New dishes spice up the menu at Grill 79

Spaniard Daniel Guevara Quintero, head chef at fine dining establishment Grill 79, has a quiet demeanor that is a surprising departure from today's norm of over-the-top, gregarious chefs. Nonetheless, he has spoken decisively with the introduction of six new dishes to the restaurant's menu.

Making their debut on Sept 26, the dishes, with the exception of the desserts of churros with chocolate and the saffron milk rice, are mostly an elegant articulation of the classic surf and turf. One of the new dishes, the barbecue plate, can be shared by two and is composed of five selected meats and seafood, including Australian grain-fed beef, New Zealand lamb chops, Spanish pork, tiger prawns and lobster.

There is also a scallop dish, which is seared and surrounded by a scattering of foie gras cubes as well as chestnuts and crisp green apples. Quintero likened this new dish to "a fruit garden welcoming its autumn harvest" and said that the lightly seasoned bivalve and the liver "melt into each other to create a rich taste beyond imagination".

The new dishes mirror the classically decorated restaurant, located in the China World Summit Wing, part of the upmarket World Trade Center in Beijing's Central Business District.

The hamachi, served with mashed potatoes and accentuated by the additions of lemon zest, chopped sardine, grissini, a snowfall of parmesan and a ginger jelly, shows creativity and finesse.

With the seafood rice and the churros with chocolate, Quintero goes back to his Spanish roots. The seafood rice will undoubtedly conjure up images of a refined paella, with the combination of mussels, shrimp and sea urchin within a bed of saffron rice and Romanesco broccoli.

"Each grain of rice is wrapped with the delicious fragrance of saffron sauce," the chef said.

The churros with chocolate, which Quintero said has quickly garnered the nickname of "Spanish deep-fried breadsticks" among the restaurant's Chinese diners, is accompanied by a dark chocolate dip served at 60 C and dusted with powdered cinnamon and sugar.

Saffron plays another leading role in the rice dessert, where orange slivers and shavings of coconut, white chocolate and carrot blend with basmati rice and the fragrance of saffron.

In addition to the new dishes, Quintero is presenting a feast of French oysters, which have reached their seasonal peak.

Grill 79 is the highest restaurant in Beijing, situated on the 79th floor of the China World Summit Wing offering breathtaking views over China's capital city. It has 99 seats, including two private dining space options, one of which is a wine cellar with capacity for 10 people.

brianliou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/21/2015 page10)