Stars in the East?
"We are pushing for a Michelin star in January next year. That is our objective," declares Henry Brosi, executive head chef of the Dorchester, as he explains the rationale behind September's relaunch of the London hotel's Oriental restaurant.
The Oriental, which first opened in November 1990, and for a long time was the UK's only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant, lost the much-prized accolade a couple of years ago. Brosi says he believes this was a result of the 55-seat eaterie becoming too Westernised. "My feeling is that we had lost our authenticity a bit. So in August 2001, Kenneth Poon [the Oriental's head chef], the food and beverage manager and I all visited Hong Kong to look at the type of dishes and ingredients being served there."
Freshly inspired following this trip, Brosi, Poon and the 10-strong brigade of the Oriental worked on developing new dishes, many based on authentic ingredients imported from Hong Kong for the first time. For example, deep-fried eel with cinnamon blossom sauce (£18.50) uses cinnamon blossoms from the Guangdong and Guangxi regions of China, brought in via Hong Kong. "This is a difficult dish to get right: if it's not carefully balanced, the cinnamon blossom and honey marinade can make the eel taste bitter. But we're really proud of how this dish is tasting," Brosi says.
Arguably, however, it's the beggar's chicken (£39 for two) that involves the most work and skill of all the dishes on the menu. A boned chicken is stuffed with onion, pork, dried red dates and Chinese mushrooms. "It's then wrapped in lotus leaves, packed into clay and baked very slowly for three-and-a-half to five hours, depending on the chicken's size," says Brosi. "It's quite a spectacle when served, as the clay, which dries out during cooking, needs smashing open with a hammer."
In total some 30 dishes on the menu are new and include some innovative ice-creams and sorbets (all £8.50) and Poon's long-standing signature dessert, chilled mango pudding (£8.50). Lychee sorbet, mandarin sorbet and coconut ice-cream with basil seeds are particularly popular, Brosi says.
Early signs are that the relaunch, which also involved a £150,000 refurbishment of the restaurant's interior and the introduction of a new wine list designed by consultant Peter McCombie MW, is having a positive effect on covers. "At lunch now we're doing 40-50 covers, compared with a maximum of 20 before, while at dinner we're doing 70-80 covers, maintaining the previous level."
The big hope, he confesses, is that hidden among these diners lurks a satisfied Michelin inspector.
A selection from the menu at the Oriental
Traditional cold drunken chicken, £11.50
Boiled prawn and chicken dumplings with hot and spicy sauce, £11
Chicken broth with green mustard and salted egg, £8.50
Pan-fried fillet of black cod with sweet soya sauce, £22
Steamed prawns and glutinous rice with garlic, herbs and Chinese wine sauce, £23
Sautéd slices of lamb and bitter melon with black bean sauce, £23
Stir-fried pea shoots in crab meat sauce, £10
Braised aubergines and fresh bean curd with chilli plum sauce, £8
E-fu noodles with enoki mushroom and conpoy in sat‚ sauce, £13.50
The Oriental, the Dorchester, Park Lane, London W1A 2HJ. Tel: 020 7629 8888
By Gaby Huddart
