Dragon Palace: The sophisticated face of dim sum
- By Rob Hemsley
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E-mail CRI, May 14, 2013
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Hand-made shrimp dumplings. [Photo: Xia Yuya] |
Dragon Palace, the Kempinski Hotel's award-winning Cantonese restaurant, certainly lives up to its name - and that's even before you've taken a step inside. Once through the entrance, which is reminiscent of those grandiose red doorways found across the Forbidden City, diners find themselves in a cozy and elegant room of warm wood. If you enjoy the high-pitched din of typical dim sum eateries in Guangdong (and John Woo movies), this isn't the place for you. However, if you're in the mood for a genteel feast, looking out over manicured gardens and the river beyond, Dragon Palace is paradise.
Besides the usual assortment of Cantonese cuisine, Dragon Palace also runs a dim sum luncheon. For a fixed price, diners can keep ordering from a menu of hand-made delights. The menu itself isn't huge - twenty items, in fact - but each of those items is freshly prepared each day by Sous Chef Ronald Wang, a former CCTV host and baker to the stars who has been crafting world-class dim sum for over two decades.
Particularly delicious and popular with diners are the steamed rice rolls. Be sure to try the shrimp and asparagus variety - bathed in a liberal amount of soy sauce to bring out the flavor. Traditional dumplings served piping hot in bamboo baskets are also available, with special mention going to the crystal shrimp and mashed beef options. For those who don't mind a few extra calories, the BBQ pork pastries melt in the mouth. Three should be enough for anyone - although I admit to eating four on my visit. Save room for dessert, too, as there are two options: chilled sago cream with fruits and the somewhat extravagantly-named hot sweet water chestnut cream with rock sugar.
One extra touch that adds an extra something to the Dragon Palace dining experience is the choice of glassware. Even my common Coke was served in a delightful vase-like tube. For more traditional types, Chinese green tea (served in a cup) is included in the fixed price.
Dragon Palace's hand-made dim sum buffet, overseen by Sous Chef Ronald Wang, costs 128 + 15 percent and runs every day between 11:30am and 2:00pm. Check it out at: Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Centre, 50 Liangmaqiao Road (Tel: 6465 3388 ext. 4217)
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