Recently-renovated fine dining Catalan restaurant Gaig welcomes the new season with an exciting summer 2023 menu that puts lamb front and centre.
Catalan culinary bastion Restaurant Gaig has launched into the 2023 summer season with a new seasonal tasting menu that spotlights an ingredient we don’t normally associate with Spanish cuisine.
Lamb.
But lamb is huge in Catalan cuisine. And particularly so in northern Catalunya near the Pyrenees mountain range bordering France, where Xisqueta lamb is highly prized for its robust, flavourful meat.
This season, Restaurant Gaig Executive Chef Marti Carlos Martinez draws inspiration from the region’s rich traditions and fresh bounty – especially Xisqueta lamb – and pulls together a taste of summer in Catalunya.
The new seasonal chef’s menu starts with a trio of canapés that showcase Gaig’s signature culinary playfulness with classic Catalan flavours. Chef Marti reinvents the familiar entrepà of fuet and pa de coca into a bite-sized crisp filo sheet sandwiching the fuet sausage, for example, or reimagining the lazy, loungy Catalan summer weekends with friends over vermouth and snacks into a crunchy potato cone with cockle purée and vermouth-marinated olive pearls. There’s a miniature taco too, a whimsical twist on the Cádiz specialty of tortillas camarones featuring shredded ossobuco as filling.
You’ll then luxuriate in the starter of ravioli – the pasta dumplings filled with tender minced lamb leg – that come swimming in flavourful langoustine broth. Following that is Chef Marti’s contemporary take on a Balearic Islands classic that turns it into a creation of Michelin standards. What is usually a humble Menorcan dish of fried lobster, eggs and potatoes here is reinvented as pan-seared Boston lobster tail, an unctuous lobster jus-infused egg yolk, purple potato chips and tomato bread that will leave you gasping in gastronomic pleasure.
The spotlight returns to lamb with a dish of carefully pan-seared glazed sweetbreads, accompanied with artichoke served up in three textures – pureed, whole, and as a crisp. As for the main? Juicy roasted herb-encrusted lamb rack, complete with jus and a smear of sauce made with piquant Idiazábal cheese for funky contrast.
And for a true taste of summer, the meal ends off with a dessert of orange expressed in different forms – as a sorbet, pearls and candied bits – paired with carrot sabayon and egg yolk ice cream.
Don’t forget to avail yourself to Gaig’s wine list, which pays great respect to the many different Spanish winemaking regions (including, of course, Catalunya). For pairing with lamb though, you can’t go too far wrong with a good Tempranillo from Rioja or a Priorat Garnacha.
And of course, some fabulous Catalunyan cava to wash away the heat of summer.
Restaurant Gaig’s Summer 2023 tasting menu is available at S$180++ per diner.
Restaurant Gaig
Address 16 Stanley St, Singapore 068735 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 11.45am to 11pm Mondays to Fridays; 12pm to 3pm and 6pm to 11pm on Saturdays; closed on Sundays
Tel (65) 6221 2134
Web singapur.restaurantgaig.com
Facebook gaigsingapore
Instagram @gaigsingapore
