CookSmart (18th Issue) Page8

EatSmart Restaurants Snaps

Hidden Gem Wrapped in a “Blue Ribbon” – Baron Cuisine

Cooked food stalls (dai pai dong) have been praised for their stir-fried dishes steaming in an alluring smoky flavour of wok hei. However, most of the dishes served in a dai pai dong are pretty strong-flavoured and high in oil content. Baron Cuisine, a modest restaurant run by great chef Tak-wing LI, a member of Les Amis d’Escoffier Society-Asia Pacific, offers light-flavoured dishes that are full of local character. It has become a magnet for food lovers and celebrities.

Mr. Tak-wing LI, who has been in the culinary industry for over 40 years, holds a diploma of Les Amis d’Escoffier Society-Asia Pacific.

Going back to original flavours

Mr. LI started out in an old-fashioned restaurant in the New Territories some forty years ago. Having served at a number of restaurants, Mr. LI always has a good grasp of the trends in the local dining scene. He thinks that a truly great dish not only combines taste, colour and aroma but also, most importantly, benefits your health. He chooses the best ingredients and cooks with less oil, salt and sugar; this is how the original flavours of the ingredients can be preserved to the dining table.

Mr. LI, who has been to various places including Sichuan on exchange trips, is an expert in Guangdong and Sichuan cuisines. To preserve the traditional Sichuan spiciness in Sichuan dishes, he insists on using herbs and spices like Sichuan pepper, star anise, lemon grass, black cardamom and basil.

A fresh touch on traditional cuisine

To meet customers’ increasing demand for healthy eating and original flavours of ingredients, Mr. LI has tailored his traditional Chinese recipes with a fresh pair of scissors. For example, he uses prawns instead of the original steamed crab for the dish “Steamed Prawns with Egg White”, and the result is just gorgeous. In another traditional dish, “Traditional-Style Steamed Goby Fish”, pork slices are omitted and the shiitake mushrooms are replaced by tangerine peel. “A chef should be open to new food ideas to keep pace with these ever-changing demands of customers”, he said.

Mr. LI himself is a follower of healthy lifestyle that combines a healthy diet and plenty of exercise.