This weekend’s edition of The Wall Street Journal cited Jean-George Vongerichten’s five favorite Asian restaurants. (See “Hit List: Jean-Georges’s Spice Tour,” The Wall Street Journal, March 11-12, 2006, p. P2.) With 17 restaurants of his own worldwide, including one in Shanghai and another opening soon in Beijing, the peripatetic celebrity chef likes to sample Asian cuisine wherever he touches down. His passion for Eastern flavors developed during a stint at the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok and flowered at the original Vong in New York, where he used 150 spices and herbs to create a stunning French-Thai menu. Today, all his restaurants use Asian spices and ingredients.
Where does this master chef get his spice fix? The Journal cites three restaurants in China and Singapore (others include Honmura An in New York and Hakkasan in London):
Shui Hu Ju
68 Peel Street in Soho
Hong Kong
011-852-2869-6927
www.aqua.com.hk
Part of the ultra-chic Aqua group, this intimate restaurant, specializing in rustic Northern Chinese cuisine, is named after a mountain in an ancient fable. The restaurant is heavily atmospheric, with antique wooden doors and traditional dark wood carvings. Mr. Vongerichten’s favorite dish is the deep fried chicken with Szechuan chili; other enticing selections include okra with wasabi and Chinese soy sauce and stewed pork ribs with fennel and northern herbs.
The Whampoa Club
Three on the Bund
No. 3 the Bund
3 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road
Shanghai
011-86-21-6321-3737
www.threeonthebund.com
The colorful contemporary Whampoa Club is located at Three on the Bund, which also houses Mr. Vongerichten’s own sleek outpost, Jean-Georges, and four other destination restaurants. Chef Jereme Leung does a modern interpretation of Shanghainese cuisine: the house speciality is Su Dong Bo braised pork. Mr. Vongerichten favors “steamed local fish with ginger and scallions;” other choices include Shao Xing marinated live prawns and fresh ginseng roasted chicken.
First Grade Seafood Restaurant
241 Joo Chait Place
Singapore
011-65-644-05560
See www.think.cz/eats2/first_grade_seafood.html for a photo of the black pepper crab
One of Singapore’s famed hawker stalls in Eng Seng Restaurant, First Grade Seafood turns out a stellar version of black pepper crab, considered by many the island’s national dish. Mr. Vongerichten does indeed order the crab; here it is stir-fried with black beans as well as black peppercorns.
Editor’s Note: Hungry, but can’t get to Singapore this week? See Spicelines recipe “Singapore: Thian’s Black Pepper Crab,” posted on February 16, 2006.