Peking Pie
“Jing” has multiple Mandarin meanings including peacefulness, reverence and essence. And as it turns out, marvellous restaurant. Welcome to The Peninsula Hotel where no man is an island.
It’s a bit like eating in a super posh Westfield if you’re a Londoner or Macy’s for New Yorkers. The lower and much lower ground floors of The Peninsula form one of Wangfujing District’s finest luxury shopping malls for well dressed interiors and citizens. Basement Level I: Arc ‘Teryx, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Jenny Packham, Louis Vuitton, M L Luxia, Minotti by Domus Tiandi, The Peninsula Boutique and Zilli. Basement Level II: Baxter, Domus Tianti, Giorgetti, Henge, Living Divani, Oluce, Onno, Poliform, Promemoria and Salvatori. Jing Restaurant is on Basement Level I. Its little sister Huang Ting Brasserie is on Basement Level II.
We’re celebrating life in a rather literal way having dodged the ubiquitous duvet clad mopeds which swerve and keep going rather than stop at pedestrian crossings. All those inflight Baduanjin exercises on China Southern Airlines possibly made us more supple at dodging oncoming traffic. At this rate we’ll be up for some postprandial synchronised dancing later in Ri Tan Park. Front of house, or rather front of retail unit, beckons us to the bar. A card awaits: “Dear guest, welcome to Jing. Before starting a gastronomic journey we invite you to enjoy one glass of apéritif at the bar. Bon appetit! Jing team.” The apéritif is a Kalimotxo which originates from Basque Country and is a combination of red wine and cola. A bottle of Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups, Montlouis Sur Loire Remus, 2023, swiftly follows.
Hand painted wallpaper and gigantic circular semi transparent silk embroidered screens cocoon guests in luxurious surrounds. French born Chef de Cuisine William Mahi is redefining modern French cuisine with Basque and Asian creativity. Mang-mang sik! He teases out the essence of food sourced from the China Sea, Chongqing farms, Sichuan Lakes and Yunnan Mountains with precision, sincerity, refinement, purity and harmony. We get around so what are our cornerstones of a beautiful meal? Easy. Hervé This defines three out of four of them in Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavour, 2002. All non calorific.
Champagne: “When we hear the unmistakeable sound of the cork popping off a bottle of Champagne, we stop talking and look closely at what happens as it is poured into our glass. If the foam subsides slowly, if the frill of bubbles is delicate and persistent, and if the liquid is effervescent, the wine is considered to be of good quality.”
Truffle: “The black diamond! An immense amount of ink has been spilled in singing its praises. No food writer fails to mention its appearance on a menu, and no chef neglects to feature it when he aims for stars. In Europe there are 10 sorts of truffles, which is to say mushrooms of the Tuber genus. The black truffle, also called a Périgord truffle, is harvested principally in Spain, France, and Italy, but its gastronomic qualities vary from region to region.”
Foam: “Low in fat because they are essentially made of air – foams came to prominence with the rise of Nouvelle Cuisine in France in the 1960s and then gained broader popularity as a consequence of the growing interest in lighter foods on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, with the advent of molecular gastronomy … they are very fashionable among gourmets.”
Caviar.
Dom Pérignon. Champagne, tick. A waiter appears with a bread trolley and gives a performance of firmly slicing the freshly baked offering while pointing out the yeast jar on display. The staff to client ratio is high although it is a random Wednesday lunchtime. Piped easy listening jazz contrasts with the formality of service. Sweet pea tarte amuse bouche. The Brie Truffle (Normandy Brie D’Isgny, Yunnan black truffle, pear). The black stuff, tick. Spider Crab Tart (spider crab, shiso, sea urchin, basil oil, oxalis flower, citrus confit, crab foam, horseradish, dill flower). “The crab consommé has been simmered for 24 hours,” the waiter explains. Foam, phew. Scallop Blanc de Noir (pan seared scallop, brown butter, pear). Ya’an caviar and chive salmon tartar amuse bouche deliver the fourth cornerstone of a beautiful meal.
The dining space as subterranean capsule. Underworldliness. A sanctuary of taste. Who needs windows when you’ve priceless contemporary art to admire? Chi! Chi! Chi! Such is the importance of food that while Europeans count heads per population, Chinese count mouths. Spinning plates: Maître d’ Oliver Huang and his waiting staff are as deft and elegant as ballet dancers, effortlessly weaving round the tables with extravagance of grace and posture in a timeless duration of curation for this is not mere service.
Edible flowers are scattered over one course. Ah! Could this be our fifth cornerstone of a beautiful meal? Fig walnut toast with brie truffle mascarpone followed by a glass of Americano egg foam tick two of our current cornerstones once more. Peartree and cinnamon clove ginger tea is the ultimate palate cleanser. The waiter dons white magician’s gloves for handling the silverware – a drawer full of cutlery appears and disappears throughout the meal. The stiffly starched linen tablecloth covering the round table as big as the silk screens is regularly hand vacuumed. Steaming hot hand towels keep our hands clean.
Protein forward Chinese truffles come from the foothills of the Himalayas where they are harvested at an altitude of about 2,000 metres. The main production areas are Yongren County in Yunnan Province and Panzhihua in Sichuan Province in very southwest China. They are planted at least a dozen centimetres below ground. The Chinese truffles have a bumpy dark brown surface covered in low scales displaying an inverted pyramid form with a square base similar to the Périgord truffle. Lunch in Jing is all about gourmet satisfying fashionable molecular gastronomy.
Oh and for good measure, “Bei” like “Jing” also has multiple Mandarin meanings including preciousness, treasure and north. Jing relishes in preciousness of cuisine in an artistic treasure trove north (east) of Tian’anmen Square. Nothing too tenuous there.
