Live Norwegian Seafood Shipped to Shanghai
by Sara Doerrier
Photography by Janine Reichel
The JW Marriott Hotel is partnering up with the Norwegian Seafood export council for a one of a kind offer. From 18 November to 31 December, the JW will be offering up a range of deep-sea fish and crustaceans, including Atlantic salmon, Norwegian cod, scallops, sea urchin, blue mussels, king crab and many more, in their restaurants. All of the seafood on offer is fully sustainable, delivered live by air and prepared fresh on site.
Shanghai Talk had the pleasure of trying the latest creations cooked up by executive chef Christian Schneider and we were heavily blown away at what the talented chef and his team came up with. To be fair, the quality of ingredients they were working with was outstanding and it will be hard to find this quality of seafood in Shanghai.
The tasting menu tried to include a little bit of everything. We started off with sea urchin in a citrus jelly with cauliflower, crispy seaweed and topped off with Beluga caviar. The sea urchin’s spiky, well-armored exterior hides a creamy, bright orange roe bursting with one of the richest flavours to emerge from a shelled creature. The epitome of fresh, the urchin is still alive and moving when you eat it – an experience that might alarm some people, but guarantees that it tastes as fresh as the day it was caught.
The seared scallop with roasted pumpkin puree and parsley oil melted in our mouths. Its meaty flavours were matched only by the sautéed blue mussels with fennel, pastis and olive tapenade. Succulent, sweet, plump and tender, there was not a mussel left untouched and we even, unabashedly, slurped up the au jus left over.
The roasted halibut had a rich butter taste. The fine-grained, dense meat was flaky and tender, yet still very firm. It didn’t need too much doctoring, as the fish was perfectly tasty on its own.
The clear winner that evening was the king crab. The sheer size of this mammoth crustacean was impressive alone, but it was the meat that had us smacking our lips with in ecstasy. The chunk of king crab was cooked with mascarpone gnocchi, mango puree and buttermilk foam.
While the promotion will go on until the end of December, save the date for 18 November when guest chef Øyvind Nesheim from NOBU Beijing will be stopping by to prepare a special mouth watering menu with wine pairing (RMB 1,288 plus 15% service charge). 7 – 10pm
JW Marriott Shanghai Tomorrow Square, 399 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Huangpi Bei Lu. Tel: 137 6187 0 091
