STAFF UNSURE WHAT HAPPENED
When CNA visited Peach Blossoms on Aug 27 at around 6.30pm, the restaurant had just opened for dinner service.
Of the six customers CNA spoke to near the restaurant, four were first-time patrons and had not heard of the “cigar” roll.
Two others who dine at Peach Blossoms about four times a year also said they had never tried the dish before.
A staff member who did not want to be named said the “cigar” roll had been removed from the menu about two to three weeks ago.
The employee added that the staff “never received any details” from their management on why the item had to be removed. They were only told that the restaurant was going to “upgrade” the dish.
“We are waiting for our management to update us. We also don’t know what happened.”
The inspiration for the dish reportedly came from a cigar advertisement that Peach Blossoms’ executive chef Edward Chong came across, he said in an interview last year with fashion and luxury lifestyle magazine Tatler Asia.
The chef was “struck by the beauty of the visual art direction” of the advertisement and spent more than two months creating the “cigar” roll.
To make the dish look “as realistic as possible”, he also recreated the ash at the tip of the roll.
The restaurant employee CNA spoke to said the dish is now served as a regular spring roll.
As the “cigar” roll was a signature item, customers have asked – and some have complained – about its absence from the menu, the employee said.
Staff members told customers that the restaurant had “changed the dish and upgraded it”.
Peach Blossoms said it could not comment as the matter is under review by the authorities.
CNA has also contacted Tasty Court for a response to HSA’s directive.