Asian fusion, with a personality all its own

Restaurant: At Soigne, the food has both European and Asian elements, with tasty and often hard-to-identify ingredients.

Sunday Gourmet

Soigne is a restaurant that's betting on the future. It sits in the blue-collar neighborhood of Riverside, but looks as if it belongs somewhere trendier. Its spiritual cousin is the American Visionary Arts Museum, just a little too far away to be called nearby. If a few funky stores, galleries and eateries opened up between the two, Baltimore could have a hip new area -- the next Canton or Federal Hill.

Lynn's, the small, upscale restaurant that was here before Soigne, was also out of place. But there's one important difference: Soigne's chef and co-owner, Edward Kim, already has a following. Customers know him from Ixia, his last stop in Baltimore before he decided to open his own restaurant. Word of mouth has also helped. Although Soigne has only been open a couple of months, there's been a lot of buzz about it and people are filling the tables.

The small space on the corner of Jackson and Fort has been transformed into two rooms that are simple, clean-lined and attractive. The dominant color scheme is black and white with touches of red. White walls are hung with contemporary paintings. (One painting of big lips dominates the back wall -- quite appropriate for a restaurant.)

The front room has a long, curved bar of blond wood and marble-topped tables; there are more tables in back. The tables are handsomely set with red bamboo place mats, white cloth napkins tied with a twist of raffia, and votive candles in square glass holders. The room has Asian accents, like the Japanese-looking sconces, but they are muted.

Edward Kim's food is rich and strange, with a personality all its own. You could call it Asian fusion, but that doesn't convey its charm. I imagine most people's first reaction is, "Wow, that's weird," and then, "Wow, that's appealing." In every dish there is usually at least one ingredient -- spicy, sharp or sweet -- that's impossible to identify.

You might start with delicate bites of sea scallops paired with unctuous foie gras and caramelized mango, swimming in a faintly sweet sauce of sake and mirin. Or try a tiny tower of raw tuna and salmon perched on a bed of crisp matchstick potatoes. On top is a crunch of red roe; pooled around the base is creme fraiche sparked with wasabi and ginger. The dish is sushi with potatoes instead of rice.