H O S T E D
I find the new menu at the elegant Preludio to bounce, propelled by sweetness surfacing in a few of the courses, starting with the snack of chicken liver macaron with wild cherries and black truffle.
From the world’s biggest lagoon comes the next delicacy, the Obsiblue prawn. Having been vacuumed and steamed for a “marbled” effect, it is almost unrecognisable as a crustacean but tastes really good with chorizo and hazelnuts.
Earning my vote for the most fun dishes are the “Deadliest Catch”, a crab salad decked out in grilled piquillo peppers, avocado mousse, coconut jelly and corn sorbet, and “Make It Pop”, the coffee-glazed foie gras terrine that dares to play dress-up with passionfruit spheres, smoked olive oil powder, popping candy and a splash of @rachelletherabbit mead.
Following that, a course I liked a lot, the lightly-cooked Nantucket scallop on velvety salted corn cream inked with black garlic sauce.
Two of the three savoury courses which arrive after this were familiar to me as they have been on the menu since Preludio opened. Executive Chef Fernando explained that the “La Cortina” - butternut squash and amaretto agnolotti topped with Parmesan sauce, almond snow and 25-year-aged balsamic vinegar, and “Pata Negra” - the glazed Iberico pork with apple and white carrot purée, datterini tomatoes and mizuna, have become so popular he has kept them on the menu. Daring but enjoyable is how I would describe “Aneo”, the course presented between those two. Served in a prawn broth with white chocolate drops, the Patagonian toothfish has “scales” of thinly shaved almonds and macadamia.
The menu ends off with two divine creations by Pastry Chef Elena. First, an exquisite take on the “Strawberry Milkshake”. I love the crisp white chocolate layered with strawberry and vanilla, accompanied by milk ice-cream. The second is “Alba” - a sublime combo of stout cake, cherries, hazelnut, plum, black winter truffle and hazelnut ice-cream.
As lovely as the alcohol-pairing is (expect the likes of natural wines, sake and Spanish port), teetotallers can have a field day too as the non-alcoholic pairing is fueled with marvelous concoctions such as sparkling yuzu with ginger, pineapple kombucha and an earl grey-coffee with muddled cherries, preserved lemon and pop rocks.