Citrus Wine and Dine held a Wine Pairing Dinner recently for the International Wine and Food Society of Ipoh (IWFS) with guest chef Horst Futterer which had guests still singing praises for the culinary evening.
Citrus owner and chef Simon Lee, who had worked with and been mentored by Chef Horst, describes him as an impeccable chef, one whose attention to detail is legendary and from whom Simon has picked up some of his culinary wizardry.
Coming from an impressive culinary background beginning 40 years ago in his family-owned hotel in the Bavarian Alps, Chef Horst embarked on a 3-year apprenticeship at the famous “Hotel, Vier Jahreszeiten” in Munich Germany and never looked back. Since then his career that spanned three decades saw him working as chef for the Westin and Shangri-la Hotels.
After spending two years with Shatec Institutes in Singapore as Principal of the Institute of Culinary Arts, and the Institute of Pastry and Baking and later as Senior Vice President for Hospitality operations, Horst decided to leave the corporate side of the Hospitality Industry and took up the offer to mentor a future generation of culinarians at Republic Polytechnic Singapore as a Chef Instructor.
Horst was twice Senior Advisor to the Singapore National Culinary Team in 2008 in Erfurt and 2010 in Luxembourg where Singapore was crowned World Champion of the culinary Arts. Horst also had various TV shows on Fitness, Nutrition and Gourmet Food in Singapore and even co-hosted with Martin Yan.
The Citrus evening menu included enticing items like Truffle Namasu, red Kaiware Sprouts and a Kumamoto Test Tube; a palate cleansing treat called Cold Sweat which is a Chili, Ginger, and Lemon Grass Gelato in a black Sesame Cone and for the main course the Slow roasted Lamb loin with Macadamia Nut, Lehua Honey, Pommery Mustard Crust Jalapeno, Water Melon Salsa, Salsify & Pink Pepper Foam,Sundried Tomato and Tapenade Polenta.
Said Lee Nyit Fee President of the IWFS Ipoh, “My favourite dish was one Citrus called ‘Cauliflower and Scallop’ described on the menu as Cauliflower Velouté, XO Flavoured Tataki Scallop, Shellfish Flan & Ikura. I found the specially sourced Tataki scallop combined with the white creamy velouté sauce complemented the sweet freshness of the scallop and the richness of the creamy velouté. A delightful dish.”
“At the beginning of every course Chef Horst would come out to talk about the dish, why he selected a certain fish, meat or cheese for a particular dish. I found this part interesting. I have been to fine dining places where the head waiter would introduce the dish but they were mainly repeating from a memorised script. With the Citrus event, we actually hear from the person who created the recipe,” he added.
According to Nyit Fee, Simon and his wife Erica have taken the dining experience in Ipoh to the next level. Bravo Simon. Let’s have more to come.
