A RECENT private wine dinner at Jing Ze introduced me to the nuanced Asian cuisine of  western-trained chef Nicholas Scorpion, whose food food had recognisable, familiar flavours – Balinese, Thai and Chinese.

His Red Snapper Crudo, for instance, has compressed pomelo, pickled young papaya and roasted sesame. The beetroot cured snapper is smooth and springs up with every delightful bite.

We had a Beetroot Sea Bass Crudo at another dinner there this week, and the chef had tweaked it, with a hazelnut oil drizzle, salted slices of beetroot shaped into roses on the plate, with chopped soybeans dressed in soy and mustard beneath the fish.

Jing Ze is the chef’s Chinese name; he is half Thai too and has a Balinese girlfriend. His restaurant in Section 17, Petaling Jaya, has a western ambience, but the round tables suggest food sharing in the best Asian tradition.

We encountered Balinese flavours in the Cod Cutlet with sambal matah and dried lime. The sambal is a generous helping of thinly sliced shallots, lemongrass, lime juice and coconut oil. The fried cod flakes off as you touch it with your fork, and with a heap of this sambal, it tastes amazing. I will not share this cod when I dine there again.

This sambal matah paired perfectly with the Lamb Shoulder with chinkiang chicken jus, rated leeks and hazelnuts. We had asked for this mellow, balanced relish as the salad it was served with did not cut through the richness of this tender roasted lamb. Later, the chef himself good-naturedly said “sambal matah goes well with everything.” We like that.

At the wine dinner, the chef served a dumpling/ravioli filled with lobster, prawn and scallop, in a delicious broth steeped from prawn and lobster shells and finished with chilli oil. We had a similar flavourful broth with the Prawn, Duck Liver Dumplings with shellfish emulsion and chilli oil. We slurped it up.

The Slow Grilled Stuffed Chicken Wings with miso glaze and lemon are stuffed with their own meat and snake beans. We were all fingers with these, and licked them clean after that.

The Duck Sausage with bone marrow, mustard cream and pickled onions had a rich, luscious feel with a tart burst of mustard. The flavours were well-balanced in the meaty sausage.

I was thrilled by the smokiness of the chocolate ganache served with the Spiced Traditional  Cake, which is an Indonesian Layer Cake. It was dessert harmony, though I liked it better the first time around when the layer cake was more moist and buttery. We couldn’t get enough of the pleasing Jackfruit Sorbet with coconut sago and milk biscuits.

Chef Nicholas, who is from Singapore, has worked in restaurants in northern Europe but is inspired by his grandmother’s cooking and other Asian flavours he encountered along the way.

His menu is not a static one: it’s constantly evolving. In his earlier menu for instance, I would have loved to try the Wood-fired Baby Squid with roasted blue ginger curry, Crispy Duck “haji slamet”, and Slow Roast Cauliflower, with mungbean and pineapple curry, Jing Ze Contemporary Asian Restaurant is located at No. 22 Jalan 17/54, Section 17, Petaling Jaya, tel - 03-7931 4801.

Appetisers range from RM30 to RM35, Shoulder of Lamb is RM90 while desserts are RM25 each. – October 20, 2018.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects of it, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published a cookbook, Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.