Jaan by Kirk Westaway (2020)
Jaan is a Michelin starred restaurant helmed by Kirk himself. We went for dinner there for my birthday!
It's on level 70 of Swissotel, where Equinox used to be. It's got a narrowish walkway from the receiving podium to the dining room. The dining room isn't very big, about the size of a large living & dining room in a home? The ceiling had this interesting angular metal sculpture-like vibe going on, which made the whole place feel fancier. The place was gorgeously decorated for Christmas. The tree was p r e t t y.
The seating is oriented towards the giant window-wall overlooking the beautiful city below. We got a corner table so we weren't in the “first” row, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We like the corners.
First, they double checked our preferences which I greatly appreciated. My dietary preference was to have no spiciness and no green/leafy vegetables. Liner’s was no coriander and no molluscs. I liked that they even bothered to check with me on how I feel about chives. I’ve been to many a place who omitted the large obvious vegetables but still included spring onions and other garnishes. It gets annoying when it’s more sprinkly than a parsley leaf. This actually elevated my overall experience by not having to avoid things on my plate.
They handed us their general menu, which had choices between a set menu and a vegetarian set menu. Of course we chose the non vegetarian. Once we told them what we wanted and all, we got printouts of our menu!
Champagne
Next up was a champagne cart! WHAT EVEN?! It was a cute little cart of like 5 bottles of champagne. Normal champagne to champagne rose. The dude introduced each champagne to us, and described their origins, tastes, etc. In the end I wanted the last one - a Krug champagne rose. It was splendid.
Appetisers
Next came the appetisers. The four dishes came in this adorable staircase-like formation and we were to eat them in order, from lowest to highest.
First, was a beetroot meringue with smoked eel. Sounds odd, but it was delicious. The meringue was perfectly crisp on the outside and crumbled neatly as my teeth sank into the soft centre. The eel wasn’t overpowering and just added a little somethin’ somethin’.
Second, was Devonshire cheddar cheese and buckwheat pancake. It was basically delicious cheese within delicious pancake balls - just like it sounds. I’m inspired to try a crack at making a similar cheese ball on my own at home.
Next, was Jaan’s version of a fish & chips appetiser. The ‘chips’ resembled pie tee cups in a tart-base shape. The fish was well-cooked and went very well with the ‘chips’.
(May I reiterate how great it is that they bothered to omit the greens from my serving?? Never have I ever eaten somewhere that took that much care in observing your preferences!)
Finally, we arrived at the duck sausage roll. It looked so fancy!
Simple but tasty and the whole thing went well together.
This first set was a whole lot of scrumptious bites and it definitely whet my appetite for courses to come.
Next came roast potato soup, with a mini loaf and leek butter. It came half full of what I would assume is the roast potato portion, and the waiter poured in the soup portion. The final product was foamy and fluffy yet thick and rich. The mini loaf was absolutely adorable! It also looked like an awful little leek butter on the stone slab, but it was actually just enough if you’re not a butter monster.
These appetisers were an excellent prelude to a fantastic meal.
Bread! Every fancy restaurant has to give you bread, right? This bread was a whole loaf of Jaan’s own dark rye. It was glorious. Pre-meal bread is usually just okay, and the only bread (other than the good ole baguette) from a fancy restaurant I’ve truly enjoyed was the flat bread at Bedrock. This bread, however, was incredible. I wish I had asked to bring it home…
First course
Heirloom tomato with basil OR Irish oyster with caviar. The non-vegetarian had the oyster as the first course, but they switched it out for the tomato for Liner.
A whole tomato! I don’t eat the stuff but my, my, it was a beautiful plate.
The oyster was good. I don’t remember what the foam was, but all of it came together really well. And I am a huge fan of caviar so that probably skewed the results. Interesting plating - using the caviar tin. The lid had Jaan’s own branding.
It was at this time that our personal sommelier, Gary, approached us to offer some selections of wines. Liner chose an orange wine and I had an Italian red. Gary then came out with a trolley bearing bottles of our wines, and he wielded a fascinating contraption for the bottle of orange wine. Presumably, it was to preserve the condition of the wine in the bottle since this was by the glass. He poured the orange wine into a small decanter and proceeded to pour it into Liner’s glass. Pretty cool.
Second course
The next course was British roots. This dish comprises a whole list of vegetables topped with artichoke soup. Yes, “soup” not sauce. It was presented with a glass cloche and the thick soup was poured beside the artistic mound of roots before our eyes.
Some of the vegetables include potato, celeriac, artichoke chips, mushrooms, baby kale. Ignorance is bliss for me so I just ate without really paying attention to which root vegetable I was consuming exactly. Surprisingly, this was my favourite dish of the night. Maybe I like root vegetables? I can’t believe I had kale and didn’t kill myself. It’s a hell of a great dish if it can consist of only vegetables and have me giving it the #1 spot on my leaderboard.
Third course
Egg in an egg - It is as it reads. This was presented in an a cool egg bowl thing. The food included a nice round orange yolk separate from egg white soup (thick as expected), and caviar. Voila! Egg in an egg! As with all of the preceding dishes, this was delectable.
The egg in an egg came with toast and cheese. The board on which they were placed was also Jaan-marked.
Fourth course
Scottish langoustine with brown butter pasta. Once again the sauce was placed on the plate on arrival. I like this concept; it makes things feel fresher. Liner’s included onion and mine did not. Also, notice the difference in garnishing - attention to detail! Yum. Good pasta, good shellfish, and good sauce. It all came together perfectly.
Fifth course
Next was poached snapper. It was served as this cute little cylinder type of thing and, as usual, the pumpkin soup was poured in on arrival. The snapper was very intricately sliced and placed to make a pretty pattern. I love the attention to detail. Excellent dish - we cleaned it out!
Sixth course
Baked pigeon and stuffed onion served under a glass cloche. The foie gras sauce was poured on arrival. The onion was stuffed with pigeon leg. The additional ingredients included shallot crumbs (the crust), polenta, and fig.
I’m not a huge fan of shallot so the crumb crust didn’t impress me. However, the doneness of the pigeon and the stuffed onion were gooooood. I really liked the sauce, too.
Pre-dessert
Six courses done! Now it’s time for dessert.
The pre-dessert palate cleanser was based on Kirk’s personal recipe for Ribena, with lemon jelly paste. It sounds so simple but it was presented so beautifully. I’m not a huge fan of citrus/sour desserts but this was not half bad. It had a good amount of tang to, I suppose, “cleanse” the palate and prepare us for a wild dessert ride. It also came with a little card which was what looked like a 90s Ribena newspaper advertisement. Rather cute, I must say.
First round of dessert
Ivory caramel chocolate. The presentation did resemble something of 2AM dessert bar, but the combination of tastes and textures was divine.
The ivory caramel chocolate was followed by a birthday cake! I was surprised at first and then realised I didn’t need to be. Either way, it was a brilliant and exciting moment. The birthday dessert seemed like a chocolate mousse covered in a silky ganache, served with a white chocolate plaque wishing me a happy birthday! I think the base was lined with cocoa beans. No, they do not sing to you.
Dessert platter
Four petit fours served in something of a puzzle formation. It was suggested that we eat them from right to left. Four crescents and pretty cute. I can’t remember exactly what each one was… I wish I had written it down.
The total bill came up to over $1,000. I also inadvertently chose the most expensive champagne offered on the trolley - $138 per glass. Oops.
All in all, it was a splendid dinner. If my pockets were deep enough I would return relatively frequently.
Food: 5/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Price: Half a grand per head
Service: 5/5
My experience: 5/5