I met a mad maverick called Alvin in Singapore a couple of years ago who mentioned that I must visit his restaurant if I ever came to Hong Kong…so I did. I made a reservation a month before travelling and was given a Monday night booking at 7pm on a bar stool. It’s a small restaurant but 4 hours on a bar stool is quite the test of endurance. Was it worth it? Hell, yes. This is Bo Innovation, cutting Edge Cantonese (Tel :2850 8371). Every new wave, whether its food, art or literature has to have its star. Alvin Leung is Hong Kong’s answer to Ferran Adria and the molecular gastronomy movement. With his longish locks, streaked blond, his perpetually tired eyes and his famous temper, Alvin has all the trappings of a kitchen genius. He is already making waves and shocking the conservative HK palate with his outrageously named dishes like Sex on the Beach (served with an edible condom filled with a white cream and cognac foam) and his ‘molecular’ versions of classic Cantonese favourites like the ‘xiao long bao’ which is the essence of the quintessential Cantonese pork dumpling in one single soupy mouthful. His irreverance for Chinese tradition continues with True – 8 Vinegar, where he plays with the post childbirth ritual of eating sweet vinegar with pigs trotters and a salty egg. It’s all a bit mad and the ‘chef’s table’ menu which consists of 15 courses paired with six wines, can take you into a spin of gastronomic intensity which challenges your intellect and palate until the wee hours. If you consider yourself a true blue foodie, ready to experience and embrace new food trends with objectivity and a willing palate, then you simply have to try Bo Innovation. It’s the cusp of new wave Chinese cooking called simply X-tremendous Chinese, his own take on heritage Chinese recipes.
(Image) Organic Chicken
Alvin has now come to Mumbai armed with 3 Michelin stars and 3 chefs in tow @ the JW Marriott Juhu, where ‘perpetual buzz’ seems to be the tag line. For 4 nights he will enthral guests with a tamer version of his HK tasting menu. 6 innovative courses framed to excite. Alvin is at the helm in the open kitchen of Spices, their Asian restaurant. It’s an elegant affair with the most stunning Zwiesel glassware. Alvin is a calmer version of the maverick I met a few years ago. He is terrifyingly busy running around the globe appearing on Masterchef Canada as a judge, doing 2 TV shows, about ten pop ups like this one annually, running Bo Innovation and keeping an eye on the family engineering business! . ” Hong Kong” is a great place to have a restaurant. People love food, eat out a lot and are willing to pay for new experiences” he says. ” …there is no tax on wine and I can get good produce very easily”. Predictably he has faced some issues in Mumbai but he still produces 6 dream worthy courses. He recreates his signature Xiao Long Bao, a dumpling filled with hot soupy stock and lambas part of a course. New ingredients to me are the pat chun black vinegar made into a dust for the iced tomatoes;, the Chilean sea bass is smothered with karasumi, an intense dried tuna paste; his Bo Chilli sauce, a spicy fragrant homespun recipe, goes with the lobster course and the organic chicken roll is smothered with an earthy flavoured cream flavoured with a root called sand ginger. If I have any criticism at all, it is the vegetarian menu on offer. Chefs visiting India to show off their acclaimed repertoire need to study what excites vegetarians in India. Indian vegetarians who represent a significant number are more than ready to embrace the new and the luxurious. I can understand that the limitations of allergens, a Jain menu or stringent weight loss diets would drive any chef up the wall but Indian vegetarians by and large are not difficult to please and really shouldn’t be marginalised. As I experienced in Kolkata recently, the mere mention of the words ‘truffle’ , ‘ burrata’ and ‘ home made pesto’ sends them into a spin. It’s just a question of knowing which buttons to press.