TING by Frederic Jaros: Pastry-Inspired Fine Dining in Xintiandi

Through a concealed door at VERIE Bakehouse is TING, a pastry-inspired fine dining restaurant by Frédéric Jaros in Xintiandi.

Frédéric Jaros (R)

This is where chef-founder Frédéric Jaros showcases his talents, highly influenced by his pastry background, of course. The inaugural menu is a 10-course tasting experience inspired by Jaros’ childhood memories, priced at ¥988 per person plus 10% service charge.

Center stage is a large chef’s table, a wide marble top counter for 14 around the open kitchen. Compared to the feminine design of the bakery below, it’s darker, sultry, and intimate.

Opposite the dining room is a secluded lounge that looks out onto the treetops. It's also the end destination for diners to enjoy their petit fours.

The Lounge

On The Menu

The 10-course menu is playful, artistic, and has a childlike charm to it.

It starts with “Gift For Teacher,” apple compote with foie gras in the shape of an apple.

Gift For Teacher

Snack While Mommy Is Cooking — Beetroot, lily and ricotta cream, basil cookie.

Corn Butter & Corn Bread

Some dishes are downright cute, both in naming and presentation, like Oops! I Dropped My Ice Cream, a dish of fresh scallops with parmesan sauce, dashi jelly, and caviar.

Oops! I Dropped My Ice Cream

I Caught A Fish — Sole fish, verbena sauce, pistachio

Some dishes not only carry the narrative, but also have lingering and memorable flavors, like I Saw A Bird, a dish of roasted pigeon with dark chocolate sauce and bird-shaped cookies. The pigeon is expertly cooked, and the sauce, a bittersweet swirl of dark chocolate and red fruit, carries the dish. The leg is served with a sauce of cacao, beef jus, and sesame.

I Saw A Bird

I Saw A Bird

Little chocolates in the shape of pigeon bones, used in the sauce for I Saw A Bird.

However, the most impressive dish remains to be the pasta course, I Stole Grandma’s Candy. Fresh pasta is twisted into bite-sized candy wrappers, filled with velvety butternut squash. It’s plated with white bean sauce, sage, hazelnuts, and a bright yellow egg yolk to add creaminess to the dish. The pasta pops with each bite, releasing the naturally sweet butternut squash filling.

I Stole Grandma’s Candy

Some are a bit more experimental, at least to me, like the I Pickled Herbs “chocolate salad”, a chocolate coated piece of lettuce with bergamot and herb sorbet, topped with tomato foam. A palate cleanser.

I Pickled Herbs

The last two courses highlight Jaros’ prowess in the dessert department: I Baked Cookie, a deconstructed cookie with components of salted peanut crémeaux, saffron sauce, and burnt bread ice cream, and Don’t Tell Mommy, a light champagne sorbet with white tea foam and osmanthus cream.

I Baked Cookie

Don’t Tell Mommy

Finally, the petit fours, chocolates of chestnut, coffee, red wine and berries.

Midnight Secret – Petit Four Chocolates

Despite integrating pastry elements in each course, the menu doesn’t come across as too sweet. Except maybe at the end, when it’s one dessert course after the next.

I did enjoy the playfulness of the menu, and the standouts of pigeon and pasta are worth highlighting. It’s still early days — I wasn't a fan of the sole and chocolate-coated lettuce. With a bit of fine tuning, it would easily make a solid degustation.

The wine list also draws inspiration from pastry, sorted by flavor profiles of acidic, sweet, etc. A drinks pairing is available for ¥588, six to pair.

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TING by Frédéric Jaros
Click here for the venue listing.