Azur bringing French cuisine to Shangri-La Beijing

Azur restaurant at Shangri-La Hotel Beijing is offering a summer menu that launched in late June, featuring organic and creative French cuisine.

The menu, created by Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco, includes sole meuniere with grenobloise dressing and crushed potatoes with shallots and herbs, and Japanese sea bream carpaccio wrapped in crudo siciliano, using diverse cooking techniques.

According to Colagreco, the highlight of this year's summer menu is organic vegetables and he wants to share the concept of green and healthy foods with guests.

"According to my cooking experience, the key to cuisine is high-quality ingredients," he said. "I use plenty of local organic vegetables, creating a feeling of eating on the farm for guests."

To find fresh ingredients, he went to Noah Farming, which supplies organic food to the hotel.

The farm, located in the Pinggu district in a suburb of Beijing, has many greenhouses full of various vegetables and herbs.

The Italian-Argentinean chef Colagreco grew up in a family fond of delicacy, which has influenced him since his childhood.

Having traveled widely to savor culinary traditions and worked with renowned restaurants and chefs, he began to run his own Mirazur restaurant in 2006 in Menton, France. The restaurant earned him his first Michelin star just 10 months after its opening and a second in 2012.

Mirazur ranked among the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2009. The hotel has improved its ranking from No 6 in 2016 to No 4 in 2017.

In addition to his creative signature dishes, the chef has added several new flavors to the menu, such as beetroot cooked in a sea salt crust and sauce caviar, tomato water with pesto ravioli and sea snails. A recommended Azur package includes seasonal seafood, meat, vegetables and dessert.

caoyingying@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/15/2017 page10)