As the latest event in their Guest Chef series, The Portman Ritz-Carlton hosted Chef Faith Tutak for two nights of pop-up dinners earlier this month. A native of Istanbul, Mr. Tutak earned himself a place on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants with his innovative rendition of Turkish cuisine at his Bangkok restaurant, The House on Sathorn. Through eight consistently finely-tuned courses, Mr. Tutak presented us with an eloquent and illuminating exploration of Turkish cooking, accentuated with gentle doses of playfulness and nostalgia.
Setting the tone for the dinner were two mezzes, where Mr. Tutak’s perceptiveness showed through in spades. A pilaf-stuffed vine leaf was punctuated by sweet raisins, topped with creamy Hokkaido sea urchin and briny caviar. Beef tartare found texture in grains of nutty bulgur wheat, while a back palette of spices lingered on long after the plate was cleared.
Mezzes: Vine leaf, pilaf, Hokkaido sea urchin, Beluga caviar; Wagyu tartare, bulgur, smoke, isot
小食：葡萄藤叶，肉饭，北海道海胆，鱼子酱；和牛塔塔，小麦，烟，土耳其辣椒
Mr. Tutak clearly has a way of reinterpreting traditional Turkish staples with modern sensibility. Turkish scrambled eggs called menemen was packed into a single egg shell of endless layers. The tomato-rich base was made salty with the Turkish sausage sucuk, rich with cheese, smooth with egg yolk, and lively with a creeping heat from isot peppers. Deconstructing classics doesn’t always work, but this one sure did.
Turkish breakfast: egg, sucuk, menemen, isot
土耳其早餐：鸡蛋，香肠，土耳其番茄炒蛋，土耳其辣椒
So did Mr. Tutak’s reworked Turkish salad. Just as the bottom-up moment of finishing a bowl of cereal inspired Christina Tosi’s cereal milk soft serve, so too did the vibrant, concentrated liquid at the bottom of a Turkish salad give rise to Mr. Tutak’s “Best Part of the Turkish Salata.” The juice became the star of the dish, fleshed out with a feta jelly that captured the tangy cheese in its purest form, as well as a thick coin of tomato from Kyoto that had more dimensions of sweetness than ought to be possible. Sitting on the rim of the plate was a square of ekmek bread to soak up any leftover liquid, with a whisper of spice that gently sharpened the clean tomato essence.
Best part of the Turkish salata: tomato, feta, juice of salad, ekmek
土耳其沙拉最美味之处：番茄，菲达芝士，沙拉果汁，圆面包
The rest of the meal was a flurry of plates that all packed disproportionate impact to the size. Perched atop an improbably nuanced sauce made up of 5 textures of tomato, a Turkish dumpling manti was stuffed with soft, earthy eggplant, its black pepper edge smoothed over with a dollop of garlic-rich clotted cream. The stuffed squid called calamar dolma was perfect all around, from the soft umami of squid ink and the tender darkness of gently crisp tentacles, to the stuffing that tasted as vibrant as if the peas had been picked just minutes ago.
From my mum…: manti, vegetables, mint butter, kaymak
来自我的母亲…：土耳其水饺，蔬菜，薄荷黄油，牛奶精华
Calamar dolma: squid, morel, ink, sugar snap peas
菜叶包鱿鱼：鱿鱼，羊肚菌，墨汁，荷兰豆
Main courses slid easily from intricate dimensions into sumptuous satisfaction. A fillet of turbot heady with the rich fragrance of cheese tasted as warm and comforting as a winter stew, underscored by an intense fish roe sauce enlivened with small discs of pickled cabbage.
Bosphorus tandir: turbot, tarhana, lahana tursu, roe
博斯图鲁斯馕：多宝鱼，塔尔哈纳，腌卷心菜，鱼籽
A plate of milk-fed lamb turned out to be one of those rare instances where putting three sauces on the same plate made absolute sense. The eggplant purée was soothing with its earthy depth, while the wild garlic sauce tasted as green and vibrant as it looked. But the showstopper was the lavishly concentrated “lamb caramel,” a true revelation which Mr. Tutak discovered when he accidentally left a pot of caramelizing lamb cream forgotten on the stove.
Kuzu kebab: milk fed lamb rib, lamb caramel, aubergine, ramson
烤羊排，羊奶“焦糖”，茄子，熊葱
Finally, a cheese helva made with cheese curd, semolina, and goat milk, reworked into a texture reminiscent of a firmer, denser cousin of flan. The tang of goat cheese came through gently at the end, softened with Hokkaido milk ice cream and a crumble of pistachios.
Cheese helva: cheese curd, semolina, goat milk
芝士哈尔瓦酥糖：奶酪凝乳，粗粒小麦粉，羊奶
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Towards the end of our dinner, The Portman’s own Chef Herwig Knapen stopped by our table for a chat. When we asked him about the preparations that went into this pop-up, Mr. Knapen described his search for ingredients to meet Mr. Tutak’s specifications, listing off the tomatoes, squids, and turbots that he ran through with a kind of fond exasperation. Sourcing quality ingredients is a constant and crucial part of a chef’s life, but it is brought to the forefront in these pop-up events, where both host and guest must collaborate so that we as diners may have the chance to expose ourselves to a new point of view.
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In tandem with the Guest Chef events, The Portman also holds a “Movers & Shakers” series, regularly hosting guest mixologists from some of the best bars around the world, including American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London, Little Red Door in Paris, and Tippling Club in Singapore.
After our dinner with Mr. Tutak, we were lucky enough to catch Mr. Suraj Gurung from Hong Kong’s Stockton, recently named one of Asia’s 50 Best Bars.
Insider tip: The next Movers & Shakers event will be held at the end of this month, featuring Mr. Naren Young of Dante NYC. Stay tuned for future guest chef and guest mixologist events by following The Portman’s WeChat (rcportmanSH).
Special thanks to The Portman Ritz-Carlton for the invitation.
图/文：Emma的饕餮之旅
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The Portman Ritz-Carlton
Add: 1376 W. Nanjing Road, Shanghai 南京西路1376号
Phone: +86 (21) 6279 8888
WeChat: rcportmanSH
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