Cuisine: The sweet orient

In this sushi-mad world, you'd think we'd have seen the whole gamut of vinegar-rice variants. But the InterContinental's top chef, Eric Fettke, sees it an entirely different way.

"Guests are always amazed at what we do with the sushi," he says with a confident nod. In order to get just the right composition of fruit-to-rice, Eric adapted a recipe from celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, which uses coconut milk and cream as a base. Come to think of it, garnishing sushi rice with fruit is not as wacky as you'd think given the array of rice-based sweets in both Asian and European cuisine.

As for the fruit selection, Eric says it was a case of "trial and error." For example, imported mangos when used fresh, just didn't tango. So Eric mellows the fruit in a spice syrup (recipe below). Another guideline is to avoid squishy fruits like berries. The ideal combination is probably a maki of dragon fruit, strawberry and basil, topped with toasted, grated coconut.

For the dipping sauce, Eric has concocted a light chocolate-wasabi sauce, which he says has "a bit of a bite and goes well with the sweetness of white chocolate." If you're not a wasabi fan, you can stick to plain white, milk or dark chocolate.

Kit F. Chung