BRANDFIT Collaboration with Chef Julien Royer to Create Exclusive Menu
This October, BRANDFIT has collaborated with Chef Julien Royer of three Michelin-starred restaurant Odette to work with a selection of top notch Korean produce in his kitchen. The lauded chef has managed to create a four course menu that showcases his skill as well as the high quality of the premium Korean produce used. The produced used will be available at Culina at COMO Dempsey, one of Singapore’s leading purveyors of epicurean food and wine.
“Premium Korean produce in the hands of skilled chefs can be adapted to suit many cuisines,” says Korean chef Olivia Le, founder of BRANDFIT. “Chef Julien Royer was the first chef to reach out to me when I started promoting premium Korean produce. His constant interest in discovering new products is one of the many reasons why he is at the top of his game.”
The celebrated chef-owner of Odette, Chef Royer, has nothing but praise for the products in question, incorporating Korean seafood, mushrooms, vegetables and fruits into an exclusive menu for BRANDFIT. Each course is designed to showcase the nuanced flavours of the artisanal Korean ingredients to bring a sense of excitement.
The crown jewel of the menu is the Songi Mushrom & Jeju Abalone Duo. The Jeju abalone is highly prized among Koreans as it benefits the heart, skin and eyes. It’s slow-cooked on the bincho grill, imparting a smokiness to complement he abalone’s natural sweetness. Charcoal-grilled songi mushrooms (pine mushroom or matsutake) glazed with pine butter are nestled along with the Jeju abalone over potatoes à la grenobloise. Dressed in a rich abalone liver sauce, the dish is topped with fried capers and garlic crouton.
“The songi mushroms are very interesting. Apart from it’s naturally smoky flavour, it is lightly chewy, which gives it a wonderful texture that accentuates the taste. When I first opened the box, the smell immediately reminded me of a forest. I think the best way to work with it is to let the mushrooms speak for themselves, when it’s cooked into a broth or consomé, it dilutes the intensity and complexity of the mushrom’s flavour,” shares Chef Royer.
We particularly enjoyed the Baek Hwa Go Dolsot Bap, which consists of Golden Queen 3 rice simmered in mushroom-burdock stock, with sautéed burdock and white flower mushroom. When it’s garnished with chives, burdock crisps and candied burdock skin the entire dish is a lovely, smokey, and yet earthy dish that works well as a filling meal. When paired with Chef Royer’s take on the seasonal banchan – a small side dish often served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine and made of ribbons of Korean radish, saffron-pickled Naju pear, pickled cucumber, charred spring onion and crab white soy relish, nasturtium, the result is a fresh, tangy dish that still provides the crunch after the relish was poured over the dish.
Desserts come with Chef’s Shine Muscat Grape & Yuja Gourmandise is a light cheesecake mouse over a base of distinctively sweet and tangy yuja jam, toasted yellow pine nuts and amande crumble, embellished with fresh muscat grapes. The use of pine nuts gives it a distinctive nutty base, and the combination of the ham, amande crumble and pine nuts provide a thick sweetness to the smooth cheesecake mousse. Paired with the refreshing Korean Muskmelon Sorbet which exudes the sweetness of Korea's luxury muskmelons you get the perfect end to the meal.
'Premium Korean produce is not widely available in Singapore, but the quality and diversity is truly impressive. Through BRANDFIT, I’ve been introduced to a wide range of ingredients, some of which I didn't previously know of. It’s been a very interesting process of discovery, having the opportunity to cook with such a variety of unique ingredients,” shares Chef Julien Royer.
Brandfit Korean products are currently available at Culina at
COMO Dempsey.
