On Friday night, my family and I went to WP24 at Ritz Carlton in Downtown for dinner. Too bad that Jason couldn't join us because he was going to be working until late... My family loves Chinese food, so they were excited to try Wolfgang Puck's interpretation of it.
Our evening started with 2006 Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg, Riesling, Urgestein (Kamptal, Langenlois, Austria). Beautiful light golden color, honey and spice on the nose, spicy dry finish. With 2 kinds of amuse-bouche, our appetites were nicely stimulated.
Appetizers...my mom had Lobster spring rolls, I had "Tasting" of dim-sum (so good!), and Tomoko had Chinese chive crystal dumplings. Wow, my sister's dish was so huge for a single-serving appetizer!
Main course time...Whole Sea Bass, baked in a Fragrant Salt Crust. Excellent!
Whole-roasted Duckling "Peking Style" with Traditional Garnishes. This is supposed to be for 2 servings. After the presentation, the duck was sliced in the kitchen. Breast was separately served into 2 plates. (one for each breast) and the leg meat was served with sauce in another plate. It was extremely delicious, and such a huge portion for 2! The skin was perfectly crispy and the meat was so succulent. The buns were just chewy enough, and they even replenished with freshly steamed ones as we kept going on. My sister especially is a Peking Duck connoisseur, and she had eaten quality Peking ducks in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and also in Japan, and she said WP24's Peking duck was the best she'd tasted. It was just gorgeous. Our waiter said that the duck was from Idaho. What a great quality duck.
The dish went perfectly with 2007 Gramercy Cellars, Grenache (Columbia Valley, WA).
Desserts were superb, too. Very elegant and complex.
The experience was quite impeccable. We enjoyed a long dinner, and Wataru quietly passed out in his chair meanwhile.
