Asian Night Success

Saturday 20th May we held our Asian Fusion Event at Tailend St Andrews. 
We created a 5 course Asian inspired menu with matching Eden Mill flight. Using mostly their gins and the 19th brew, we created a beautiful menu, showcasing both talents from our chefs and the delicious goods Eden Mill offer. 
We transformed our restaurant to mini Asian palace with beautiful cherry blossoms, paper cranes, and oriental lanterns. With drinks waiting on arrival and an oyster to start the night off, we were in great footing for a fabulous night. 

Appetiser
Grilled Oyster w’ teriyaki sauce and shallots
Matching drink
Oak W’ bitters & fizz

• The buttery, sweet oyster marries perfectly to the warm, rich caramel tones of the oak gin. The crispy shallots and teriyaki glaze add just the right amount of sweetness to the salty oyster. The bitters and the bubbles added to the gin work to cut through the sticky sweetness left by the glaze and the shallots to clean the palette.

1st course
Seabass sashimi, pickled Pak choi, wasabi aioli & grapefruit
Matching drink
Love W’ watermelon & mint (salt the rim- Himalayan sea salt)
 
As this is beautifully delicate dish, we chose the most delicate & floral of the Eden Mill gins. Love Gin, the subtle pink tones of the gin are mimicked in the pink Himalayan sea salt. Which has been chosen to stop the dish becoming too soft. The sharpness from the grapefruit infuses the sashimi, giving the delicate fish a delicious fruity flavour as well as matching the pink theme.Wasabi aioli and pickled Pak choi was chosen to accompany the sashimi to create a lovely contrast between sweet & sharp. The watermelon garnish on the love gin, again is complimentary in colour but also acts as a palette cleanser in between courses.

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2nd course
Crab Gyoza, spring onion & chilli
Matching drink
Hop gin W’ lemongrass & Kaffir lime
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The fresh, crisp garnishes added to this gin (lemongrass & Kaffir lime) work beautifully with the soft tropical fruit notes found in Eden Mills Hop gin.  This light dish works perfectly with fresh, delicate crab meat. The chilli & Spring onion give it just the perfect amount of flavour. All the flavours from the gin and garnish work together to make this dish something really special. 

3rd course
langoustine ramen, sesame crusted scallop
Matching drink
Golf Gin, Cardamom & Thai Basil

• The delicate, meaty scallop called for something to pack a little punch. The Thai Basil & Cardamom give a slight aniseed flavour, which does just that!! The hints of lemongrass and lime from the golf gin marry the flavours in the ramen dish. Making the pairing of gin & dish faultless. The saltiness from the ramen needed something cut through and refresh the palette. The golf gin. The sweet lemongrass notes left on the palate with bursts of mild pepperiness, strong hints of lime, coriander and aromatic spice which are all derived from the gin balance this dish perfectly. 

Surprise course
Langoustine bhaji, mint raita 

We decided to throw in a couple of extra surprises along the way with this event. Guests absolutely loved the langoustine bhaji and it was a fun little extra for the night. 

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4th course
Tempura battered spiced halibut W’ confit wild garlic aioli
Matching drink
19th brew 

Of course any beer is the perfect match for fish and chips. Halibut is much meatier than the usual haddock used for fish and chips. The light tempura batter perfect to keep this dish from becoming too heavy. The bubbles from the 19th work to cut through the fat left on the palette from the batter. Meaning if you have a drink of beer after every bite the flavours will remain just good as the first bite! The 19th was the perfect choice as it is the perfect golden ale! Just beautiful in flavour, any excuse to pair this beer!

Cleanser
Mango & Passionfruit sorbet
 
We added in this surprise little course designed to completely clean and refresh the palette. Making the transition from savoury dishes to sweet seamless!  

For the  5th course
Chocolate Ganache, coconut, green tea meringue & Yuzu jelly.
Matching Drink 
Greentini- Original gin, Yuzu ice & green tea 

For the final course, we wanted to go for something a little special and of course in keeping with tonight’s theme. We’ve had a little play with the traditional martini and created tonight’s greentini - made using green tea. Using the same elements from the dessert this dish and drink combo match perfectly!! The sharp, crisp yuzu cleans the palette from the rich chocolate ganache. The tropical notes in the gin and the coconut from the dish tie in together. 

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We had such a great time creating the menu for this event. Researching asian influenced cooking and learning how we can adapt it into our methods. We believe it worked out fantastically well. The dishes looked and tasted beautiful! The gin pairings and garnishes were so unique to us and was incredible to see how the different elements brought out the flavours we needed to create the perfect drink to dinner match.
All the feedback we received from the night was extremely positive - although after 6 gins we may have had a slight edge over them. Huge thank you to Eden Mill and to Steve from Eden for hosting the event, you did a Gin-tastic job. Perfect showman for these events, he comes highly recommended from us!! 

Plans are in the making for the next event here at Tailend so sign up to our newsletter or download our app to hear about our latest plans.