Comparison is cruel

Judgments about the best food you've eaten are bound to come back and haunt you, Ye Jun reports, after an impressive tasting at Le Quai in Beijing.

Some meals you eat and forget, others are memorable. In the latter category was a lamb chop from chef Kenny Fu at Le Quai some time ago. It was tender, juicy and had a clean aftertaste. But at a recent tasting at the same restaurant, I realized belatedly that the chop was not necessarily the best dish that Le Quai served. It was merely one among many of its best dishes.

For instance, there was the Angus tenderloin that was juicy beef wrapped in Parma ham and had an amazing taste and beautiful texture.

Beef tournedos. Photos by Ye Jun / China Daily

Each time I experience good lamb or beef, I realize the success of the dish depends primarily on the quality of the original ingredient, which is how I learned about the source of chef Fu's lamb chops.

The hosts of my recent tasting was Food South Australia Inc, and Elders Fine Foods, the Australian company that provides Murraylands lamb chops and Angus beef to Le Quai.

Australia is the number one exporter of meat to China, followed by New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay.

The meal allowed local media to learn more about Australian ingredients: Seafood from South Australia, such as southern blue fin tuna carpaccio, braised abalone, and Spencer Gulf king prawn.

While all the foods served were good, the Ausab Kangaroo Island abalone was brilliantly fresh and textured, leaving a sweet aftertaste that testified to its purity.

The dishes were nicely paired with wines from Geoff Hardy, an Australian family winery that dates back 160 years. Their wines, K1 by Geoff Hardy Chardonnay 2009, and Pertaringa Over the Top Shiraz 2009, displayed a quality and purity that entirely complemented the food on offer.

Bec Hardy, commented after introducing her great wines that she had been to many Michelin-starred restaurants, but the meal at Le Quai was the best she had.

The impressive meal was an example of what happens when good ingredients fall into the right hands. It was singularly impressive also because Kenny Fu has a background not just in Western cuisine, but also in traditional Chinese cooking.

Compared to other Western restaurants that offer upscale seafood, lamb and beef dishes, Fu is able to add more flavor - an advantage of his Chinese cuisine background.

He paired bluefin tuna carpaccio with black truffle tomato dip, and truffle honey, just a touch more tasty than the ordinary carpaccio.

Le Quai's decor blends the best of East and West. Photos by Ye Jun / China Daily

Braised abalone was served with abalone sauce, and white truffle oil, while king prawns were prepared with brandy sauce. The flavoring is inspired by Chinese methods, but used on Western ingredients.

The beef and lamb dishes had some interesting Chinese elements.

Angus tenderloin was paired with a very nice red wine, marinated local figs and roasted chestnuts - popular now as the season has arrived in Beijing.

Meanwhile, the signature lamb chop came with a sweet potato topped with gratin cheese, a successful combination of Chinese and Western cuisines.

The lunch finished with an Australian mango cheesecake and fresh mango puree, which paired particularly well with a sweet, mellow Pertaringa Autumn Harvest Riesling 2010.

It was the first time Craig Aldous, general manager of Elders Fine Foods, had tried lamb chops at Le Quai, prepared with his company's produce.

He was impressed.

But my impression is that the Angus beef that preceded it was so flawless that the lamb tasted just a little less perfect. Perhaps the reason for this was the lamb should have been served before the beef?

Comparison is cruel. In fact, the lunch was so excellent that at dinner on the same day, also at a high-end restaurant, I couldn't bring myself to chew on a 150-day grain-fed beef tenderloin.

It will probably take me some time before I can summon the same passion for beef or lamb.

Contact the writer at yejun@chinadaily.com.cn.

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