The restaurant at The Club at the Saujana
Global Dining
The Beresford, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW
The long-awaited reopening of the multi-million-dollar Beresford Hotel is creating quite a buzz in this inner-Sydney suburb. Chef Danny Russo is on the pans in the 80-seat trattoria, and his signature dishes – squid ink tortellini with crabmeat; chocolate eggplant dessert – have diners queuing up for more. The custom-designed project, which includes a public bar, an outdoor drink and dine section, and cocktails by queen bee Alexx Swainston, can be best described as “sexy Italian meets Sydney chic”. Danny’s inventive menu combines his Basilicatan (southern Italian) roots in a modern fusion with local produce. The vitello tonnato merges marshmallow-soft strips of wagyu tongue with tuna-egg emulsion. Tuna dices, capers and tonnato sauce are sprinkled over the dish, creating a melt-in-your-mouth sensation.
The Beresford
354 Bourke Street, Darlinghurst,
Sydney, Australia
Phone +612 9357 1111
Visit www.theberesford.com.au
The Dining Room, Hyatt Regency Hakone Resort & Spa, Japan
Hyatt Regencies may be sophisticated high-end hotels, but they seem to have the knack of providing the sort of relaxed atmosphere and excellent, friendly service that you’d expect at a good B&B. So it is at this new resort in the beautiful alpine region of Hakone, just two hours from Tokyo. No stuffy pretension here, and it shows – particularly in the resort’s dining experience. Guests start the evening in the lounge with complimentary pre-dinner drinks, overlooking a leafy courtyard in summer and a crackling fire in winter. Then it’s on to the restaurant, with its large windows and intimate atmosphere. Here, you can sit back and watch the chefs at work in the open kitchen, then dine handsomely on the resulting dishes – selected from a French-inspired menu featuring fresh produce from the Hakone and Sagami Bay regions. I recommend the delicious sautéed lobster and scallop with French foie gras for entrée, if it’s on the menu. Follow that up with the roasted Challans duck or your pick of various other seasonal mains, and round it off with a bound-to-be-superb dessert of the day. This is likely to be one of the best meals you’ll eat in Japan.
Hyatt Regency Hakone Resort & Spa
1320 Gora Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun,
Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Phone +81 460 82 2000
Visit hakone.regency.hyatt.com
By Brian Johnston
Capellini with seared scallops from Braise in Singapore
The Restaurant, The Club at The Saujana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Following an extensive renovation over 16 months, the much-anticipated The Club has opened its doors to the public at The Saujana, one of the KL’s finest, most luxurious boutique resorts. Guests can work up an appetite with a round of golf or any one of a contingent of other sports at the resort-style property before heading to The Restaurant, its terrace overlooking The Saujana’s glorious gardens – all 160 hectares of them. The Restaurant offers all-day dining, with creative European and Asian dishes prepared in a gleaming open kitchen. If that fails to inspire or you crave variety, head to one of seven other dining venues adjacent to The Saujana Kuala Lumpur and The Saujana Golf and Country Club.
The Club at The Saujana,
Jalan Lapangan Terbang SAAS,
40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Phone 1800 667 731 or
+603 7843 1234
Visit www.thesaujanahotel.com
Chef Michael Han from Restaurant 53 in Singapore
Restaurant 53, Singapore
Best described as contemporary European, Restaurant 53 serves up a lighter rendition of innovative European cuisine. The chef Michael Han’s philosophy is to work with ingredients of the finest quality, while supporting local producers, and wherever possible, to incorporate local wild flora and fauna into his cuisine. Restaurant 53 is designed to be eco-friendly, environmentally responsible and sustainable, with ingredients sourced from local farms or the Asia-Pacific region to reduce the restaurant’s carbon footprint. The design of the restaurant is a clever use of light and space, with an uncluttered, raw interior and a hint of playfulness. The main dining space, on the second floor, has wooden floors, high ceilings and picturesque views, and a maximum seating capacity of 30. The ground floor, with its deep, rounded window recesses, houses the kitchen and a private dining room for 12.
Restaurant 53
53 Armenian Street
Singapore
Phone +65 6334 5535
Email reservations@fiftythree.com.sg
Squid ink tortellini from The Beresford in Sydney
The French Corner Restaurant, Highett, Victoria
The rustic, French-style décor and traditional Gallic service creates a true French experience at this Melbourne suburban restaurant, where chef Daniel Airoldi serves dishes inspired by his provincial home, Dordogne. The restaurant’s authenticity is reinforced by Airoldi’s policy of providing any customer who has not tried escargots with a sample snail. The restaurant’s signature dish, cassoulet Toulousain, is a complex dish cooked over three days, beginning with the salting and cooking of the duck meat. Airoldi then assembles the duck, along with pork shoulder, smoked pork belly, Toulouse sausage and white beans, and cooks the combination for several hours, resulting in a rich and tender cassoulet. Such culinary delights entice a broad range of diners, from food connoisseurs to families.
The French Corner Restaurant,
493 Highett Rd, Highett, Victoria
Phone 03 9555 1199
Visit www.thefrenchcorner.com.au
Inside Braise Restaurant on Sentosa Island in Singapore
Braise, Sentosa Island, Singapore
Sentosa seems set to become not only the leisure destination for Singapore, but one for wining and dining as well, and things just went up a notch with the opening of Braise, a modern European restaurant right on the sands of Palawan Beach. Braise’s cuisine style is classic French given a modern lift, cooked with Chef Desmond Lee’s light hand. French oysters and caviar are mainstays on the menu; enjoy the caviar with traditional condiments and blinis, or the Baeri as part of an appetiser with scrambled egg with vodka cream and lobster bisque. Among the selection of main courses is roasted Challan duck breast with duck medley and green peppercorn sauce, while for desserts the pear tart and chocolate lava cake with coffee ice cream are rightly popular.
Braise
Level 2, 60 Palawan Beach Walk
Sentosa Island
Singapore
Phone +65 6271 1929
Visit www.braise.com.sg
Dining at Bambini Trust Restaurant & Wine Room
Bambini Trust Restaurant, Sydney, NSW
This modern European café-restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, has an unpretentious but fine selection of Mediterranean-influenced dishes and particularly good pasta. There is also a great wine list that offers some fairly unusual and interesting choices. Owner-chef team Angela Loannides and Michael Potts have gone for a “European bistro” in a heritage-listed building: Bambini Trust’s interior is decked out in dark wood and leather, with paper-covered tables and fine glassware. And the locals love it, for its food and for its impeccable service. As for the wine room, with its leather seating, mirrors and chandeliers, it adds a huge touch of class to what might otherwise be a typical Sydney watering hole.
Bambini Trust
Restaurant & Wine Room
St James Trust Building,
185 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW
Phone 02 9283 7098
Visit www.bambinitrust.com.au
Dining among the wine bottles at the Hyatt Regency Hakone
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