Text/Figure Yangcheng Evening News All-media reporter Deng Weidong (except for other signatures)
Hakka cuisine has always given people the impression of homely, simple, unique ingredients, strong taste... However, at Ke·aken's kitchen, its director aken's interpretation of authentic Hakka cuisine, because of its unique professional trajectory, presents a gorgeous style - the original Hakka cuisine can also be elegant, and it has a very exquisite feeling when paired with various wines.
Elegant French Hakka cuisine "for a reason"
Aken Chen Zhijian, who is only 27 years old, has an interesting experience in the industry. Because of his interest in cooking, he began to contact Hakka cuisine in his hometown of Heyuan in 2011, and later learned wine culture and became a sommelier in a well-known wine cellar in Foshan. Later, due to fate, he met Mr. Tsukino, a Japanese French chef at a wine shop in Guangzhou, and because of Aken's knowledge of food and wine, he impressed the famous chef, so he accepted him as an apprentice and let aken start his own French cooking journey.
In Guangdong, Cantonese cuisine is mainly composed of Cantonese cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine, Hakka cuisine, aken found that there are not many exquisite Hakka cuisine restaurants in the domestic position, so he came up with a bold idea - at the end of 2019, aken rented a commercial property in the core area of Zhujiang New Town, and with his many years of experience, French cooking techniques combined Hakka authentic ingredients with classic dishes, through a variety of modern cooking and packaging techniques, while maintaining authentic original flavor, presented in a gorgeous shape. Many diners can't help but marvel after tasting: "Aken has to love Hakka cuisine so much that he has the motivation to express it in this extreme way!" ”
Last year, the restaurant's first season menu was so popular that they recently launched a second season menu as the new restaurant opened and celebrated its anniversary.
Classic dishes are brilliantly designed
In Guangzhou, I believe that many people have eaten Hakka cuisine, and some local classics are like family treasures - all of which are familiar tastes. However, if the innovation, integration, and new packaging work is not done well, it is easy to "overturn" the Hakka dish label with its own appearance and blunt labeling, and it is the last word to have long-term vitality.
For example, its signature stomach soup white asparagus pork belly chicken soup with scallion oil bread is very French, and although the thick soup of molecular cooking is only a small cup, you will have the urge to eat a few pieces of thick cut pork belly soup residue after a sip, because this is the "standard action" of eating Hakka cuisine, and the appearance of the scallion oil bread is very similar to the "baguette", but the onion oil flavor is authentic Hakka Heyuan flavor.
One of the restaurant's signature dishes, the appetizer "Green, Red, Yellow, White and Black", is surprising in taste: it looks very Western, but almost all of you will nod your head darkly when you eat it in your mouth as long as you are a Hakka. And the order of eating the four small snacks is also very exquisite, such as the gel made of fresh emerald green goji leaves, wrapped in a mousse made of pork liver and foie gras, cold and fragrant, the three tastes are very clear, very eating goji leaf rolling pork liver feeling.
The sauerkraut pork intestine made into a yellow color crispy ball is cooked in a "three-pass" way (first dipped in egg liquid and then wrapped in flour, and then fried crisply), the authentic taste of pig intestine and sauerkraut is tightly locked; while the white square Hakka radish cake is small in size, but the local ingredients in Heyuan are very complete, yuanbei, Hakka sausage, shiitake mushrooms... Nothing less; the plum button meat is made into a small ball wrapped in bamboo charcoal crisp sauce, and aken's advice is: "It will be more enjoyable to eat it with a little hot sauce." ”
Expensive ingredients do not forget to add authentic ingredients
The second season of Ke aken's kitchen is priced at 880 yuan / person, this menu will naturally have some expensive ingredients appear, for example, the five-finger peach cinnamon crisp ginseng, the unique milk flavor of the five-finger peach is very prominent, the fat ginseng skin is crispy, the flesh is fat and soft glutinous; dust sauce and beef with winter melon, this collocation is very rare. In the Hakka area, people call the sauce cooked with fresh mint leaves as the main ingredient as dust sauce or powder sauce, and are often used to stir-fry field snails, stewed duck, stewed pork red, etc., and are widely used. Aken uses it to pair with Wagyu beef, which tastes novel yet harmonious.
The staple food is the signature lobster soup Heyuan rice noodles, the chef uses 1:1 Boston lobster and shrimp to make soup, with Heyuan specialty rice noodles, sprinkle a handful of crispy and salty Taiwanese cherry blossom shrimp before coming out of the pot, the soup is fresh and smooth, and many people love to eat Hakka rice noodles, even if you are very full at this time, you will not even let go of the last bite of soup.
The taste of dessert is also "very Hakka", with the help of the production principle of wine heart chocolate, chocolate wrapped in an authentic Heyuan specialty Shangguan tea; and ice cream made of Shangguan tea and pistachios, poured with a small spoonful of bird's nest before eating, the taste is fresh and satisfied.
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Source | Yangcheng Evening News
Editor-in-charge | Deng Weidong