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Fri/Sat/Sun Aug. 31~Sept. 2, 2018

WANDA Reign on the Bund launched its second anniversary celebration with a sensational gala dinner fea-turing contemporary artworks and culinary art last week.

Roughly 200 guests from Wanda Reign on the Bund, Wanda Reign Chengdu and Wanda Reign Wuhan joined the celebration of this momen-tous occasion at Wanda Reign on the Bund, one of the best luxury hotels in Shanghai, which has hosted discern-ing travelers, celebrities, and heads of state from around the world over the past two years.

Guests were welcomed in the museum-like hotel lobby on the event day where the giant contempo-rary Chinese ink painting “Splendid Orient” was displayed alongside other art pieces.

As guests moved up to the main venue of this event, the oil paint-ing artwork, “Night of Shanghai,” another art piece in Wanda Reign on the Bund was enhanced by high-tech sound and lighting system, evolved into a brand new interactive art show.

This event created a luxury expe-rience of contemporary art for all guests and it showcased that the Wanda Reign brand was built up with a characteristic that closely connected to the art.

The gala dinner started with the screening of a new Wanda Reign brand video, followed by an opening speech delivered by Dr. Jeff Ning, executive president of Wanda Cultural Tourism Creativity Co. and president of Wanda Hotels & Resorts.

Dr. Ning reviewed the development of Wanda Reign, the fl agship brand of Wanda Hotels & Resorts, over the past four years and introduced the latest brand strategy of four existing brands -- Wanda Reign, Wanda Vista, Wanda Realm and Wanda Jin. He also announced two to-be-launched new brands: Wanda Moments and Wanda Allegroitalia.

“Wanda Hotels & Resorts owns three cores sections of hotel design, hotels construction and hotel man-agement, and is a whole industrial chain company that integrates hotel development and management globally. The second anniversary of Wanda Reign on the Bund is a mile-stone for the development of Wanda Hotels & Resorts. In terms of global expansion, new projects will be under development in Istanbul, Langkawi and Vientiane in 2019,” Ning said.

The fi ve-course gala dinner was presented by the hotel’s award-wining Huaiyang cuisine restaurant, River Drunk. It features the classic Huaiyang dishes that used to be served in formal State banquets, perfectly balanced in both taste and presentation. (SD News)

Wanda Reign on the Bund marks

anniversary

Wagyu steakWagyu steak

Wagyu steak Wagyu steak platter.platter.

Chef Wright Chef Wright and staff.and staff.

Charity auction during the celebration gala Charity auction during the celebration gala dinner.dinner.

GOOD news for steak lovers! From Sept. 4 to Sept. 16, Belle-Vue Grill, a restaurant of Grand Hyatt Shenzhen

known for serving quality steaks and premium wines, will launch a two-week promotion of menus featuring Australian Mayura Wagyu beef.

From Sept. 4 to 5, Mark Wright, the guest chef of The Tasting Room, which is a boutique restaurant located on-farm at Mayura Station in South Australia, will be invited to cook the Mayura Wagyu beef in person, leading the diners to an unparalleled gourmet trip of Australia’s fi nest full-blood Wagyu beef.

From appetizers to the main courses, The Belle-Vue Grill strives to present the highest quality of Mayura Wagyu beef, which is proportionally marbled with a tender and luscious texture.

One of the most recommendable dishes is the appetizer — tender raw beef slices, which are intensely marbled and are translucent as blood-red emerald. The slightly cold taste is accompanied with the refi nement of pepper, scallion and basil. The main course and ribeye, blended with vinegar-based Bearnaise sauce, are served with thick-cut pota-toes and tender-leaf salad. Tender and a bit chewy, the beef enables the sweet-smelling gravy and the unique aroma of Wagyu beef to linger in the mouth.

First established in 1845, Mayura Station is one of Australia’s oldest and most respected pastoral operations.

The full-blood Wagyu cattle there are on a chocolate-inclusive diet. Its Wagyu products have been recog-nized nationally, winning the “2018 Delicious National Produce Awards” in Australia.

Diners can order the beef a la carte or enjoy the delicacy at a semi-buffet dinner, as Belle-Vue Grill has also inte-grated the Wagyu beef dishes into its semi-buffet dinner package to upgrade the dining experience for guests.

The buffet charges 588 yuan (US$86.22) per person with an addi-

tional 15-percent service charges. Belle-Vue Grill opens from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., from Tuesday to Sunday. (Zhang Yu)

AS an old Chinese saying goes, “A watched fl ower never blooms, but an untended willow grows,” which means

“the best things come when you least expect them to.” This saying is par-ticularly true in the case of Mr. Xu, founder of Fuxinji, a decade-old chain restaurant brand serving pork tripe-wrapped chicken stew, who now owns 11 restaurants across Shenzhen.

A native to Fujian Province, Xu was a layman in the catering industry in his early years and built up his fortune by dealing wholesale dried seafood goods. In 2008 Xu wanted to try his hand at something different, and at that time pork tripe-wrapped chicken stew was very popular for its nutritional value. So he decided to try his luck in the business. Ever since, his restaurant has been growing and thriving.

Pork tripe-wrapped chicken stew, or pork belly chicken pot, is an essential soup tradition-ally eaten at the wedding banquet by the Hakka people of Guangdong

Stories behind a decade-old chain restaurant

Province, known for a rich aroma of herbs and white pepper.

Due to the soaring cost of food mate-rials and manpower, Xu confessed that it’s become more diffi cult to be in the food business.

“In 2009 when I started in the food business, there were only 20,000 restaurants in Shenzhen. Now the

number has increased to 160,000.” In order to cater to the tastes of fas-

tidious foodies, Xu keeps innovating his menu. For example, one of their signa-ture dishes is called “sanshengsanshi pork bellys chicken pot.” A chicken is wrapped in pork belly, but the chicken is also stuffed with pigeon, and the pigeon in turn is stuffed with quail eggs. The resulting highly nutritious multi-layer stew costs only 228 yuan (US$33.5).

When sharing the secrets to his success, Xu said concentrating on one certain style of dish was as important as serving a certain group of foodies. “A restaurant cannot satisfy the tastes of all the people. The light-fl avored pork tripe-wrapped chicken stew is famous for its nutrition, so people who prefer Sichuan-style hotpot may not come to my restaurant,” Xu said. “But I won’t make spicy hotpot, which I’m not good at, to please more customers.”

To guarantee the quality of all the food materials brought to his stores, Xu opened his own chicken farm and central kitchen to monitor the whole process.

Asked whether he will leave his restaurants to his children, Xu said he prefers to hire new talent to work alongside his heirs to ensure his com-pany will go further. (Yang Mei)

Pork tripe-wrapped Pork tripe-wrapped chicken stew.chicken stew.

Chain restaurant Chain restaurant owner Xu.owner Xu.

Australian Wagyu beef in

the house