Restaurant au Jardin : Where Cuisine Meets Art
During our recent trip up north to Penang, we made a stop at one of Malaysia's five Michelin-star fine-dining establishments—Restaurant au Jardin.
Located in an old, repurposed warehouse in Hin Bus Depot, au Jardin hosts a space for 18 diners in one seating. The airy courtyard with sunlight flowing in through the roof gives a welcoming aura as you step in through the front doors.
Our amuse-bouche consisted of 3 dishes along with their homemade bread made with a process similar to how tosai is made. The taste had a slight acidity like your usual tosai from a mamak, but not quite strong as a sourdough. The star of the dish was their tomato chutney butter, which got us requesting a second serving of the bread.
Our first dish was a century egg ice cream, with a non-spicy Szechuan pepper sauce. Beneath it was a steamed soymilk custard similar to tau foo fah but with a creamier consistency.
Next, we were presented with an off-menu dish served underneath a tin can — a sardine parfait with squid ink and an anchovy sablé, pickled shallots, buttered toast and sardine jam. It very much reminded us of the classic childhood snack of Julie crackers with canned tuna, although much more refined.
The next dish came with our knowledgable waiter prefacing us with "Do you like chicken rice?" and promptly served us our next course — the Faux 'Chicken' Rice "Our Penang Heritage Food".
Despite having 'faux' in the title, the dish was not vegetarian by any means. Chicken meat was wrapped around the feet like a skewer, and the rice was served as a foam. In the middle of the dish was also bite-sized servings of crispy chicken skin.
As we finished our 'chicken rice', our waiter brought out the whole hay aged duck which was aged for 6-14 days, complete with smoke coming out of the box as a preview for what's to come.
Before we got started on our mains, we were served a sorbet ball made out of mandarin and yuzu, where the waiter informed us that everything in the bowl was edible except the cinnamon sticks.
Our mains came shortly after, and we chose the hay aged duck and the local coral grouper.
After a short break, our dessert was served, along with coffee made on the Rocket Giotto Cronometro R. We were served an artichoke cake topped with rose ice cream and fried artichoke skin, along with a sugar-free meringue.
At the end of our exquisite 7-course meal and after another short break, we had the honour to sit down with Tatler's Asia's Most Influential for 2023 and Tatler Dining's Chef of the Year 2023 — Chef Su, the chef-proprietor of Restaurant au Jardin.
Trained in classical French cuisine, Chef Su started his career and culinary journey in UK. He moved to Taipei, Taiwan in 2014, and returned to Penang in 2018, and started au Jardin in the same year.
The inspiration behind au Jardin's degustation menu is a blend of a European palette and softer Asian pallete, suitable for the tastes of Penangite locals and Malaysians wanting to explore beyond the typical Malaysian flavours without being too overwhelmed.
We then asked Chef Su about our common denominator — coffee.
(Coincidentally, we met Chef Su that same morning when we visited ae coffee!)
As a young chef just starting out in the culinary world, Chef Su relied on liquid caffeine to get him through 17-hour days in the kitchen, drinking at least 16 shots of coffee a day. As the years went by and Chef Su put together his culinary team here at au Jardin, he started to consume less than 6 shots daily. "I have a lot of spare energy now [since] I don't do as much physical work, so it's harder for me to burn away the caffeine."
Chef Su prefers washed coffee beans, preferring the clarity it offers. "It may not have the perfect flavour composition, but you can savour the coffee itself, rather than having too many processes involved to alter the flavour composition."
The team at au Jardin chose the Rocket Giotto Cronometro R due to its compact size, and the logic behind it. They host 3 seatings a day—1 lunch session and 2 dinner sessions at 5:15pm and 8:15pm— with 50-60 guests per day. Only some 10-15 diners would order a coffee to go at the end of their meal.
As they are not a high volume cafe, they did not see a need to invest in a high-output machine like a 2 group machine. After consulting his fellow barista friends, they recommended the Rocket Giotto not just for its performance, but its sleek and minimalistic design that fits the theme of au Jardin.
Coffee plays apart in the fine dining experience, especially toward the end of their meals with a dessert. Chef Su notes that many other restaurants compromise on the coffee part of the dining experience as its not their specialty, but he wants customers to have the full A-to-Z experience at a fine dining establishment.
Coffee is used as a component in some of the seasonal menu items in their degustation menu, such as savoury stews. He notes that a coffee's bitterness plays an important part in flavour profiling, so it acts as a natural bitter substance.
Inspired by his morning coffee's flavour profiles, Chef Su creates dishes that have the same profile. He gave an example of their sorbet consisting of red capsicum and osmanthus flower. It was made as a bridge, a palate cleanser, between a savoury and sweet dish as the red capsicum had a very green 'vegetable' and natural taste, while the osmanthus was very aromatic and reminiscient of a sweet Chinese dessert. He notes that it is not your typical combination for a dessert, but it was in the flavour notes of his coffee.
Of course, we could not visit a Michelin-star restaurant without asking how they felt about receiving the honor of having the star. Chef Su credits the star to the team, not owing the success to a single individual. He tries to describe the feeling as very, very happy, but he feels just 'happy' is an extreme understatement, shallow even. The Michelin Star is a testament to their hard work and drive from their 5 years of operation.
Prior to au Jardin, Hin Bus Depot had no established F&B businesses. It started 6 years ago as a showcase area for international and local artists. There was a lot of greenery around (including some pests, which have now been eradicated), and Chef Su attributes the location for the names of his F&B businesses, such as Shokudō Niban located on Jalan Dua (Two Road in English). Hence, the name of au Jardin—the garden.
Chef Su is thankful that the owner of Hin Bus Depot recognizes culinary as a form of art. The idea behind their tagline, quand la cuisine rencontre l'art, translated as 'when cuisine meets art' is inspired by that. Their meal presentation, service, and the whole experience is theatrical—also a form of art.
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