“We aim always, to present a menu that is a bit surprising, perhaps even a bit crazy,” says Kenny Ng, founder of French restaurant Ultime when welcoming guests to the start of the ‘Caviar Ultimate Indulgence’ menu. For Ng, whose foray into fine dine F&B began with Beni Malaysia at the start of 2020, the journey throughout the pandemic has been richly rewarding despite the various lockdowns. That proof lies in the continued success of the initiative steller dinner menus at Ultime restaurant that’s paired with top wines and spirits, ranging from Chateau Margaux to Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
Most recently, Ultime restaurant celebrated its caviar-themed ‘Ultimate Indulgence’ menu (RM1,500) paired with Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes, twin elements which provided plenty of discovery for those in attendance. Accompanying the dinner was Jean-Baptiste Gourvil, brand ambassador for Martell, Mumm and Perrier-Jouet who showcased his skills at sabrage, popping the tops of the champagne bottles with panache.
The evening’s proceedings kicked off with Steffen Maximilian of Natural Organica, who took guests on a deep dive into the nature and resulting roe produce by sturgeon dwelling in the Caspian sea. The mineral-rich waters lend its character to the eventual caviar, with Iranian Sevruga offering a salted tinge and the larger Baerii producing bold, creamy finishes.
At Ultime restaurant, the entire range of caviar flowed through right from the start. Following the sevruga and baerii, guests indulged in the buttery Miras Imperial Beluga, harvested at a minimum of 18 years from Huso Huso sturgeon which grow up to two metres in length. The apex of the caviar parade was undeniably the 40-year-old Almas (meaning diamond in Russian) Golden Albino Caviar which regularly fetches between US$25,000 and US$30,000 per kilo. This rare treat, once the reserve of shahs, czars and emperors, offers an intensity triple that of beluga caviar, courtesy of the sturgeon’s age, and possesses a dazzling white finish due to the lack of melanin from the albino sturgeon. Its distinctive fresh butter notes dovetailed perfectly with floral elegance and white flower bouquet of the Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque 2012 vintage, where only a score or so bottles make its way into Malaysia annually.
From such a whirlwind start, the dinner segued into the house specialities of the choice of breads – orange croissant loaf, sourdough and mini faluche – by the Ultime’s in-house boulangerie. Accompanying them were specially made butters in the form of humidified caviar shaved into rich Brittany butter, as well as uni, wakame and charcoal truffled variants.
Then came more caviar as one would naturally expect; on plump Canadian lobster, a flaming purple clam with cheese, and a foie gras brulee topped with, you guessed it, beluga caviar. Throughout these courses, the rich mineral and elemental caviar was balanced by the graceful notes of the Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes on offer; a peach-apricot-pineapple cascade in the Mumm Grand Cordon, strawberry and berry fruit coulis of the Mumm Grand Cordon Rose, to the buttery brioche and vanilla of the Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut and long honeyed finish of the 2012 vintage Belle Epoque.
A binchotan-grilled lobster anointed with golden albino caviar allowed a triumphant rounding to the evening’s caviar proceedings with a Mont Blanc of coconut glace offering the sweet finish, a delightful example of taste, texture and elevation of ingredients, an Ultime signature of always providing dinner pairings where both food and drink dovetail to the nth degree.
Photos: Law Soo Phye
