Most people, when wanting to share their life stories, would think of writing a memoir or an autobiography. For chef Zor Tan, the major milestones in his life are shared through food. Tan’s restaurant, Born, is steeped in memory and inspiration, with each dish featuring his memories, from childhood to the years honing his culinary skills in the various kitchens he has worked in.
The Malaysian-born Chinese chef lives in Singapore. He used to work in Macau and has amassed a palate that is a mix of his Hokkien ancestry with Cantonese, Sichuan, and Taiwanese influences. In his contemporary cuisine, his dishes are executed with a style that marries the elegance and subtlety of French gastronomy with a deep knowledge of Chinese ingredients and flavours.
Tan cites renowned chef André Chiang as his mentor when he used to work with Chiang in Singapore at the now defunct award-winning Restaurant André. Tan has even recreated the foie gras parfait that Chiang was famous for and made it his own — with Chiang’s blessing, of course. In Tan’s dish, he uses chicken liver that is soaked in milk. The fat is removed, then blended with egg, butter, cream, and salt, and steamed until set. It certainly gave us a culinary trip down memory lane as the taste profiles are similar yet different.
With the opening of Born, Tan has the opportunity to showcase this artistry and define his voice. Born is located in the Jinrikisha Station, a conserved building circa 1903 that served as a depot for rickshaws. To preserve the architectural integrity, design firm Grey Matters chose a fluid spatial flow with defined zones. The overall aesthetic is modern fused with heritage where patterns, shapes, and colours are kept simple. Subtle Chinese references are added with designs inspired by sea creatures with organic, poetic forms. The colour palette embodies warmth and delicacy with the use of black, neutrals, sand, and grey accents, with touches of green, red and yellow to break the monotony.
We begin savouring Tan’s journey with an assortment of Pickles & Snacks. Tan’s parents operated an “economic rice” stall in Malaysia and Tan is very grateful for the joy and contentment that comes from delicious home-cooked meals. As the saying goes, happiness is a full belly. With this in mind, Tan created the Pickles & Snacks course as a multi-experience, multi-plate series embodying his cuisine philosophy.
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Our favourite is the tomato “ball” with preserved “hua mei” plum and micro basil — a refreshing mix of heirloom or Japanese Momotaro tomatoes blended with dehydrated “hua mei” plums and encased in a frozen sphere and coated in cocoa butter. Bite into this flavour bomb and let the juices coat your mouth as you take your time to relish the moment.
This dish evokes Tan’s childhood memory of how his father used to bring home fresh mango and guava. Tan would put sour plum powder on top of the fruits and enjoy the combination of sweet, sour, and tangy flavours.
In what seems as a departure from the Chinese/ Japanese dishes, Jerusalem artichoke puree, burnt butter stock, caviar, fresh lily bulbs, and white chocolate shavings are served. White chocolate shavings? Yes, this is a dish where the unexpected pairing works brilliantly together.
Jerusalem artichoke is slow-cooked with burnt butter chicken stock, skinned, blended with cream, seasoned with salt and sugar, then poured into a siphon to create an espuma. It is then finished with caviar, fresh lily bulbs from China, extra virgin olive oil, and white chocolate shaved tableside. For added crunch, Jerusa- lem artichoke skin is served on the side.
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Another great “ingredient alchemy” by Tan is his dry-aged pigeon, barley risotto with corn and sundried tomato, Orange Cosmos petals, pigeon jus with fermented black bean and fresh green Sichuan peppercorns and garlic aioli. This dish is meticulously prepared as the pigeon is dry-aged for 12 days, confit for two hours with the bone in and bincho-grilled, then seasoned with salt and pepper. The breast is removed and served with the leg, with the toppings made of garlic bread crumbs and enjoyed with garlic aioli.
In between bites of the pigeon, have a taste of the risotto that is prepared with barley cooked in chicken stock, then mixed with pearl corn from Genting High- lands, sunflower seeds, shallots cooked in white wine, and sun-dried tomatoes that have been baked till dehydrated. Over this lies a layer of pearl corn that has been steamed and sliced thinly, and garnished with Cosmos petals to resemble a sunflower.
The meal at Born ends on a high note with not one, but four mouth-watering sweet treats: Sea Buckthorn Jelly (sour); “Ispahan” Lotus (sweet); Bittergourd Bonbon (bitter); Spicy Beef Fat Financier (spicy). Each dish contributes to the sour, sweet, bitter and spicy “suan tian ku la” profile — as Tan believes one does not taste sweetness without first knowing bitterness.
BORN
1 Neil Road, Singapore 088804
Contact: Tel: (65) 9270 8718
