Highline just launched a new menu, as most other restaurants around Shanghai do to align with the seasons.
So what’s the big deal?
Well, this is Chef Conrad Van Den Heever’s (Dentree, The Nest, previously of Bloom, Anchor & Clover Club) debut menu at Highline.
Image courtesy of Highline
Eight months in the making, it is a total overhaul of offerings that brings Highline back to its modern California cuisine roots.
There are hints of Korean, Japanese, Italian, and a whole lotta American comfort foods – plus a hefty Josper grill section – all wrapped in an elevated SoCal package, tied with a Golden State bow.
It’s just one Baja taco short of being 100% tried-and-true Cali (and we expect to see that on the next menu reprint).
Pulling inspiration from the melting pot of a state, Chef Conrad combines flavors from his past and tastes from his present to create something wholly original and downright delicious.
Many of the dishes pay homage to his South African roots – not in their entirety, but through the use of a specific spice, an aspect of a traditional dish or an innovative play on a childhood food-related memory.
Coupling his impressive experience in London working as a chef at some of the top restaurants in the world and his love of Southeast Asian flavors, Chef Conrad is all about the fusion of global tastes – in flavors, textures and overall presentation – an ethos that runs through Highline’s core.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Chef Conrad grew up spending summer holidays fishing and winter holidays hunting; the spoils of which were preserved and cured to be eaten as charcuterie.
And that translates to an almost entirely homemade Meat Platter (RMB268) – from in-house cured beef jerky and beef tongue ham...
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
... to homemade rose baijiu foie gras parfait, pickles and sundried tomato breadsticks – Chef Conrad has his hand in it all.
There’s also walnut salchichón, Iberian chorizo, Coppa and 5J jamon, plus truffle salted mixed nuts.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
The Nduja Pâte & Highline Signature Garlic Bread (RMB78) delivers on the cheesiest of pulls with a quartet of pecorino, parmesan, mozzarella and smoked cheddar stuffed inside a homemade crispy bun, finished with a slathering of burnt onion butter that seeps into the bread’s porous nooks and crannies.
A generous dollop of homemade nduja sausage pâte, Spanish green olives, pickled guindilla peppers, and confit mushrooms soar this souped-up garlic bread to new heights.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Glazed in a Japanese tare sauce, the ultra-lush 16-Hour Braised Wagyu Beef Tongue (RMB128) is anchored to the plate by a tangy gochujang aioli, amping up the unctuousness of the meat.
To cut through the richness, a homemade ponzu dressed herb salad and a lime wedge are plated astride the dripping beef.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
A funky fermented caper berry glaze, coupled with a summer peach marmalade and pleats of fresh apple, juxtapose the togarashi-spiced fatty pleats of the Iberian Pork Cheek (RMB108), while tempering seared maitake mushrooms add notes of earthy bitterness.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Alternating spears of grassy grilled green asparagus and delicately sweet steamed white asparagus are plated atop luscious stracciatella – pulled shreds of mozzarella soaked in heavy cream – coconut granola and whorling ribbons of fennel, all drizzled in a passion fruit vinaigrette as the Summer Asparagus Salad (RMB88).
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
The campfire aroma of the Pine Needle Smoked Spring Chicken (RMB268) fills the nostrils before this superlative rendition of rotisserie chicken arrives tableside.
First smoked over pine needles, the whole chicken is then basted in a pine cone and German milk stout glaze before being roasted in the Josper oven – one that simultaneously combines charcoal grilling and oven baking – resulting in crackly skin that tears open to reveal succulent flesh, cooked evenly across the entire bird.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
And while that chicken easily clocks in as our favorite bite of the night, the honey miso butter charred corn is no afterthought – each crunchy kernel bursting with roasted sweetness, triggering memories of lazy summer afternoon backyard barbecues.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Feeding 2-4 people, the Fisherman’s Coconut Bouillabaisse (RMB480) is a tidal wave of seafood – clams, mussels, prawns, baby squid and scallops – in one of the most authentically flavorful Thai curry broths this city has to offer.
Fragrant aromatics like lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and galangal saturate the palate, a profile that many a Thai auntie would approve of.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
A whole greater than the sum of its delectable parts, the Lamington Cake (RMB78) assembles seemingly un-correlated flavors: coriander ice cream studded with dehydrated yogurt pieces; chocolate- and coconut-coated Victorian sponge cake lamington cubes; tufts of olive oil microwave cake; a dense quenelle of dark chocolate ganache; and a dribble of cognac butterscotch caramel.
The result is an edible contemporary art masterpiece that is almost too beautiful to eat… almost.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
A reimagined fruit salad, the Summer Fruit Tart (RMB78) is a laundry list of seasonal fruits prepared by – we can only guess – a group of pastry chef mad scientists.
Alternating polka dots of passion fruit mango curd and clementine gel (plus cherry jellies) surround a mango and apricot tart topped with a white peach and blood orange sorbet and a mixed fruit salsa.
It’s fruit in about 40 different waves, that we just so happened to crush in about 40 seconds.
All that, and our meal only covered about 10% of the new menu, the other 90% of which we can only assume is just as Cali-licious.
Highline, 6/F, 282 Huaihai Zhong Lu, by Huangpi Nan Lu, 淮海中路282号6楼, 近黄陂南路.
[Cover image by Sophie Steiner/That's]
0 User Comments