Jean-Georges, nearly a three-hour brunch.

Totally deserves its own entry. Went here for a two-hour long Sunday brunch/lunch with my sister and aunt. So, a little background on Jean-Georges—he’s a French chef based in New York who has restaurants all over the world in places like New York, Hongkong and Tokyo; also, his New York restaurant has received 3 (the maximum) Michelin stars. In any case, Jean-Georges himself does not cook, but it his concepts that are executed in the Shanghai branch of his restaurant by a Chinese chef.

The Menu: since we came here for brunch, the menu was different from their regular one—a bit cheaper, but also a bit less extensive than their dinner menu. My sister and I ordered from their prix fixe menu, while my aunt ordered from their 5-course menu, so we could all taste each other’s food.

First off, the bread. Amaaazing. I’ve had good baguettes but their baguette was a different story—note the blisters on the bread, which emphasizes the perfect crusty-chewiness of the crust; when the bread was broken off into smaller pieces, the inside was soft, chewy, buttery and warm. The seed bread wasn’t bad either—it had a variety of seeds and raisins, yet was still moist.

Tuna Tartar. As you can see in the picture, the tuna came on a bed of avocado and was topped with slices of radish; the sauce that the server poured onto the tuna was a citrusy-ginger vinaigrette. I really liked this dish—the total combination of flavor was refreshing, and the addition of ginger to the citrus sauce (tasted a bit like yuzu) went really well with the spicy radish slices (radish was slightly peppery) to add a layer of flavor to the dish.

Foie Gras Brule with Slow-roasted Strawberries. One of my sister’s dishes that I tried, I thought that this dish was an interesting use of foie gras, which when paired with the strawberries became almost dessert-y in flavor. I thought this was a pretty heavy dish for an appetizer as well, even though the foie gras was rich and creamy. When paired with the bready thing below it, the foie gras brule reminded me of a shortcake. My aunt also had a foie gras dish (sorry, no picture)—this one with sour cherries and nuts instead of strawberries—and I liked that better, because the savory richness of the foie gras came out, which I felt was more suited to it.

Grilled Lamb with Baby Vegetables and Olive Crumbs. My second dish—the lamb rubbed with olive crumbs was grilled to perfection, and the baby vegetables served on mashed peas were tender. I did not like this dish that much however, when comparing it to my tuna tartare, because I felt that there was just too much fat on the lamb. This fat, while allowing the lamb to stay juicy, was not really something that I wanted to eat, and since it consisted of ¼ of the meat, made the entire dish not really worth it, because there was less of it to eat overall. My second comment with this dish was the mashed pea bed that the baby vegetables were on—I felt that even though it added a touch of color to the plate, it didn’t really add much to the overall idea of the dish itself and was more of a separate component that didn’t interact too much with the lamb.

Fish dishes. My sister ordered the Roasted Cod with Snow Peas and Scallions, with Almond Milk and Chili Oil, while my aunt had the Steamed Garoupa with Shitake, Asparagus Juice, Avocado and Herbs. Tasting both of them, I found that my sister’s dish was interesting. The almond milk gave the fish a milky flavor, and even when paired with the snow peas and scallions that topped the dish, everything had a subtly sweet and milky flavor. I didn’t taste any chili oil in this dish, and wish that I did, as I believe that its addition would’ve elevated it to make it more complex, instead of its overall one-note mildness that I felt it had. I liked my aunt’s dish better—the garoupa was steamed to perfection, and the flavor of the herbs nicely complemented the natural flavor of the fish, which had very clean, herby flavors overall.


Dessert. Even though we were sufficiently full after our main courses, the prix fixe menu included dessert, so dessert it was for all of us. I ordered the Meringue with Citrus Fruits (I think passionfruit, tangerine/orange and pineapple) and Honey Sorbet, while my sister got the Grand Marnier Souffle and Sorbet, while my aunt got the Chocolate Sampler, which included four different small portions of dessert (I think—am pretty sure—that I will gain weight in Shanghai this summer). My dessert was okay…didn’t really love it that much, but I have to admit that the plating was really beautiful and the dish was executed well. What I didn’t like with this dish was that the sorbet and the citrusy flavors dominated the dessert too much, such that the meringue was left out of the dish somewhat. Mindy’s dessert wasn’t bad either, but it wasn’t really love that I felt for it from my end of the table (more like appreciation I suppose), and it’s the same complaint that I have for it—the Grand Marnier was the only overriding flavor of both the soufflé and the sorbet, such that there was no contrast, no interplay of flavors between the different components. Unlike both of those desserts, I really liked the Chocolate Sampler of my aunt, because it utilized chocolate in so many different applications, textures and flavors (i.e. clockwise from top right: Cold Spanish Chocolate, Chocolate Mousse with Cookie Crust, Lime Gel and Sorbet to cleanse the palate and Chocolate Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream), which allowed chocolate to be showcased in its different forms. Everything on this plate was excellent (although I didn’t like the lime gel and sorbet as much as everything else).

Complimentary End-of-meal Treat. As if everything wasn’t enough (it was waaayyy enough), there were free chocolates at the end of the meal (apparently, according to my cousins, this end-of-meal treat changes from time to time). They were pretty good, but could not (and did not want to—too full) finish them all (we couldn’t finish the dessert either—that’s how full we were).