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New Opening: Zwilling's The Twins for Cutting Edge Cuisine

2018-03-09 Cristina Ng ShanghaiWOWeng


Many a restaurant has opened in Shanghai with a big name Michelin chef only to disappoint, so we were not sure what to expect when we visited The Twins in the bustling HK Taikoo Hui Mall. The Twins is a collaboration between Cornelia Poletto and Zwilling J.A. Henkels AG. The former is a German celebrity chef known for television show, “Poletto’s Cooking School,” as well as her namesake restuarant which held a Michelin star from 2002-2010. The latter known for producing some of the best kitchen knives, cookware and flatware on the market.

 


We were happy to see that both parties take this partnership seriously. Poletto came to help set up the restaurant and left behind Chef Felix Neumann, who worked with her in Germany for six years; plus she’s already scheduled for her next visit. For Zwiling, which actually means 'twins' in German, the goal of the project is to showcase what can be done when you have high-end products in the kitchen, with a focus on quality rather than quantity. You may, like us, be greeted by the staff sharpening knives behind the bar. 



Furthering this goal is their Gourmet School, where they regularly run classes to teach people how to execute recipes utilizing their excellent products. 


A selection of those famous chef knives


The restaurant is laid out in a straight line. They have utilized the space given to them by the mall quite well. In addition to a temporary retail space and cooking school is a bar, seafood and raw bar, and two dining rooms: casual and fine dining.


House red and white wines preserved in state of the art wine dispensers


The raw bar and casual dining room are directly adjacent


Selection of fresh seafood currently on rotation at the raw bar


Table settings on the communal long tables of the casual dining room


As The Twins is still in its soft opening, they serve the same menu in both dining rooms during dinner service. For now you may choose which environment you prefer to have that menu, but the fine dining dinner menu should be finalized before the Grand Opening in April. At lunch, they already offer two different menus. 


They can seat 34 in the casual dining room


There are 12 tables and 40 eats in the fine dining room


There is also a VIP area in the fine dining room that seats ten


All of the tableware is produced by Zwilling, many products of which you can purchase in their retail space below, and they put out their best stuff in the formal dining room. The wine glasses pictured below are upwards of RMB 1000 per glass and we have to admit we enjoyed the experience of drinking our wine from such fancy glasses. The hand blown bubble in the base of the wine bowl shows off the color of the wine to great effect. We were only a little worried about dropping them. 



While we caution against overfilling yourself on the bread basket, because there is so much good stuff to eat, the house baked tomato focaccia, baguette and crostini with regular, sea salt and chili butters is good for a nibble. 



While the selection of oysters will change based on the season, we quite enjoyed the quality of the Le Royal and Boudeuse varieties they have now. 


Six oysters (RMB 248) with gin & cucumber, shallot vinegar and Poletto's ponzu sauces



The 5 J Cinco Jotas ham (RMB 298) is carved paper thin and served with crunchy tomato bread. It is premium product aged for 36 months. Nothing to complain about here. 



Two of the most unique dishes are the lentil caviar and sea urchin toasts. We would return again and again for both of those dishes. While made of lentils, which resemble real caviar, the flavors are briny from the smoked salmon and small bit of roe and the textures are pure fun due to the slightly hard lentils and crunch of mustard seeds. 


Lentil caviar (RMB 68)


The sea urchin toast were stuffed down our faces even though we had way too much food to eat.  Nori seaweed butter and creamy Dalian uni is a match made in heaven. 


Sea urchin (RMB 148)


The tuna tataki is seared and served with a rich peanuty miso sauce. The paper thin mushrooms and lightly cooked brocollini are a nice touch. 


Tuna Tataki (RMB 158)


When it comes to mains, we recommend the Australian M7 Wagyu, which comes with two sides. It is another dish that reflects the high quality of the ingredients. Unfortunately, while the idea of hairy crab in pasta is novel, this is the only dish that underwhelmed. Hairy crab is too special of an ingredient which gets lost in a tomato based sauce. 


Crab spaghettini (RMB 168)


Australian Waygu sirloin (RMB 238 per 100g; min 200g)


Norweigian codfish is a lovely dish, but too heavy if you, like us, gorge on appetizers. The tender flaky fish in a fatty uni sauce is divine, just make sure you are hungry when you get to it. 


Norweigian codfish (RMB 198) with tomato and sea urchin sauce 


Desserts are quite well done. Hazelnut semifreddo with chocolate is decadent. Eat small bites of all the parts mixed together for balance. 


Hazelnut (RMB 88)


Green apple (RMB 68)


The deconstructed green apple is sorbet floating in toffee sauce and quite a treat, but our favorite dessert is the signature berry tiramisu. The berries are macerated in port, a touch we like very much. 


Berry Tiramisu (RMB 88)


They are sure to make many changes and are still finding their footing, but The Twins is worth checking out, especially the good value lunch sets (both casual and fine dining). What is especially encouraging is Chef Felix is having fun with Chinese high-end ingredients, such as sea cucumber, which any foreign chef must be willing to do to succed in Shanghai. We can't wait to see what's in store. 



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