IXORA

Elegant, refined cuisine hallmark of Readington restaurant

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By Andrea Clurfeld

Asbury Park Press

     Green tea-smoked squab rests at one end of an earth-toned rectangular stoneware plate, while a tangle of buckwheat noodles, infused, too, with green tea, but also flecked with asparagus chards and crowned with quail eggs, sit at the other.  In the middle is a swirl of razor-shaved cucumber and fennel, its mildly stringent dressing a mere whisper.

     The bird has been expertly cooked.  Its inherent sweetness is balanced by the sultry scent of the tea and the smoky notes brought about by slow roasting.  The noodles transcend what you may know about noodles, for they're the rare, and tres cher, Japanese brand called Aogaki; you could live on these noodles.  Bite into the quail eggs, which seem to be steamed with the vapor of green tea, and yet there is another nuance, another play on smokiness.  Take a taste of the palate-cleansing cucumber-fennel salad, and you'll be ready to do it all again and again - squab, noodles, salad.

     This, I think to myself, is the most perfect exquisite dish I have ever eaten.

     But I thought the same thing a scant few weeks before as I tasted my way around the plate of poached Maine lobster, jasmine rice and a saucy side of crab, puree chayote and Japanese cucumber.  Exquisite.

     There is no better way to describe the highly original utterly transporting cuisine at Ixora, New Jersey's newest dining sensation.  Located in Whitehouse Station, down the road from the justly exalted Ryland Inn, it's shepherded by the sister-brother team of Melissa and Timothy Chang.

     The siblings must have played around in their parents' kitchen as kids.  That kitchen was the heart of a Chinese restaurant located for almost 20 years where Ixora stands now.  But the younger Changs, taste buds adventurous and vision soaring, last fall took over the family business and rechristened it Ixora.

A new start

     The pair gutted the menu, replacing Chinese standards with their own brand of Japanese-French cuisine.  While they call it Japanese-French, I see the French mostly in attitude or, rather, in what most folks think of as French: something elegant, something sophisticated, something haute.  Ixora's food is all of that, but it's firmly rooted in the Far East.  It's the techniques that speak of a far-flung culinary education.

     Yet Timothy, the executive chef, and Melissa, the pastry chef, claim no culinary school education.  They are simply to-the-stove born.

     If you are to-the-sushi-bar-minded, you will want to sample the riveting rolls, as well as the sashimi and sushi pieces plated with stately precision by sushi bar guru Matthew Chen.  It's the proper start to dinner here, a round of sushi, followed by a first-course warm-up, entrees, then the spectacular confectionary finale.  Ixora isn't a place to regard with offhanded casualness: It's a place you surrender to for a whole gustatory night.

     Begin with slivers of pristine sashimi, maybe the juicy white tuna, so clean, so refreshing, or the sexy smoked salmon, the Lauren Bacall of raw fish.  Continue with delicate sweet shrimp, their flavor concentrated and cunning, then try the pepper tuna, crusted in crushed mutlicolored peppercorns.

     The rolls are visionary: There's something dubbed a terrine, a mosaic of broiled eel and spicy tuna wrapped with more tuna and avocado, that's trhe definition of delicious, then another take on the tuna-eel combo known here as the Matthew roll.  It's layered differently than the terrine, affording you more pronounced tuna tastes.  Tuna takes another turn in the naruto-cucumber wrap, which allows cucumber to come front and center.  But with the cuke-wrapped lobster roll, there's no doubt as to the star: It's lobster - sweet, sassily spiced, savvy.

     There are sushi bar appetizers to consider at Ixora, and the pair we sampled captivated.  Live scallops are thinly sliced, then drizzled with a yuzu vinaigrette, while mussels get a Thai-esque treatment in a gently spiced, yet fragrant and creamy broth.

Fish fantasies

     Scallops are allowed to show their versatility in another starter in which a raw scallop is partnered with a rousing wasabi cream sauce, while a seared scallop is paired with a feisty, oh-so-fine parsley coulis.  The juxtaposition of both raw/cooked fish and hot/cool accenting is enchanting.

     If you can't let go of the raw thing, see what fish is on tap the night of your visit for the new-style sashimi special: We swooned at the striped bass plied with oil-moistened lemon zest and a trickle of chopped scallions.

     We couldn't resist a dish called "fairy" squid, and neither should you: It's a delightful swirl of rings and squiggles amid a 'slaw of soy paste-enriched cucumber.  Spot prawn fritters might make you eschew any other form of fish cake, for these flashed-fried patties are served with a richly spiced Japanese mayonnaise, a compelling combination of earthy and elegant.

     Capon, sealed with green seaweed and served boneless and flawlessly moist with a savory blue cheese-chevre sauce, is simply the finest rendition of this hard-to-cook bird I've had.

     I guess that should have prepared me for that aforementioned exquisite squab.  Just as the preceding seafood dishes should have prepared me for the beatific lobster, grandly presented and impossible to stop eating.  But the spotted skate wing, with its riffs of ginger and its pretty, perky side of julienned snow peas, bell peppers, wild mushrooms and golden potatoes, was no mere also-ran.

     Neither was the engaging hot pepper shrimp, served with a sensuous lemon-licked black bean sauce and plated with a come-hither creme fraiche.  Now why would I dab shrimp with creme fraiche?  I thought to myself.  Well, its here, so I'll try, and then I was hooked, for it was a citrus-scented and ever so gently tamed the chile'd shrimp.

     Don't rule out the meats, even though fish is king at Ixora.  Pork tenderloin, marinated in a bonito stock, is given an herbaceous crust of mountain seaweed that seals in the meat's natural juices.  Served with a seaweed-bolstered guava sauce and a cabbage spring roll, its hog heaven, Japanese-style.  Hunks of boneless primo lamb are crusted in white and black sesame seeds, seared just-right medium-rare, then served with a soybean-based sauce and a joyful, bright bean ragout.  Lamb and beans - French, mais oui; but here at Ixora, original awesome Asian.

Perfect endings

     Melissa Chang's desserts are fitting finales, tightly constructed poems to the dessert gods.  A favorite?  Maybe the strawberry shortcake, served with tarragon sherbet and a papaya creme anglaise.  It still brings a shiver of pure glee.  But so does the chocolate fondant, sitting astride a scoop of banana sorbet and give-me-more milk chocolate ice cream, all of which is accompanied by a caramel sauce dotted with macadamias and lifted by a hint of ginger.  The eight-treasure spring roll, a pastry plumped with fruit and nuts, then plated with coconut sorbet and chunks of mango, is justly named, while the simple almond flan, with its meringue crisps and scoop of raspberry sorbet, is subtle and alluring.

     But it's necessary to convince someone at your table to secure the sorbet sampler:  Ours was a colorful panoply of six ramekin-coddled flavors - basil, coconut, chocolate, strawberry, banana and passionfruit.  And then there was a seventh presented to our table, a kindness from the staff who responded to our curiosity about an unfamiliar sorbet accompanying another dessert, kabusu.  It's strongly citrusy, cleansing and concentrated, the perfect last bite.

     Then again, nothing at Ixora falls short.  The service staff is polite professional, watchful, but never intrusive.  The spare, comfortable pair of dining rooms afford a luxurious degree of space between tables, and all of this is being renovated to better suite the new elegance of this transformed restaurant.  How lucky we are that Melissa and Timothy Chang so love to play in the kitchen.

Atmosphere:  Gracious, comfortable pair of dining rooms, one with a sushi bar.  Renovations are unobstrusively under way to add a drinks bar and more dining space to the restaurant.  BYOB at the moment, with liquor service planned.  Dress ranges from smart casual to dressy business.

Service:  Polite, professional, watchful without ever seeming imposing.

Best Dishes:  All sashimi and sushi rolls, scallop with yuzu, creamy mussels, striped bass with lemon oil, fairy squid, spot prawn fritters, capon, scallop two ways, spotted skate, hot pepper shrimp, tea-smoked squab, poached lobster, sesame-crusted lamb, marinated pork, strawberry shortcake, chocolate fondant, almond flan, eight-treasures spring roll, sorbets.

Price Range:  Sushi, by the piece and rolls: $4 - $18.  Sushi specials: $10 - $16.  Shokuji (Japanese) dinners: $20 - $32.  Soups and starter: $6 - $28.  Entrees: $28 - $38.  Desserts: $12.  Dinner for two, not including tax and tip, averages about $170.

Credit Cards:  AE, V, MC.

Hours:  Lunch: Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  Dinner: Tuesdays through Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 3 to 11 p.m., Sundays from 3 to 10 p.m.

Reservations:  Accepted

Handicapped Access:  Entrance at front of restaurant is accessible, while rear entrance is up a flight of stairs.  Restrooms are wheelchair-accessible.

Nonsmoking Section:  Restaurant is smoke-free.

Andrea Clurfeld, the Press restaurant critic, visits restaurants anonymously and rates them on food, value, service, physical comfort and ambience - in that order.  The Press pays for her meals.  Free meals for review are not accepted.  The Dining Companion appears on Sundays.