Medicinal Purposes

All chefs love to work with new ingredients, but few have been given the opportunity that has befallen Raphael Gamon. The talented American, who has cooked for the likes of Cher, Madonna and Steven Spielberg, has been taken on as a consultant by Red White & Pure, redwhitepure.com, an innovative spa and restaurant in Singapore. His mission? To give a creative twist to an old-fashioned branch of Chinese cooking known as "tonic cuisine."

For the uninitiated, tonic cuisine comprises dishes prepared primarily for their medicinal value, and it draws on the vast array of herbs and botanicals found in a traditional Chinese apothecary—greatly expanding the range of flavors at a chef's disposal. A meal of tonic cuisine, its advocates say, can restore the body's equilibrium and balance the flow of vital energy, or qi. As a devotee of traditional Chinese medicine himself, Gamon would be a sympathetic modernizer of tonic menus, and he can expect a very well-stocked pantry: Red White & Pure is a venture of Eu Yan Sang, a Singapore-based herbal-medicine company known throughout much of the Chinese-speaking world.

Using spa cuisine as a foundation, and with the help of a nutritionist and a Chinese herbalist, Gamon has been blending hashima (the glands of snow frogs) with white chocolate, combining curried chicken drumsticks with reishi mushrooms and kelp, dressing butter-braised abalone with ginseng, and adding bird's nest to ice cream. These are not the normal pairings of tonic cuisine, but they are based on the same principles and Eu Yan Sang's conservative herbalists have gradually given their approval. "Now they ask me, 'Does it taste good?'" says Gamon with a laugh.

Diners can wash down Gamon's remarkable menu with a range of unusual health drinks, from vinegar on the rocks (surprisingly addictive) to spinach juice (delicious to the last drop). A skin-care shop, a yoga studio and a spa are on the same site. If you thought Chinese medicine meant being stuck with acupuncture needles or being forced to gulp down glasses of bitter herbal brews, Red White & Pure may be the salvation you've been looking for.