SITTING, as it does, in a hotel on the banks of the Grand Canal, the Ritz-Carlton’s Asian restaurant Li Jiang is well named.
Meaning ‘beautiful river’ in Chinese, the lavishly appointed venue boasts waves of free-flowing, attentive service, with an undercurrent of relaxed ambience. The eddying motion of the chefs in the open kitchen provides a constant source of eye-catching interest, but it is the food that myself and my dining companion are here to lap up.
We started by sharing the selection of dim sum, the succulent crispy duck, the wasabi prawns, Shanghai guo tie and the beef foie gras. The selection combined all that was good about Li Jiang. The duck was dark and delicious, the prawns juicy and punchy, the foie gras smooth and indulgent. The guo tie were little packets of perfection; the appetisers proved to be a multifarious and marvellous introduction to the Li Jiang experience.
The main courses then arrived; the black pepper beef and the black cod, accompanied by a bowl of Cantonese rice. The cod was perfectly cooked, luscious and flakey, arriving with asparagus and mayonnaise; the beef was equally as flavoursome, juicy and tender.
An invitation to try making noodles by hand was gleefully accepted and then ruefully abandoned – after abject failure; a tricky skill made to look easy by the highly trained chefs. And as the conversation with the friendly staff ebbed and flowed, desserts were served: crème brûlée and deep fried ice cream. Both added to an exquisite evening, where the sights, sounds and tastes lingered late into the evening, long after the plates were cleared away.
Matt Ross
