Food: Four Seasons London
Duck.
That's what Four Season's is all about. Duck. To not order duck, would be a henious crime to humanity and poultry. To devotees of Roast Duck, Four Seasons is a temple worthy of worship. I am a big fan. So big, I berated a poster over on this Chow Hound thread for leaving Chinese off his list of places to eat in London.
Maybe I went a little far in stating that 'of the capital crimes punishable by death by Celine Dion, surely missing out on the Roast Duck at the Four Seasons in Bayswater must top the list.' but hey, I'm a fanatic.
I've had roast duck just about everywhere I can- even braving bird flu in Indonesia and Vietnam, yet I can say that the Four Seasons' duck is still the best. Sure, Duck King in Jakarta is pretty good, and the guitar Duck next to *snicker* Gay World Tanjong Pagar in Singapore is crispy with a capital K, but Roast Duck is Four Seasons. Period.
The Four Seasons dinner ritual starts off by getting a group of people together. Usually 1 line SMSs along the terse lines of '4 seasons tomorrow dinner 8?' is enough to garner equally efficient, but no less enthusiastic replies of 'on' or 'baby'.
Then you place a reservation on the day for a time and size.
Then you arrive about 5-10 minutes ahead of the scheduled meeting and booking to get your name checked off whilst staunchly adamant that your party will be there within 2 minutes. You then meet up with the gang, discuss the merits of on the bone/off the bone duck for 20 minutes whilst joustling the hordes of devotees awaiting your name to be called out.
Then you get to your meal. Duck aside, I recommend the braised Tofu, garlic Kai Lan and the Mince Pork with Mui Choy to go, along with for a group of 4.
But onto the duck.
Duck is meant to be roasted skin on, and then left to dry. The longer it dries, the crispier the skin, and the more aromatic the meat, which reabsorbs the goody-goody juices trapped within the skin.
At Four Seasons, that's exactly what they do. The marinate is a wonderful mixture of barbeque flavor and Soya Sauce with hints of Seasame and Sweet Vinegary notes. The meat to fat ratio is important and most of the time, it's a superb 80:20 mix, although I have heard disturbing reports that it's skewed in favor of fat since the management change- more on that later.
The crispy skin is full of the marinade's flavor and provides a great compliment to the gamey but tender flesh. This is not a dish to go with Fried Rice, but plain steamed fragarant grains which soak up the sauce and gives a fluffy, subtle-starch-sweet counterpoint to the duck.
The Tofu and Kai Lan are pretty much standard fare, but the Minced Pork with Miu Choy is a great dish- stir fried to perfection, the Diced Miu choy, a sweet preserved mustard leaf is crunchy to the bite and compliments the Soya Sauce flavored pork.
Now back to the bad news. In 2004, management changed and quite a number of folks feel the ducks have not been left to dry for long enough and the meat to fat ratio has fallen. On the occasions I have dined there since 2004, I haven't had this experience, probably because I look the waiter in the eye and tell him to leave the meat on the bone- which is regarded as the purest form of Duck consumption.
However, I do hear that the original chef is now at Magic Wok, down the road, so I will head down there and have a Roast Duck eat off with other devotees and report back with lurid details, exposing photos and an expanded waistline. Stay tuned.
Four Seasons
84 Queensway
Bayswater
London W2
That's what Four Season's is all about. Duck. To not order duck, would be a henious crime to humanity and poultry. To devotees of Roast Duck, Four Seasons is a temple worthy of worship. I am a big fan. So big, I berated a poster over on this Chow Hound thread for leaving Chinese off his list of places to eat in London.
Maybe I went a little far in stating that 'of the capital crimes punishable by death by Celine Dion, surely missing out on the Roast Duck at the Four Seasons in Bayswater must top the list.' but hey, I'm a fanatic.
I've had roast duck just about everywhere I can- even braving bird flu in Indonesia and Vietnam, yet I can say that the Four Seasons' duck is still the best. Sure, Duck King in Jakarta is pretty good, and the guitar Duck next to *snicker* Gay World Tanjong Pagar in Singapore is crispy with a capital K, but Roast Duck is Four Seasons. Period.
The Four Seasons dinner ritual starts off by getting a group of people together. Usually 1 line SMSs along the terse lines of '4 seasons tomorrow dinner 8?' is enough to garner equally efficient, but no less enthusiastic replies of 'on' or 'baby'.
Then you place a reservation on the day for a time and size.
Then you arrive about 5-10 minutes ahead of the scheduled meeting and booking to get your name checked off whilst staunchly adamant that your party will be there within 2 minutes. You then meet up with the gang, discuss the merits of on the bone/off the bone duck for 20 minutes whilst joustling the hordes of devotees awaiting your name to be called out.
Then you get to your meal. Duck aside, I recommend the braised Tofu, garlic Kai Lan and the Mince Pork with Mui Choy to go, along with for a group of 4.
But onto the duck.
Duck is meant to be roasted skin on, and then left to dry. The longer it dries, the crispier the skin, and the more aromatic the meat, which reabsorbs the goody-goody juices trapped within the skin.
At Four Seasons, that's exactly what they do. The marinate is a wonderful mixture of barbeque flavor and Soya Sauce with hints of Seasame and Sweet Vinegary notes. The meat to fat ratio is important and most of the time, it's a superb 80:20 mix, although I have heard disturbing reports that it's skewed in favor of fat since the management change- more on that later.
The crispy skin is full of the marinade's flavor and provides a great compliment to the gamey but tender flesh. This is not a dish to go with Fried Rice, but plain steamed fragarant grains which soak up the sauce and gives a fluffy, subtle-starch-sweet counterpoint to the duck.
The Tofu and Kai Lan are pretty much standard fare, but the Minced Pork with Miu Choy is a great dish- stir fried to perfection, the Diced Miu choy, a sweet preserved mustard leaf is crunchy to the bite and compliments the Soya Sauce flavored pork.
Now back to the bad news. In 2004, management changed and quite a number of folks feel the ducks have not been left to dry for long enough and the meat to fat ratio has fallen. On the occasions I have dined there since 2004, I haven't had this experience, probably because I look the waiter in the eye and tell him to leave the meat on the bone- which is regarded as the purest form of Duck consumption.
However, I do hear that the original chef is now at Magic Wok, down the road, so I will head down there and have a Roast Duck eat off with other devotees and report back with lurid details, exposing photos and an expanded waistline. Stay tuned.
Four Seasons
84 Queensway
Bayswater
London W2
posted by T Monster at 11:27 AM
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