Stove Beats All
by Reuben Oh
@ 21 Sep 2018
This is the first real venture for the 26 years young Chomel Yang and Januver Chow, junior college sweethearts and promising restaurateurs; not counting the other restaurant they own, Fratini La Trattoria. “Fratini La Trattoria was a takeover, a collaboration with a partner which we eventually took over” Januver reveals with a glimmer of pride in his voice, “this place is more of a baby to us.”
His newly wedded wife, Head Chef Chomel, might be taking that last phrase a bit less figuratively. Ask her about the idea behind the establishment’s concept and her heart pours forth about her training in London’s Le Cordon Bleu, her long nurtured love for baking, and her stalwart dedication to highlighting local flavours and produce. All added to the boiling pot, her creative baby is a menu that is European-inspired, with its features buttered up by a tasteful array of Asian flavours. “The great thing about our fusion concept is that it allows us to bring in local flavours that we love – that we’ve all grown up with.”
With this in mind, her Cartafata may just be her calling card. The dish’s name comes from the carta fata paper the fish is wrapped in. It’s like the crab-in-a-bag presentations you have probably seen floating around recently, with one key exception: they actually cook the meat in the bag. A Spanish classic, it’s taken on an Asian twist with the use of local sea bass instead of the usual Mediterranean staples. It’s got me pitying the Spanish, sealed in the bag the local sea bass soaks up the lip-licking tomato-based sauce so well you can almost taste it off its bones. Here, Chef Chomel uses her home-cooked comfort with the product to delivery the extraordinary: “The sea bass come fresh daily from Singaporean fisheries; sea bass is something that I’ve learnt to cook since young so it’s easier for me to control in terms of temperature and texture.”
While his wife fronts the kitchen, Januver carries the Asian-inspired theme over to the restaurant’s bar: “you’re see a lot of ingredients that are familiar to us Singaporeans in my drinks, like pi pa gao and goji berry.” With nothing but a self-professed fondness for alcohol under his belt (sly looks are traded with Chomel upon this confession), he’s whipped up an appropriate selection of cocktails and mocktails that appeal deeply to the local heart. “Over a period of time (spent drinking), you develop a certain palate and interest in beverages. I love my beers, wines and cocktails, so seeing how different ingredients can come together to create something entirely new is of great importance to me.”
If I were to pick a libation over the rest, it would be his Hidden Dragon, a simple drink that leans on the bright flavours of dragonfruit and citrus, along with the sweetness of rum and ginger beer. With crunchy bits of dragonfruit inside, it is a drink that bets heavily on the local love for the fruit – and delivers. To pair, we’re served Chef Chomel’s take on the Ceviche complete with a Southeast Asian medley of mango, dragon fruit, and sea bass. Just the change in fruit brings an additional level of flavour and texture to this Peruvian tradition: a well-embodied portrayal of the direction they are taking with the restaurant.
Everything Januver makes though, decidedly, has to go through Chef Chomel first: “When he gives me the list of drinks, Asian-inspired is the only concept I’m looking for. If you have a theme in mind for a restaurant, you have to come through with it. It can’t only just exist in the kitchen, it also has to reflect the outside.” All in all, it works - impressively so from a couple as green as these two. Having known each other since junior college, the learned dynamism between them definitely helps. “We got to know each other through a shared Co-Curricular Activity in Junior in JC. I was the treasurer, and he handled events. So I controlled the money,” Chomel shares. Upon hearing this, Januver chips in boldly, tongue-in cheek, “Well, she’s still controlling the money la.”
