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Published on October 24, 2007

Summer Palace restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel has always been a favourite destination for those seeking reward from sumptuous Cantonese indulgence. The place is famed for its opulent setting where delectable dim sum and hard-to-beat fresh seafood rub shoulders with soup specialities and stir-fried noodles.

Recently, the restaurant captured the attention of Chinese food lovers when it was relaunched after a three-month, US$550,000 (Bt18,755,000) renovation that sent its executive Chinese chef Allan Tse on an extensive journey to China to gather spices, herbs and ideas for the new menu.

"I went to Beijing, Shandong, Shanghai and Szechwan provinces," says the 49-year-old Tse, who's been the brain behind Summer Palace's kitchen for more than two years. "There, I discovered a lot of tasty ingredients - spices, herbs, new marinades and different regional cuisines of China - that I combined into the new menu to match the restaurant's fresh, bold look."

The look of the new Summer Palace reaffirms the luxury that diners have come to expect with an auspicious colour scheme of red-velvet cushions and gold accessories. The sofas in the reception area are rich in deep red hues, a taste of the banquet for the senses that the new dishes are about to offer.

Adding to the already-extensive menu, Tse has created a grilled duck flavoured by spices indigenous to the Beijing region, which are used to tenderise the meat. He also stuffs the poultry with a herbal marinade while grilling it and makes use of the aromatic leftovers to make a rich, creamy gravy to go with each serving. Another of his tasty new dishes is baked fresh Canadian oysters with Macanese curry spices and salmon.

"Before my trip, we used fairly typical spices to season the poultry here, but I picked up some tips from Beijing, including adding parsley and onion to enhance the marinade," explains Tse, who started cooking at the tender age of 13 in the renowned Wing Kee Restaurant in Hong Kong. "I also found some delicious cabbages in Beijing which I decided to import to make a special dish of steamed cabbages with mustard."

Grilled duck is a part of Summer Palace's famed appetiser platter - our first order, which also includes slices of Hong-Kong-style suckling pig that come with a thick fat layer and heavy sweet soy sauce, drunken chicken with a spring onion sauce, scrumptious barbecue pork laced with special Chinese whiskey, and grilled duck breast served with a generous bowl of Tse's special gravy. We also tried the crunchy and refreshing spicy jellyfish salad, which, according to Tse, is made from whole imported jellyfish freshly preserved with heaps of salt.

Collecting regional flavours requires a lot of careful tasting and observing - skills that come naturally to Tse. Born into a poor family with six siblings, the young Tse found work in a kitchen as a way to survive. His mornings were spent chopping vegetables and secretly observing the chefs while in the afternoons he returned to normal childhood life as a student. He never attended any cooking school, instead preferring the careful scrutiny he says is the secret tool he always resorts to in the kitchen.

"While travelling, you can eat as much as you like and enjoy the food they serve you," says Tse who has cooked his way up to executive chef in a series of renowned establishments across Asia, including Hong Kong's famous Forum restaurant in Causeway Bay. "One has to have a solid background in food to see through the presentations [to the ingredients] and to recreate your tasting experiences later as something people can actually enjoy."

It took Tse about a month to establish the new menu at Summer Palace, which contains about 40 new dishes he's picked up from his journey. So expect to see a lot of new herbs, spices and other imported ingredients. He says each Chinese region has a different eating culture. Beijing people, guarding themselves from extreme weather, consume a lot of herbs to balance and fortify their bodies while Szechwan natives eat spicy food to stave off the wet and cool weather of the South.

But Tse is not alone at the stove for the restaurant's relaunch promotions; he's brought famous Chinese chefs from regions he visited to cook for his customers. Until November 4, Chongqing's chef Zhou will cook cuisine "From the Mountain to the Sea", and from November 6 to 20, chef Jacky Shen from Pudong will wow locals with his highly regarded Shanghainese dishes.

Dim sum (now with Beijing-style dumplings) is available for lunch, from noon to 2pm. Dinner is served from 6 to 10.30pm. For reservations, call (02) 656 0360.

Sirin P Wongpanit

The Nation