Countdown to 2016 with a Double Bill of Gourmet Feasts at the Waldorf Astoria Beijing

After the annual ten second countdown is done, and the attendees grin joyously amid cheers of "Happy New Year!" Chef Benoit Chargy will be more than ready to celebrate. After all, the Waldorf Astoria culinary master enjoyed a prosperous 2015, the success of which will propel the hotel's restaurants ever forward in the coming months and beyond.   

"This was a very good year for us. We broke all our records — but that was easy because we just opened last year," the chef, who hails from a small town near Cannes, says jokingly ahead of the relatively new hotel's special Brasserie New Year Eve set Western menu (available on December 31 from 5.30pm-10.30pm), and its Asian influenced Zijin New Year Menu (also available on December 31 from 5.30pm-10pm).  

In a more serious (but no less enthused) tone, Chargy goes on to describe the rigorous new standards that he and his colleagues placed on many of the Waldorf Astoria's ingredients and suppliers in 2015, and the delicious benefits that ensued, saying: “Throughout this past fall we began to carefully seek out several special suppliers, in order to have 100 percent control of where some of our key ingredients come from, and to have the very best quality.”
 

A prime example of the hotel’s top sourced products is its lobsters. They are shipped from Halifax Canada in carefully packaged containers that keep them cool, moist, and vibrantly alive and wiggling, so that they maintain the utmost freshness when Chargy’s staff begin to prepare them.   
 

Above all, Chargy is most proud of forging a bond with the French oyster supplier David Hervé. As the primary oyster provider of France’s Michelin star restaurants, the Hervé has an esteemed reputation. Chargy says The Waldorf Astoria is one of the first venues in Beijing to serve those succulent delicacies. He explains: “This supplier is very particular. After they catch the oysters they lay them out in sun and spaces them out, which makes them fresher. Each shipment is also individually packed by a trained specialist who signs and seals it themselves. That makes it very exclusive and accountable — those staff members knows if there’s a problem, it can be traced directly back to them, so they take great care.”
 

Chargy says he and his staff are also pleased to have established a regular source of pristine red meat from Stockyard Beef. The Australian farming company ships world-renowned Wagyu and Angus cattle (from Japan and Scotland, respectively), and raises those herds on their expansive ranch in Brisbane. Chargy says that environment is ideal for such high quality cattle, explaining: “The cows can roam, so that means the beef will marbled.” He says this results in far higher quality steaks, because the marbled fat is more evenly dispersed, as opposed to many Wagyu beef suppliers in Japan, who do not have such spacious ranges, resulting concentrated globs of fat in their beef because of their cattle’s docility. Customers will be able to sample this premium-sourced beef during the Brasserie New Year’s dinner, which features a roasted black Angus sirloin and a side of potatoes as a main course. Customers can also opt for a smoked cocktail sausage and sauerkraut with creamy pepper sauce instead. 
 

Before the piece de la resistance steak course, patrons at the Brasserie New Year’s dinner will delight in a terrine of foie gras truffle appetizer that also features a side of emerald green asparagus jelly, topped in sweet bubbling pink foam. 
 

The meal then continues with a serving of seared cod teamed with a plump juicy scallop and a roasted Roma tomato, all of which is immersed in a mouthwatering creamy soup. 
 

The Brasserie New Year’s menu then takes a highly refined turn with a bowlful of ravioli submerged in sunrise yellow langoustine sauce, which is then sprinkled with bits of luxurious caviar.
 

And while beef aficionados will salivate over the aforementioned black Angus steak, an equally pristine helping seafood may very well be the meal’s best moment of all. Consisting of the aforementioned, siren red Canadian lobster, this course is also slathered with enchantingly amber Crustacean sauce and fluffy-yet-firm, diced baked potatoes. 
 

The Brasserie New Year’s meal then climaxes with a sweetly curvy crescendo:  a bite sized blazing red moelleux “New Years Dome” dusted with berry flavoring, and bursting with vanilla ice cream in its center. 
 

Patrons who favor Far East flavors can instead choose the Waldorf Astoria’s Zijin New Year Menu, which is not quite as hearty as its Brasserie counterpart, but rather features lighter, equally delectable offerings. 
 

This meal option begins with a cold dish combination platter of salmon sashimi — which is cut and rolled thinly and tightly enough to resemble a rose— along with a serving of finely sliced beef and a side of veggies. 
 

That appetizer is followed by a hulking serving of glistening sea cumber in an invitingly warm wild mushroom soup. 
 

And although the sea cucumber may be a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach, the meal’s next dish is an all-the-more aesthetically pleasing baked king scallop drowned in a creamy wasabi sauce. 
 

Then comes the more simple, but none-the-less delectable stir-fried sliced pork with cucumber flower. The dish’s vegetables are vibrantly colorful and varied, resembling a rainbow amongst the morsels of sizzling pink pork.
 

To ensure that any remaining hunger ebbs away, the chef has also readied a highly filling braised rice dish laced with crab and smothered with oyster sauce. 
 

Chef Chargy says he and his staff are looking forward to seeking out even more fine ingredients in 2016. Early in the New Year he has arranged for the hotel to have high quality JA Caviar, a brand that uses Siberian Baerii, Kaluga Beluga, Amur Oscietra and other types of sturgeon caviar from the Chinese-Russian border. Chargy says JA is the finest Chinese brand of its kind, considering its pedigree as the first Mainland supplier to export caviar to European, Singaporean and Hong Kong markets. The chef goes on to say that “2016 will be a phenomenal year for us. We have a lot of expectation. We’ll be working to have better and better ingredients, and we already have a very good start.”
 

The Waldorf Astoria's Brasserie New Year Eve set menu will be available for RMB 788 (plus a 15 percent service charge) on December 31 from 5.30pm-10.30pm. The hotel’s Zi Jin New Year Menu will also available on December 31 from 5.30pm-10pm, priced at RMB 688 (plus a 15 percent service charge).

This post is sponsored by the Waldorf Astoria Beijing. For reservations and more information please call 8520 8989.

Photos: Uni You, courtesy of Studio 17/Pascal Langendorff