PARCHED | HANDCRAFTED BY BRACI

Last October, The Balvenie took us on a wonderful journey of flavours with its series of whisky-pairing dinners with Michelin-recommended restaurants Madame Fan and Garibaldi. This spring, the much anticipated Handcrafted By, a partnership with Michelin Guide, returns with an expanded edition of culinary experiences to showcase the gastronomic artistry of 10 different chefs across Singapore and Thailand including Braci, Burnt Ends and Shisen Hanten.

At modern Italian restaurant Braci, Chef de Cuisine Mirko Febbrile took inspiration from the tasting notes of The Balvenie whiskies to create the exquisite dishes for the seven-course menu. To pair with The Balvenie Doublewood 12, he proposed the topinambour (above), topped with home cured sardines and Alaskan king crab. The unusual root vegetable, also known as sunchoke, has a sweet creaminess that’s accentuated by The Balvenie 12’s distinct honey note. With the sardines, he pays tribute to the curing traditions of his hometown Puglia, Italy. “I suggest to accompany every bite of this dish with a sip of whisky because it is so interesting how the palate keeps finding different flavours and sensations.”

One of the chief pleasures about this pairing series by The Balvenie and Michelin Guide is a front-row perspective of the whisky via the chef’s palate – how each expression is savoured, then meticulously matched with some of the season’s finest ingredients to create a masterful, visceral experience. Take the 2nd pairing (also my favourite) – The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 with savoy cabbage stuffed with Iberico pork and wild garlic raviolini. Sounds pretty good on paper already, but when you taste the 5-vegetable jus (that’s right, just vegetable!), you might be blown away, like I was, how rich, how dense with flavour it is. Malt Master David Stewart MBE uses his own proprietary blend of Caribbean rums to season the casks used for ageing the whisky, which imparts a creamy toffee note to it.

“The softness and how the taste develops with time is absolutely interesting. It is close to the flavours I love the most of my land: figs, molasses and oak,” said Chef Febbrile of The Balvenie 14. For a closer look at how he’s developed the menu around the whiskies, take a behind-the-scenes look here.

The special menu, which also includes an outstanding celery root from Verona that’s spent 20 blissful days in Kagoshima Wagyu beef fat, is available from now til 15 June 2021 at Braci, 52 Boat Quay, #05-01/ #06-01, Singapore 049841. Reserve a table online or call the restaurant at 6866 1933.