Andre Chiang closed his highly revered Restaurant Andre in Singapore (at its peak, it was No. 2 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants and decorated with two Michelin stars) a year ago, last February 2018, with the decision to move on. Since then, the 2018 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Lifetime Achievement Awardee has relocated to his country of birth, Taiwan, where he has Raw in Taipei; opened The Bridge in Chengdu; and this March 2019, opened Sichuan Moon at the Wynn Palace in Macau— one of 2019’s biggest restaurant openings to date.
Fans of Andre are probably wondering, “Why Sichuan?” So I asked. “Sichuan cuisine has the widest DNA with 24 flavor profiles,” Andre shared. He added that he was “cooking Chinese not just for Chinese [people], but for the world,” and wants to correct any misconstrued notions that “that Chinese food is just sweet and sour pork or spring rolls.”
Well Sichuan Moon over and above does that. It’s far from any Sichuan restaurant that you have been to (often casual or a hole-in-the-wall). For one, its interiors, an ornate blend of East and West, features a custom-made chandelier of more than 700 Italian Murano glass butterflies, and can seat over a hundred people. Front and center, it is Sichuan fine dining with 26 courses— of normal-sized portions, I might add– don’t eat anything hours before, serious legit advice!— done with the same finesse and dexterity that we’ve all come to know at Andre. And I was extremely pleased to find out that Zor Tan, who has been Andre’s right-hand man for years, both at Andre and Raw, is executive chef here!
Tea-pairing here is a special experience, with rare Chinese teas like the Pu Erh Flower tea (with flower buds originally from Xishuangbanna in Yunnan and harvested only once a year) and Pipacha, an oolong aged for six months in wine barrels, giving a tea with a slight wine aftertaste. Likewise the wine-pairing experience, which offers rare wines and vintages, including Chinese wines that are not readily available, like the Jiabeilan Baby Feet Pinot Noir 2015, dubbed as the only winery in China that got the pinot noir “right.” Produced in China’s Ningxia region, which has the same latitude as Bordeaux, only 1,200 bottles are produced in outstanding vintages, and 20% of this wine has been exclusively reserved for Sichuan Moon.
Let’s go through some of my favorite dishes from the indulgent 26-course menu:
88 Fortune Treasures
A starter, these are eight cold dishes that represent Sichuan’s range of flavors, from deep-fried cordyceps and wasabi cuttlefish, to pig’s ear terrine and deboned duck tongue.
Hot And Sour Soup
The intricate flower presentation holds 10 different ingredients of the soup. The black pearls are Italian balsamic vinegar pearls to increase the sourness factor.
King Crab Leg
The soul of Sichuan cuisine, the aged “Pixian” broad bean sauce, fermented for five years, is “a Chinese national treasure,” shared Andre. “It’s very rare to have such a deep flavor of bean paste.” For this particular dish, Andre blended it with a Cantonese typhoon shelter powder crab– which they chargrilled– and is bursting with umami. It is served with a dollop of grilled toro oil as a dip.
Mapo Tofu
Where else in the world can you find Mapo Tofu that uses *four* kinds of tofu?! At Sichuan Moon, they serve handmade black tofu, Japanese egg tofu, soft tofu and aged tofu— to get a different texture with every bite. And let me just add that they sit on a sizzling hot bowl (mapo tofu must always be served hot) encased in 1,000 bay leaves!! What did I tell you about the level of intricacy here?
Longevity Dan-Dan Noodles
This is the Longevity Dan-Dan Noodles— a SINGLE-strand that is pulled out with a pair of chopsticks at your table. Instead of the traditional beef, at Sichuan Moon, they’ve replaced it with tea-smoked duck, duck skin, chicken skin and minced pork– all served with double-boiled chicken broth, sautéed minced meat sauce, peanut butter, and a one-month-old marinade of Sichuan chili, pepper and spiced oil.
Peppercorn Flavored Duck Foie Gras and Mushrooms Royale
Restaurant Andre’s signature Memory dish of Foie Gras Jelly with Black Truffle Coulis makes an appearance here– this time, laced with Sichuan peppercorn– and the use of rare sarcodon aspatus mushrooms from Yunnan. It’s just as decadent as I remembered it, this time, with a dash of spice.
Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Spicy
This is an incredible dessert releases all four flavors in just 10 seconds! “I want to end the meal with the four flavors,” shared Andre. “It’s a unique sweet from Sichuan Moon. After you rinse your palate, place it in your mouth– and in 10 seconds, you will taste sour, sweet, bitter and spicy– in this sequence.” With every dish, you are always reminded of what a genius Andre truly is.
In a nutshell, Sichuan Moon is outstanding but as I mentioned earlier, it’s A LOT OF FOOD! It is another Andre Chiang masterpiece– every dish cements how talented, meticulous and precise he and his team are. It’s likewise an (extremely palatable) education on Sichuan cuisine, which is often associated just with spice, but there’s a complete spectrum of flavors to discover! Tip: In case you can’t eat that much, Zor has told me there’s a shorter menu on hand but you have to request for it.
Sichuan Moon is located at Wynn Palace, Macau. Price for the tasting menu is approximately 1,888 MOP ++; and pairing (a combination of both teas and wines) is an additional MOP 1200++. For inquiries and reservations, phone +853 8889 3663 or visit www.wynnpalace.com
