It’s been awhile since I have been to a tasting dinner for a potential new restaurant. I remember back in the days when I was working in the restaurant industry, tasting was part of my job and it was just wonderful. You get to experience what is going on in a chef’s mind. All their creativity, cooking and artistic talents are presented to you on plates and plates of mouth-watering food. There is always something new to learn in every tasting.

I was lucky enough to have had the chance to attend The Naked Finn’s Hong Kong pop-up tasting dinner in the beginning of May. There is cooking and there is passionate cooking. And the team behind The Naked Finn is definitely the passionate type. It was one of the most amazing dinners that I have had in a long while.

Menu of the night - a 16-course seafood tasting dinner

The Naked Finn started out 5 years ago in Singapore focusing solely on seafood. By seafood, I don’t just mean the regular kinds you see in the wet market. Chef Ken Loon and his team pour their hearts and souls into researching and finding the best species of each type of crustaceans for each specific dish. They understand where these creatures come from, how deep from the ocean, which part and what they eat can affect their texture and taste. Every part of the crustaceans are put into some sort of use and nothing goes to waste. With such fresh and amazingly tasting shellfish, less is always more. Minimal seasoning is used, sticking with just sea salt olive oil and occasionally, unsalted butter.

First Dish - A quick grilling of Indian Squid on a cast iron grill with no seasoning. Simply Divine!

Second Dish - One of the favourite dishes of the night. It was a very simple cold vermicelli dish made with 7 ingredients. The dried Sakura Shrimps on top gave this dish the saltiness and freshness of seafood.

Hae Mee Tng with Gamero Rosso - This is one of The Naked Finn’s most popular dishes on their menu. The prawn broth is made with both the shells/heads AND prawn meats all blended together.

Each dish was crafted with care with no extra embellishment. You can truly taste the freshness and sweetness that the seafood brought to each dish. The seasoning WAS the seafood itself. It was truly amazing! There were finesse and elegance yet everything was extremely approachable and non-pretentious.

Naked “Orh Jien’ on Warmed Oyster - Made with 2 ingredients, the oysters and seasoning was from squid’s innards, including the ink.

Ezo Bafun Uni with Squid Ink & Liver “Risotto” - An extremely fresh dish with amazing knife skills. The squid was cut up into fine and small cubes to resemble the look and feel of risotto rice. A bit of Spanish Bomba rice was blended in for more texture.

Chef Loon and his team believe in sourcing and supporting small fisheries that focus on non-mainstream species and truly sustainable practices. Therefore, you won’t see any tunas on his menu, as this is one of the fish that has been very much overfished.

Queen Crab Bee Hoon Consommé - The broth was packed full of flavour and filled your mouth with ‘umami’.

Dessert: Named Chendol - This is The Naked Finn’s interpretation of the classic Chendol

This pop-up tasting dinner ran for a week and I believe it was a great success. They got many feedbacks from various top chefs in Hong Kong and also food critics and connoisseurs who know what works in the Hong Kong’s restaurant scene. I really do hope that I’ll be seeing The Naked Finn opening up their first restaurant in Hong Kong in the near future.

For more information on The Naked Finn, visit: www.nakedfinn.com

Address: Block 39, Malan Road, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 109442

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