Two stars reach for the heavens at luxury hotel

The seasoned food and beverage team at Shangri-La luxury hotel China World Summit Wing, Beijing have welcomed to their ranks two world-class stars - Head Bartender Dicky Hartono at bar Atmosphere and Chef de Cuisine John-Paul Fiechtner at the hotel's signature Grill 79.

With refined ambiance to match its name, Atmosphere sits on the hotel's 80th floor, with commanding views of the capital city's bustling central business district below.

Hartono, who hails from Java, Indonesia, has recently taken over the reins. He's been with the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts family seven years in total, working in Dubai and Oman before a yearlong stint in Shanghai.

Before dinner, he offered up an ATM Spritz, a play on the traditional European Aperol Spritz. Adding jasmine notes and cucumber rinds, Hartono says he's aiming for something even more refreshing, as well as a little more sweet than the original.

With the first course of the tasting menu - smoked scallop on a rock bed, "oyster surprise" served in shell, and baby corn with puffed grain and prawn floss - Hartono has paired his own creation, a blue-tinged London gin, Champagne and Lillet Blanc-based aperitif he calls Sound of Sea.

To match the smoky seafood, the delicately balanced cocktail offers sweet, sour and botanical flavors.

Chef de Cuisine Fiechtner's tasting menu represents a shift in style for Grill 79, returning to serving up good honest, meat-focused dishes.

The new chef has been in town for less than a month and says he's ready to get down to cooking. He has previously worked with Michelin star chefs in Germany, France and China's Hong Kong, and has opened his own award-winning restaurants in Australia and Singapore.

Fiechtner says of his style, "I've a very simple cooking philosophy, and that's 'make everything delicious'."

And so he does. Following the seafood on the tasting menu comes courses of foie gras with rhubarb and brioche, steamed codfish with squid gravy, wood roasted pigeon with a chive and duck liver parfait tart, and wagyu beef with truffle and stuffed bone marrow.

Fiechtner rounds off with blood orange sorbet and fruit from the hotel's own lemon tree with sheep's milk ice cream.

Together with in-house Sommelier Bruce Li's bold and brilliant wine pairings, the tasting menu comes to 1,088 yuan ($172) per person.

(China Daily 04/28/2018 page10)