*complementary PR visit*
It's that time of the year again where we all start looking for something a little special to do over the festive period whether its with friends, family or for a work do &
Blue Jasmine might just be the place for you. Located by the waterside of the marina in Ocean Village, Blue Jasmine is the epitome of fine dining, elevating Asian cuisine to something that hasn't been seen in Southampton. I popped along with
Southampton Bloggers to try out their Christmas menu, and let me tell you, it is an absolute treat.
The first thing you notice when you enter Blue Jasmine is how beautifully luxurious it is, the thought that has gone into this restaurant is impossible not to notice & just as much thought goes into their menus. The ingredients they use are sourced locally and enhanced with spices for that modern Southeast Asian taste.
After we had all had a little natter, as this is one of the first events that
Southampton Bloggers have held in a while, we sat to the table ready to experience the
Christmas Menu we were seated in a private dinning area to sample the menu and have each dish and cocktail talked through with us, we were introduced to their executive chef Daren Liew who told us all about the dishes we were about to try, where the locally sourced produce had come from as well as the inspiration for each dish. But first, a cocktail.
Now this was a good start, this cocktail is the Roku's Garden, a long drink served in a halved (ceramic) coconut, its a perfectly warming cocktail with raspberry, plum sake, roasted ginger, cranberry & ginger ale. It was more of a spiced cocktail than a sweet one although it does come with candied ginger which you would be wise not to eat, I would go back solely for this, now onto the canapes.
Now, this is where you see the modern elevated take on the Southeast Asian cuisine, when I say I've had nothing like this in Southampton, I mean it. The food is elevated fine dining at its best.
To start we had the almond crusted popcorn black cod with spiced chilli mint, Five Spice pork and taro beancurd roll with caramelised onion & Wasabi prawn with golden ebiko. I have to say, I am a very fussy eater but I tried them all, prawns are just not my thing but I was was pleasantly surprised by the taste. The pork and taro beancurd roll was really something special though, packed with flavour & unusually presented, it was not what I was expecting it to look like when I read the menu, the popcorn cod was very good too, the seasoning really took it up a level.
Following from those dishes we had another experience for the taste buds with Mongolian Hampshire pork belly with apple salsa, Spicy ivory chicken with snow pea and macadamia, Steamed okra with fermented chilli and soya & Salted Borecole fried jasmine rice with ginger and edamame. I keep wanting to say which of these was my favourite but I'm not sure I could choose. The pork belly was unlike anything I've had before, slow cooked in orange peel, cardamon and cointreau for 8 hours, coated in peanut sauce then torched & caramelised. The spicy chicken I could have eaten over & over again, the spice levels were just right & everything went so well with the fried jasmine rice.
To finish we tried another cocktail on the menu, this time the Dragons Heart, another long drink, this time a little sweeter with Diplomatico Mantuano rum, jackfruit, pineapple, passion fruit, chilli and soda water. Served in a dragons mug with edible flowers & when you lift the lid off out pours some smoke, very snazzy and very tasty.
But of course we had to finish with dessert. We were introduced to pastry chef Iwona who told us all about what we were going to be trying, the Snowman, Ipoh white coffee, chocolate, coconut, pear, and raspberry. This dessert is composed of a freshly made chocolate choux pastry, filled with white coffee cream, and paired with a raspberry and pear sorbet. The pastry was beautiful & the white coffee cream filling was so good paired with the perfect refreshing sorbet to finish our menu tasting off.
I genuinely could not fault anything, you can tell so much precision and heart goes into each and every dish they serve. Full of flavour & so well put together, it really is a dining experience & if you can get booked in, you definitely should give it a try!
Sound like somewhere you'd like to visit? let me know!
Emmy-May x
* This was a complimentary dining experience, as always all words are my own.
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