Review

Modern Cantonese restaurant Chai Jia Chai, led by chef Tsai Shih Wei, places ingredient quality and meticulous technique in every plate. Black and gold interiors heighten elegance with a sense of mystery. Eggplant and mackerel, using charred aubergine topped with fish and dried scallop, delivers smoke and depth. Corn with crab roe borrows from Thai corn salad, replacing salted egg with crab roe marinated in Chinese wine, finished with lime caviar and French caviar. Alaskan king crab wrapped in pork caul fat is firm crab offset by jicama stir-fried with shiitake. Matsutake, sturgeon tendon is the showpiece, tendon taken only from sturgeon over 100 kilograms, in clear broth simmered 48 hours with chicken and pork leg, lifted by Iberico 5J ham and rare matsutake from Yunnan’s Shangri-La. Aged radish with 15 head size South African dried abalone braised three days, then pan-fried for crisp edge while keeping chewy core, lifted with onion and two sauces, one creamy with garlic and milk, the other from its braising stock. Later plates include yellow fish maw in Taiwanese mala broth with morels and asparagus, Kagoshima A5 Wagyu aged 30 days, and signature French blue lobster rice soup prepared tableside with puffed rice. Desserts refresh with mango sorbet, plum-soaked pear, red bean spring roll, purple rice tiramisu and jasmine green tea jelly with cream.