Mohammed Alshoaiby Saudi Gazette RIYADH – The Chinese New Year is here, and the 2014 Chinese zodiac indicates it's the year of the horse. The legend goes that the year of the horse comes around when the sun is high overhead, and while all the animals lay down to rest, the horse is standing. The horse, one of twelve annual zodiacs, stands for pride – a concept that sits at the heart of The Ritz-Carlton's Hong restaurant. Authentic cuisine is a difficult sell: more often than not, it isn't really authentic, and the menu shifts with the whims of the customers. Some chefs go overboard with pleasing their customers, to the point that the restaurant loses a part of its identity in the process. Hong's head chef, Danny Khoo, promises to deliver an experience tailored to the guest's request, offering a unique and rare coexistence of authentic Chinese cuisine and modern, Asian culinary fusion. I was invited to Hong this past week to try their Chinese New Years' menu. The Ritz has never disappointed in delivering an exceptional culinary experience, so the opportunity wasn't the least bit passable. Hong is an intimate restaurant clad in red and gold – traditional Chinese colors symbolizing prosperity, wealth, and good fortune – and decorated with authentic Chinese calligraphy. Open only for dinner, a reservation is advisable, especially during the weekends. The choice to open only for dinner is a matter of quality control, according to Khoo. “The sous-chefs and I come in in the morning and go over all the ingredients. “Everything is prepared on the same day it is served, and all the ingredients are natural, fresh and organic,” Khoo explains over a glass of water before dinner. I took a gander at the set-menu for the Chinese New Year, and opted for it when the waiter arrived. The service at Hong lends to the restaurant's overall vibe: staff are welcoming, friendly, and proud. But perhaps Hong's staff's best trait is the on-going communication between the hosts, waiters, and the kitchen; everything is prepared precisely to order. The set-menu starts off with the “Hong Trio,” an experiential dish that provides a small, yet satisfying, foray into the different flavors that Hong offers. The trio features steamed dumplings, crispy bean curd roll – a must-have for diners, and shrimp sesame balls. The dish itself is a fusion of flavors from different Chinese regions: Szechuan, dim-sum, and canto, mainly. It is worth noting here that Khoo is a certified master of Szechuan cuisine, with years of experience that would perhaps make him the premier Szechuan chef in the region. Khoo explains that when he arrived to the Ritz-Carlton, not very long ago, Hong was to become his project. He overlooked every aspect of the restaurant, from the setting, the ambience, the ingredients and dishes, down to even the selection of porcelain and cutlery. For the main course, a variety of dishes came together, following the experiential theme. First, a customary dish of garlic fried rice, accompanied by tiger prawns cooked with Szechuan relish, Meng Gu fried crispy beef, and the outstanding vegetarian wok fried lotus with wild mushrooms. The rice stood as a perfect side between the strong spices and rich flavors offered by the prawns and the beef. The latter, especially, stood out for me because of its unique texture and sharp, yet pleasant notes of onion, vinegar, chilli and sesame. The most authentic of the dishes was the wok fried lotus. A crunchy and watery root, lotus is a delicacy across the Far East, and particularly in China. Khoo modeled his dish after the tradition of pairing lotus with various wild mushrooms that vary from mild in flavor to brazenly strong. I found myself chewing on a lotus root cross-section between helpings of beef and prawn, cleansing the palate and allowing different tasting notes to shine through. Finally, for dessert Khoo prepared a crispy fried, lemongrass ice cream, with a side of macaroons. I found the macaroons to be unnecessary, as you'll find them everywhere while the fad grows in popularity here in capital. The ice cream, however, was delicious. Lemongrass is also a Chinese delicacy, and features tasting notes that harken back to fresh spring water, a subtle hint of lemon that imposes itself on the senses with its fragrance and flavor, quickly breaded and fried to blend an interesting texture with an otherwise familiar dish. Khoo sees Hong as his magnum opus, and us here in Riyadh have not only the opportunity, but the privilege to experience what stands as the culmination of everything Khoo and his group of eclectic sous-chefs have learned over the years. For those looking for authentic Chinese cuisine, speak to Khoo at Hong about their various duck dishes, or rest assured as the chefs offer up some of the most creative Asian culinary fusions that borrow from the flavors of Thailand, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan on a bedrock of Chinese herbs and spices.
