Do you ever miss the school lunches you ate as a kid? Yeah, me neither really, although there were a few guilty pleasures I don’t mind admitting I enjoyed. Potato Smiles anyone? Chocolate Sponge and Mint Custard?
While you won’t find such disgusting/delicious classics a SoHo’s SAAM restaurant this month and next, you will find some mind-bogglingly fun creations that’ll take you back to your childhood dining days through elegant expressions and fine ingredients.
Introducing Chef and Partner Patrick Dang’s “Back to School” tasting menu, a seven-course extravaganza presenting a light-hearted take on all the things a kid might eat in a day.
Nutella & Toast
Starting with Nutella & Toast – the “Nutella” of which actually turned out to be black truffle, I’m pleased to say – and moving through Fish & Chip (note the missing “s”) and School Roast Dinner to PB&J, it was a nostalgic and surprising trip back in time.
My favourite dishes have to be:
Cereal and Yoghurt, which turned out to be an unlikely but refreshing combination of cold foie gras parfait, savoury granola, almond yoghurt and peppered pineapple.
Sausage and Egg, which contained no sausage and no egg. The piece of the puzzle that looked and behaved exactly like a sunny-side-up egg (the yolk even popped!) was in fact pumpkin in coconut milk, while the sausage was a medallion of lobster sprinkled with madras curry crumbs.
Gluten-Free Instant Noodle Soup, which was a carb-dodger’s dream with noodles painstakingly fashioned out of chicken breast, mixed with shitake mushrooms and a gorgeous pour-on abalone broth.
One perk I didn’t get at school but did get at SAAM – which means “together” in Afrikaans, fyi – is a wine pairing with each course. Five courses and a wine pairing coming in at HKD638, and seven courses and wine at HKD788.
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s back to school I go! The menu will be available until Oct. 31.
SAAM, G/F, 51D Graham Street, SoHo, Central, (+852) 2645-9828, open Tuesday-Sunday for dinner from 6pm onwards. Fridays only for lunch.
