The Place
One of Shanghai’s lasting culinary presences, Stefan Stiller’s departure from his tenure at naked Retreat's Moganshan enterprise has seen him open a new concept, Tai’an Table.
A ‘private’ restaurant with 20 bar-side seats and two tables, Tai’an Table is the kind of project chefs dream about, and essentially does away with the tedium of large restaurant operation. It serves set menus available in 10 or 14-course options for, gulp, RMB988/1288.
Doing the cooking is Stiller himself plus Hungarian chef de cuisine Jeno Racz, who spent time at Noma, Robuchon in Singapore and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. All Michelin Star joints.
The Food
With Racz as his right-hand man, Stiller's remarkable kitchen operates with quiet efficiency. You'll literally see your food plated before your eyes, meaning there's little room for unsightly errors/meltdowns. Combine this with an ambitious 14-course menu, 28 individual covers and an evolving monthly menu, and you have a production that would give Ultraviolet a run for its money.
We start with a trio of appetizers. Dill smoked salmon with a fantastic meaty texture, eggplant braised in dashi and a tiny, glossy cherry. Just kidding, it's actually a celeriac almond mousse in a beetroot gel. A memento from Chef Racz's time at Heston Blumenthal's restaurant?
Luckily for us, many of the subsequent dishes that follow have a decent dose of originality. There are even times when Tai'an Table has shivers of genius.
Beautifully poached lobster with a fantastic, frothy velouté-like sauce paired with morel mushrooms and white asparagus. The latter two are in season, and it's nice to see chefs making seasonal choices with ingredients.
Excellent, lightly caramelized beef bone marrow slivers paired with oyster 'cream,' two flavors that work in unexpected, briny harmony. This sits atop a circle of really yummy toast fried in wagyu beef fat.
Foie gras is a bit of a tired trope, and paired carrot ketchup? No way. But actually, yes way. We were full on expecting this to be overwrought and weird, but the tartness of the ketchup balances out the foie gras fattiness like nobody's business.
Finally our favorite dish. Cucumber sorbet 'palette cleanser' with pickled cucumbers and herb 'snow.' The latter takes fresh herbs, flash frozen with dry ice and smashed with a mortar and pestle at the table. 
The effect is breathtakingly fresh, aromatic and cold. A bit like flipping your pillow over and enjoying the precious few cold seconds on the other side.
If Tai'an Table were just these dishes, we'd be giving them a 4.5/5 review. But with 14 courses, there are going to bethings that you don't like. Mainly green vegetable purées. Looooots of purées.
Broccoli purée on the caviar chawan mushi (Japanese egg custard)
Dill purée on the octopus leg with quinoa and black garlic.
Parsley and garlic purée in the frog leg rice porridge.
Red cabbage 'ketchup' that was more purée with the wagyu beef and short rib.
I feel like I've said 'purée' so many times it's ceased to have any meaning to me. Same with Tai'an Table. But despite this, a meal here finishes with two really great, innovative desserts.
Umeboshi (Japanese picked plum) cheesecake with matcha and meringue. Lactic acid from the cheesecake and tart, salty flavors from the plums are surprising and moreish.
Lastly, another amazing sorbet. Chefs Stiller and Racz tell us this cocoa and smoked sea salt sorbet is made with nothing but slow-roasted cocoa powder, cocoa butter and water. The result is not sweet, but nutty and almost minerally, and good enough to eat by itself if you like unusual flavors.
Food verdict: 2/3 (very nearly 2.5/3)
The Vibe
Being a 'private' restaurant, Tai'an Table goes to great airs to maintain mystique. The address is only disclosed upon booking, via website not phone. Upon arrival guests must buzz a doorbell and state their business before gaining entrance. All very grand.
On the plus side, the set up does grant an intimate 'chef's table' experience, and many dishes are served and explained by the chefs themselves.
Vibe verdict: 1/1
Value for Money
Lots of places try and fail to be 'innovative' when it comes to cooking. Tai'an Table gets it right in many places. But not RMB1288 right. Also not RMB988 right, since the 10-course menu excludes three of the best dishes on the menu.
Ultimately, Tai'an Table is rife with potential and talent, and we're excited to see a chef realize such a chef-focused concept, but we wish but we wish they'd do a shorter, cheaper menu of their all-star dishes so we could afford to come back.
Value for Money: 0.5/1
Total Verdict: 3.5/5
Price: RMB988/1288 per person
Who's going: expats and locals
Good for: special occasions, fine dining, dates, impressing guests, wine
See a listing for Tai'an Table
Read more Shanghai Restaurant Reviews
0 User Comments