Few restaurants in Portland have achieved the level of luxury and style shown by Tempo Dulu, a dazzlingly beautiful dining establishment housed in the equally glamorous Danforth Inn. That and the level of cuisine offered is unparalleled in its unique presentation of Southeast Asian cuisine.
Notables from Maine’s media and food tribes assembled in the great hall at the Danforth Inn
I’ve enjoyed countless dinners there ever since it opened a few years ago, but earlier this week I had the opportunity along with some 50 other diners (from the media) to be introduced to its new executive chef, Michael MacDonnell. He’s aided and abetted by Trevin Hutchins who conjures, shakes and stirs miraculous cocktails that are totally unique. With Hutchins, as food and beverage manager, this is a team that makes an evening of dining there totally unique. This is all orchestrated by hoteliers Raymond Brunyanszki and Oscar Verest who’ve set the standard for elegant food and lodging very high. They are, incidentally, the owners of the equally formidable Camden Harbour Inn and restaurant, Natalie’s, in the leafy coastal community of Camden.
Dashing drinks master Trevin Hutchins with newscaster Erin Ovalle (Maine Live TV) presiding at Tempo’s elegant bar
While this may sound like fulsome praise of an invitation-only event, I proffer that the special meal I enjoyed there was as good as any you’re likely to have and that I’ve had on past occasions when there for critical and personal review.
We gathered in the main salon and gallery for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, which included exquisite morsels of lobster and shrimp sate and Hutchins’ marvelous cocktail called the 1924 Intercontinental, made with Galliano, Batavia Arrack, passion fruit, cinnamon syrup and lime juice. Wow. A great sidecar for the hors d’oeuvres.
The different and (lower left) the restaurant’s signature dish, shrimp crackers served with peanut and chili dipping sauces
Once seated at table the feast began with an amuse bouche of incredible beauty in presentation and fine flavors. Bits of lobster were served as a salad with a fennel confit and apple brunoise. Sheer magic!
Dramatically set in a deep bowl– the lobster salad miso
The first course of coconut soup with roasted mushrooms and coconut foam was a veritable symphony of flavors so well-orchestrated yet intensely flavored where other chefs would have cluttered the dish with too many ingredients. The coconut essence subtly prevailed throughout.
Our group of four was seated in the middle dining room to sit on the great plush of the comfy velvet sofa. The dinner was mostly very small plates—tastes, if you will, each being superb.
Especially the second course, which was a kind of carpaccio of chili-cured venison with roasted rice, herb salad and dried cranberries, a sublimely delicate combination.
Clockwise: Coconut soup; steamed halibut; chef Michael MacDonnell and chili cured venison
The third course was a steamed wedge of halibut that was the pinnacle of gentle, delicate texture where the fish flaked immediately with the touch of the fork; it was accompanied by a scattering of rice gnocchi mingling with fermented black beans. This was a brilliant touch and at first bite you weren’t quite sure what these tidbits were until discerning its crisp exterior and the creamy texture within perfect packets of gnocchi.
The entrée course was the fitting savory finale of a dinner filled with superlatives—until, that is, two extraordinary desserts afterwards. But here the hangar steak was roasted and served with slivers of confit brisket perfumed with massaman curry.
“Pre dessert” nougat glace, pandan powder and passion fruit curd
What was called on the menu “pre-dessert”—was a phenomenal blending of nougat glacé, Pandan powder and passion fruit curd. My dinner mate sitting next to me said, “We don’t have many opportunities to have passion fruit like this.” Indeed, the curd was unto itself as pure pleasure along with the magical glacé.
The ultimate dessert plate: sweet stick rice, mango sorbet, charred pineapple and lime leaf custard
The final dessert was an opulent plate of refined flavors in the sweet sticky rice with mango sorbet, a square of charred pineapple mated with lime-leaf custard. Chef Michael MacDonnell, his kitchen staff and wait staff created a beautiful dinner displaying the sublime flavors of this captivating cuisine so aptly housed in these splendid dining rooms.
