A Toast to Excellence: RUYI Gastronomy’s Drink Pairings

This post is sponsored by the Waldorf Astoria Beijing.
 

Desmond Chang not only hopes guests will savor every bite of the expertly prepared RUYI Gastronomy dishes – he also wants those customers to relish each sip of the elegant banquet’s innovative drink pairings. 

The Managing Director of the world renowned porcelain brand LEGLE FRANCE (which provides the tableware for RUYI at Beijing’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel) is also an F&B aficionado who oversaw and helped design nearly every facet of the banquet, dedicating a special amount of time and effort to creating the original drink pairings for each course.

RUYI’s intricate tableware and exquisite dishes have been garnering the most attention and praise, but Chang points out that these meals would be greatly diminished without being paired with the proper drinks to accentuate their strengths. And those pairings are not limited to wines, but also include sake, teas, soups and other imaginative combinations.
 

He says the most innovative example is the pairing of the Tan Cuisine Style Thick Chicken Consommé with a clear chicken consommé, creating a yin and yang that helps each soup attain new flavor heights together, while also offsetting each other’s flaws, so that guests are left with an immaculate dining experience. He explains: “The thick chicken soup is very powerful and has a concentrated essence of the chicken. It is very rich and enjoyable however because of its richness you will be quite overwhelmed after a few spoonfuls. So the clear chicken consommé is also served to lighten the palate and rebalance your taste buds without diluting the essence of the chicken. The umami taste of the consommé continues throughout, until you finish enjoying this wonderful soup course.”

Jacky Song, The Waldorf’s Food and Beverage Manager, assisted Chang with the pairings, and he agrees that combining the rich soup with the clear soup makes the cosommé course innovative and nuanced. He adds: “It’s hard to find a good drink pairing for soup. So we tried a different way. A clear soup pairing with the thick soup will not destroy the latter’s taste, and will also can help the flavor of thick soups spread throughout your mouth.”

Song says that he worked closely together with Chang and Waldorf Food and Beverage Director Peter Ham trying nearly one hundred drink varieties in order to find the perfect beverages to compliment the dishes. Many of the drink pairings are a bit more conventional than the coupling of two soups in the cosommé course, while still being innovative in their own right. 

The Royal Braised Sea Cucumber with Leek is paired with Anji white tea, while the Rose and Lychee Jelly with Bird’s Nest dessert is served with chrysanthemum tea. Song explains that these teas are fermented in a traditional fashion.

He also adds that one of his favorite RUYI pairings is the Tender Lobster Ball with secret sauce coupled with fine Chateau Cantegrill Barsac-Sauternes French wine. 

“Desmond chose it for its robust and artisanal feel and texture,” Song says of the wine, adding: “It is a lesser known wine, but it is more traditional and fits with our authentic RUYI experience. It comes from the Barsac area in Bordeaux, and has a hint of sweetness, providing a perfect opulence to match the chef’s secret lobster sauce.”

While some customers may be surprised by the pairing of traditional Chinese dishes with fine French wine, Chang explains that this aspect is one of the banquet’s greatest strengths, explaining: “When I design the menu’s pairing, I always try to remember that our mission is to help Chinese cuisine become more international, so that it can be savored around the world. So the pairings not only focus on taste, but also the creative combination between Chinese food and international beverages. The introduction of pairings teas, sake and Sauternes are all new breakthroughs within our menu.”

He says that the cosommé pairing is far from the only unconventional coupling in RUYI Gastronomy, before describing one of his other favorite innovative food and beverage combinations in the banquet: “For the suckling pig course there is even a juxtaposition of two beverages with one dish, one Chinese Schnapps and one Rhone wine served at the same time.”

Chang adds that he hopes such international beverage twists will help “introduce Chinese gastronomy to the world. I am very proud of these creations.”

The Waldorf Astoria Beijing and LEGLE FRANCE's Beijing RUYI Gastronomy event runs from now until December 31, 2015 in the historic Ming Dynasty-style Waldorf Astoria Hutong Villa. Guests will enjoy an elaborate nine-course meal inspired by the cuisine of Imperial Beijing paired with a selection of Chinese spirits, wines and teas, all served on fine RUYI tableware. 

RUYI Set Menu I: RMB 1,688 + 15 percent service charge per guest
RUYI Set Menu II: RMB 1,088 + 15 percent service charge per guest

For reservations and more information please call 8520 8916.

Photos: Uni You, courtesy of the Waldorf Astoria Beijing