizo was the next course. This was a two-part dish in that the red snapper was plated individually to the coco beans. Being a ‘meaty’ fish it didn’t break apart
and the coco beans, with clam foam and chorizo?
The chorizo just added a level of spiciness (you didn’t even realise was needed) my goodness it was fantastic! I know I mentioned that this was a sea-food taster menu, Chef Alex decided to add some chicken as part of the dishes and I wasn’t mad 😀. Yoan actually presented us with the whole chicken initially (similar to how The square served their Scorpion Fish,) and advised that this was going to be carved and served to us. This chicken has layers… LAYERS!!
Corn fed chicken breast wrapped in mushroom, bacon with a glazed outer layer and chicken Jus as a pour over. Oh and the side of veggies that came out looking like a sushi roll
Come on now, this dish was crunch, zest and fresh tasting! loooved it! Pudding was sourdough ice cream with sourdough bread shavings… let me say that again SOURDOUGH ICE CREAM WITH SOURDOUGH BREAD SHAVINGS! Served with seventy percent Venezuelan dark chocolate and wait for it… OLIVE OIL!
Like olive oil? How? Who? What? The bread shavings were caramilised too! paired with a 10 year old port?…… LISTTEEEENNNNN. I was just about done with Chef Alex and his dishes because boi! Man served up a STORM! Like, even the cheese course was not a ‘regular’ cheese course. It was more like a cheese jelly
which had elements of the wine it was paired with in it! Like, people, I was D O N E! This food, this menu, these dishes.. I CAN NOT! UGH!!!!
One time for Chef Alex and his team!!!! You created and served an incredible food experience!
Cheers
Ndidi.
p.s. Digestif included frangelico and coffee but not before Petar served me a glass of South African pinotage wine as promised what a guy!
