DSTAgE is medium sized place with a surprise tasting menu. Your only choice is the number of courses and you do receive a copy of the menu when you are finished with the meal. It is a very casual setting but I did note a number of celebratory dinners being held. It is a staged meal with you moving through a couple stations to start the meal. We started in the bar area where you are encouraged to order a cocktail, but it is not part of the meal price.
While in the bar they brought out the first appetizer, a razor clam seasoned with numerous flavors including celery dashi and coffee fruit and surrounded by a cloud of liquid nitrogen.
You then moved to the main dining room of which one side is the open kitchen filled with workers. We stood at the bar while one of the chefs prepared a tiny shrimp snack and a cocktail to go with it. There were a number of steps and additions and it turned out to be tasty but a tad messy. She talked about what she was doing while she cooked on the large salt block heated with a burner underneath. Chef Diego Guerrero stood right next to our chef but was working on other dishes. There was another kitchen demo spot cooking on a cool salt block, and when I asked about it I was told that was the station where those on their second visit went. It was a nice to get that close and personal with the kitchen but it was not so nice when our table happened to be between the 2 stations. I was glad when they finished the roaming appetizers with this night’s guests.
Once you are at the table you stay there until you are finished at which time you are invited to spend more time in the bar, but it was late enough we were ready to go back to the hotel. The table service started with a pandan radish which was from Thailand. The powder also had a caramelized surface and was filled with all sorts of flavors. It was served with a pandan tea which was watery.
Thailand continued with the “Thailand in one bite” which was gooey with a bit of coconut -like juice.
The tomato and cranberry bite also had raspberry and seaweed. The seeds added a nice crunch.
The truffled egg was a crunchy green outside with a fried egg on the inside. It was amazingly good – crunchy, gooey and lots of flavor.
The bread was made with quinoa and was nicely dense and crusty.
The octopus was spicy, mixed with smokey cheese and covered with the foam of octopus. Another dish full of layers of flavor.
The ravioli was made with beans and cabbage served in a broth with strong flavors of smoke and ham. There was a taste of ham in the ravioli that blended great with bean filled packages.
The crispy pork bun was filled with pig face meat and served with a dipping sauce. It was presented on some crispy corn that was also quite edible. It was all yummy.
The cod was served in a gumbo like sauce that seemed to be thickened with tapioca. While the fish was cooked perfectly this was not a favorite of mine.
The beef cheeks come to the table in a wooden box with charcoal in the bottom. They had an amazing flavor and were perfectly tender.
The ice cube was a bite of Margarita palate cleanser. Cute but just okay flavor.
The first dessert was a plate of cotton candy topped with chewy sweet corn. It was good.
The second dessert was the spice trail where you were to try all the different colors and then mix them together into one thing. The strongest flavor was chocolate and overall it was sticky and yummy.
We finished with a “purple garlic” which was interesting to look at but the taste didn’t match.
