North Side Meets South: Scrumptious 7-Course Dinner at The Georg, Dec 16-17
The Georg team are always trying something new – after Chef Talib Hudda left they released an overhauled menu with tailored seasonal dishes and snacks to share. This weekend (Dec 16-17), Italian Michelin starred guest Chef Fabio Strammiello teams up with the Jade River-adjacent restaurant to present the North Side Meets South Side dinner. We were lucky enough to attend the tasting session earlier this week and give you a sneaky peek of what to expect.
Strammiello’s culinary resume is glorious, including stints at Italy’s 3 Michelin star Le Calandre; London’s Apsleys; Denmark’s 3 Michelin star Geranium; and Copenhagen's 2 Michelin star Noma and 1 Michelin star Marchal restaurants.
The meal started with a trio of snacks: celeriac with smoked cheese, quail with kimchi, and water carrots buried in Chinese peppercorn powders, as if straight out of the TV show Chef’s Table. "Fabio is a good friend and a talented chef and we know each other well having worked in Copenhagen at Marchal together. Other than having extensive experience from some of the top restaurants in the world, there’s the simple fact that he’s also Italian. We’ve, at least for a month, balanced out the equation at The Georg with one Danish, one half Danish/half Italian person, and one Italian person here. There’s a zen atmosphere here," said Stefano Censi, general manager at The Georg.
That balance is also present in The Georg's usual naming of dishes, simply listing the few main ingredients that grace the plate.
The first featured burnt onion, egg, and herb rocks, the preserved pink onion adding acidity to the dish, tempered by the creamy egg yolk.
Next up came the scallop carpaccio, with XO sauce and leeks, which was our favorite of the whole menu; the scallops were fresh and combined well with the XO sauce hidden underneath. The dish was also impeccably presented, bringing us a much needed splash of spring colors to thaw that harsh Beijing cold.
The langoustine tempura was also remarkable for its almond encrusted bend on the Japanese classic dish, served alongside a parsley sauce and preserved curry cucumber, adding a twist of Indian cuisine.
As a foie gras lover, I cheer any dish with it, and the sauced pigeon with grilled foie gras was no exception, brought together with a sweet maraschino sauce and dried apple slices. The last main, lamb with artichoke served with burnt eggplant sauce, was perhaps more memorable for the wine that it paired with, an elegant red from Chateau des Tours, from the Rhone region in France, full of red berry aromas.
Desserts were gratifying: the risalamande (Danish rice pudding) was perfect for the holiday season, paired with iced-berries, and topped off with caramel. The chocolate mousse clashed with the accompanying tart lemon sauce in a good way, and the rum-laden ice added an extra potency to it.
Needless to say, the dining experience was superb, mainly thanks to the outstanding service, which is truly a rarity in Beijing. The Georg lives up to the hype and does make the RMB 888 per person price tag for seven courses, which includes a glass of Champagne Devaux, a little easier to swallow. If you really want to go large then you can opt for an additional wine pairing for RMB 688.
Reservations for the dinner can be made by calling 8408 5300. If the round is a little out of your price range then you might want to hold out for The Georg's pop-up with our 2016 the Beijinger Pizza Cup winner Bottega. Strammiello and the team will prepare three starters and one pizza for a special two-day stint in Sanlitun, December 21 and 22. Stay tuned for more details as that event approaches.
More stories by this author here.
Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos: The Georg, Tracy Wang
