“田 Magic Square” continues to astonish with Chef Desmond Shen producing a meal that has made quite a leap in terms of finesse in flavour combination and execution from his first time as the kitchen lead back in May.
For this next phase of their journey, Ken Loon, the mastermind behind this year-long pop-up, got all of the three young Singaporean chefs (Marcus and Abel included) to draw lots for the three proteins they have to work with. How fun! Chef Desmond’s turned out to be a local fish, a shellfish and beef. I reckoned he performed really well, conjuring them into a a succession of creations that had us pretty much spellbound. Here is what he whipped up:
1. Jambu air (rose apple) with rempah curd, torch ginger and lemon balm with a jambu air broth. Loved this for its refreshing zing.
2. Grilled prawn heads, prawns baked under a 60-degree heat lamp, served with chrysanthemum petals steeped in honey, fresh pomelo, white fungus and bitter lemon.
3. Beef tartare marinated in a sauce of fermented scallop abductor muscle, and mixed in an X.O. sauce created from old scallop trimmings. It was served with blobs of garum born of the scallop skirt, upon a crunchy betel leaf.
4. Flavourful local Gar fish that underwent a 3-step process: removal of bones the Japanese way, then cured and dehydrated. I liked this a lot as well.
5. A brilliant hybrid of mantou and prata coated with fish sauce caramel, served with a bowl of aromatic cauliflower curry on homemade ricotta. This was another big winner for me.
6. Scottish razor clam, a patty of “mee sua” that’s been simmered in fish stock and deepfried kailan shreds.
7. Fermented rice-marinated, charcoal-grilled Aomori grain-fed beef ribeye that was accompanied by an Asian mole concocted from fermented black beans, satay sauce and sambal.
8. My ultimate favourite course of the night: the dessert of charcoal-grilled Taiwanese mango marinated in kaffir lime oil. It came with yogurt and Taiwanese macau pepper in a clear cheese whey broth seasoned with lime juice.
9. A very meaningful creation that mirrors Chef Desmond’s family background, this showcased an intermarriage between an Indian cardamom kulfi and a Chinese pumpkin “orh ni”. The topping was cardamom flavoured sable crumbs for extra texture.

After the recent write-ups in the media, it is getting a little trickier to secure reservations here. So don’t hesitate if you are keen to give these young Singaporean chefs some support.