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The Wine Bar & Grill’s RMB 68 antipasto buffet may be both the best deal in town and the best kept secret. Tina Kanagaratnam has lunch with chef Christoph Gelder.

The Wine Bar & Grill, perched on the third floor of the newly reno vated JC Mandarin Hotel, seems to blink uncomfortably in the afternoon sun. No wonder, really: just three months ago, this was an evening-only venue, and nary a ray of sunshine lit the black-and white marble floors and straight-backed lavender chairs.
Today, daytime at the Wine Bar & Grill offers one of the best deals in town: an RMB 68 lunch featuring an antipasto buffet, main course and dessert — all cooked by a chef who worked in Michelin-starred restaurants.
The concept here is an eclectic, Mediterranean one, both in the decor and the cuisine.
The dramatic, black and white marble floor with fleur-de-lis design evokes southern France; brightly colored glass objects lovingly displayed in cabinets recall the art of the Venetian glassmakers; black and white pictures on the walls are of California landscapes, the Mediterranean of America, if you want to stretch a point.
The Mediterranean-inspired menu is primarily Italian-based, one that German chef Christoph Gelder says he has no trouble with.
“I have cooked in northern Italy, and we always went there on vacation. It was just across the hills,” he adds. As Gelder discusses his philosophy of food, though, it becomes clear that it is the philosophy of country Italian cooking that appeals to him: “I like light food, natural flavors, leaving food as it is — fish is fish, and I don’t want to change that.”
The antipasto buffet is a spread, worthy of an art magazine, which featured 17 different items on the day that I sampled it. These ranged from the simple — a bowl of fresh cherry tomatoes — to a sophisticated zucchini and smoked fish amuse bouche.
The wine bar, which is located adjacent to the dining room, is open at lunchtime, but most patrons were not taking advantage of the international wine list, culled from both the Old and New World.
Gelder, who worked at Ederer, celebrity chef (and Michelin-starred man) Karl Ederer’s temple to refined modern cuisine, shows his mettle in the mains, which might include a baked black cod with fragrant basil risotto; “meat and potatoes” — Australian beef tenderloin, served with a rash of wild mushrooms, braised cabbage, potato pancakes and cabernet jus — or a creamy risotto. On the menu the day I visited was the red curry infused papardelle pasta with marinated prawns and baby squid — the red curry lifted the otherwise pedestrian pasta (dried, alas, and not house-made), giving it an additional dimension. Gelder admits that red curry is not Mediterranean, but still, it fits nicely with the spirit of the Mediterranean (after all, what are the beaches of Thailand, if not the Mediterranean of Asia?).
The chef confesses to a passion for Asian ingredients, which he uses only sparingly here, because, he explains, many of his customers come here as a respite from the exoticism of Chinese food. Which is really too bad, because Gelder has a real feel for the flavors of the east, and knows how to put them together in ways that surprise and delight.
A prime example is his caramelized pineapple slices, spiced with Sichuan pepper, a standout in a menu that includes all the classics — white wine sabayon, served with Amarena cherries and hazelnut ice cream, a creme brulee with candied citrus fruits and coconut ice cream. But it is the combination of the sweet, tart, caramelized pineapple with the flakes of numbing Sichuan pepper that is the star, an explosion of what seems like all the flavors in the universe, creating a taste that you want to linger well beyond the end of the meal.

Wine Bar & Grill, JC Mandarin Hotel, 1225 Nanjing Road West, Tel: 6279-1888
Lunch: 11.30 am — 2pm; Dinner 5.30 — 10pm; bar closes at midnight.