Keeping Up With the Times
Peach Blossoms’ executive Chinese chef presents inventive plates where global influences and traditional Chinese heritage converge
Executive Chinese chef Edward Chong is not afraid to push the boundaries of culinary traditions. Since helming Peach Blossoms in 2017, he has spearheaded his unique vision of modern Chinese cuisine, where traditional recipes are reinterpreted with modern cooking techniques and ingredients rarely used in Chinese cooking are incorporated to suit today’s discerning palates.
Chong’s artfully presented dishes— which are offered in set menus and à la carte options—are imbued with inspirations from his travels across the globe. The best way to savour his cuisine though is through the Gastronomic and Artisan set menus, comprising imaginative and classic creations. Fans of Chong’s signature dishes may opt for the Gastronomic set menu, which includes his most Instagrammed dish, Cigar Roll. Inspired by the classic spring roll, the Cigar Roll bears hints of French influences with its stuffing of freshly peeled snow crab, prawn mousse, foie gras and black truffle paste. Presented in high-roller fashion—in a smoking “cigar” box—chong’s creation is a complete feast for the senses.
Other crowd-pleasers include the applewood-smoked Ibérico pork belly with an addictively crisp and delicate skin that is achieved by torching the sugar coating, and the braised mung bean noodles bathed in a decadent crab roe collagen, then topped with crab meat and crab roe bottarga. Not commonly used in Chinese cooking, the bottarga, which enriches the dish with umami, is housemade by curing and pressing the crab roe so that it takes a block shape, which is then shaved tableside.
No less delicious is the Artisan set menu—a showcase of Chong’s innovative Chinese dishes in one meal. It features notable highlights such as the chilled fresh crab meat with celtuce stems that are accompanied by an avocado salad crowned with oscietra caviar. Another outstanding dish is the comforting double-boiled spring chicken soup served piping hot and bedecked with fish maw, cordyceps and winter melon.