Peach Blossoms was where we celebrated my father-in-law’s 80th birthday in May this year. It was a great alternative to the usual classic Cantonese restaurants that we normally gravitate towards for my in-laws’ milestone moments.
Back then, we had the following dishes, some of which I had the chance to try again last week during a media tasting.
The first being one of Peach Blossom’s signature dishes – the Cigar Roll. As chef Edward Chong says, this is his take on the traditional crispy duck spring roll. Well, I think this is that, and a whole lot more! The ingredients include black truffle, foie gras, freshly-peeled snow crab and prawn mousse, neatly rolled into a cigar unlike any other.
The other dish I enjoyed during the birthday was the Crispy Scaled Fillet of Marble Goby. Any time I have crispy-scaled fish, I just love it, not only for the visual impact but, of course, for the crisp skin, too. Peach Blossom spices up the gentle fish with a tangy and spicy pineapple sauce.
Peach Blossom’s beloved applewood-smoked Iberico pork belly.
Now, during my father-in-law’s birthday, I had requested for my portion of Peach Blossom’s well-loved Applewood Smoked Iberico Pork Belly to be replaced. Sacrilegious, I know! But, I’m just not a fan of pork belly, what can I say.
So, I had the Smoked Duck instead, and it was delicious.
However, during the media tasting, I decided to try the pork belly and, oh yes, I get it now! Truly out-of-this-world. I even managed to get past my mental block of eating fatty bits and ate all three of the decadent slices on my plate. The best part of the dish is that sweet-smoky crisp skin, accented with kaffir lime.
The dish looked different during the tasting, though, and we were informed that this was an updated version, inspired by the Stephen Chow movie “The God of Cookery”.
What does the God of Cookery have to do with this?
In the movie, during a cooking competition, Stephen Chow’s character recreates the most delicious thing he had ever tasted: a simple dish of rice, cha siu and a fried egg that was given to him by Karen Mok’s character. As he reflects on all that she had done for him, he pours all his emotions into the dish which from thereon would be known as “Sorrowful Rice”.
Perhaps chef Edward, too, was overcome, not with sorrow but with inspiration, because he adds twists to the “simple” dish. The pork belly is marinated overnight, slow-roasted over binchotan charcoal, and then smoked over applewood for that lingering fragrance.
As for the original sunny side-up egg, it becomes a silky quail’s egg and he replaces the white rice with a wafer of rice crisp.
Seafood shines at Peach Blossoms:
We tasted a couple of dishes that highlighted my favourite type of food – seafood.
First, is the off-menu creation, the Steamed Carrot Cake with Lobster. Needless to say, the lobster was perfectly grilled and the surprising addition of lemongrass and shiso leaf added uplifting, herbaceous notes to the dish.
We moved on to noodles, and here Peach Blossoms featured the uncommon mung bean noodle; silky, slippery, smooth, wide strands that test your chopstick skills and you slurp it up with the vinegar pearl-dotted seafood soup.
There were two sides to the Stuffed Crab Claw story; one side keeping the claw meat intact, the other featuring a paste of crab meat, prawns and water chestnut.
Most unique was how they shaved the pressed block of crab roe over the dish; chef said it was his version of shaving truffle over a dish.
Along the way, we also tried a soup. How could we not, right? It had all the requisite lavish ingredients such as abalone, fish maw, and featured a rare edible wild mushroom called the Sarcodon Imbricatus mushroom. Sure, the double-boiled soup that had been simmered over three hours was tasty, but I am not a soup lover, so I will skip the gushing over this pot.
How about that dim sum dessert cart, then?
Finally, comes two desserts for the tasting. I had already tried the Peach Resin in Charentais Melon during the birthday in May, so I was warning everyone at the table that it was going to be huge. We were all pretty full by then, so everyone was wondering how they were going to plough through.
For some reason though, this time, the melon didn’t appear as intimidating, and all of us managed to do a decent job of finishing it up. I really liked the sweet, Hokkaido milk-blended melon cream!
Then, dim sum-style, a trolley cart is rolled in for this off-menu dessert creation called the Sweet Cart of Treasures. It includes a Durian Sandwich, White Sugar Sponge Cake, Jasmine Tea Mousse, Taro Lava Puff and Salted Egg Yolk Puff. As a bonus, we had the Red Bean Jelly in the shape of a cute pig.
I enjoyed the Durian Sandwich, the Jasmine Tea mousse and the Taro Lava Puff most.
Well, Peach Blossoms really has its act together when it comes to creating unique and modern spins of Chinese dishes, and I will definitely return to see what else chef Edward Chong has up his sleeves!
Peach Blossoms:
Address: 6 Raffles Blvd, Level 5 PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, Singapore 039594
Contact: +65 6845 1118 or peachblossoms.prsmb@parkroyalcollection.com
Opening Hours:
Lunch:
Monday to Friday: 12:00pm to 3:00pm (Last Order at 2:30pm)
Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays:
11:30am to 3:00pm (Last order at 2:30pm)
Dinner:
Monday to Friday: 6:30pm to 10:30pm (Last Order 10:00pm)
Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays:
6:30pm to 10:30pm (Last Order 10:00pm)