Mixing it up

"I use ginger to wrap with the duck meat because ginger is part of the Chinese ingredients, which is much associated with most of the dishes in Chinese cooking," Wong says.

"Also, I make pickled cucumbers to wash out the oily taste."

He swaps the traditional sweet soybean paste for Hoisin sauce with wasabi.

"I want to prove to the chefs of tradition to step out of the box. That is my philosophy and my goal for my contribution to the culinary scene of Beijing," Wong says.

Wong gives classic Caesar salad a modern twist-he cuts a head of lettuce in half and grills it before plating it with a sauce made of bacon, garlic, lemon juice and tabasco, topped with egg yolk fried at a low temperature before it's finely sliced.

His pumpkin soup serves as a specimen of his rule of using natural ingredients. He selects and steams local pumpkins before straining them several times and adding them to vegetable soup.

"Steaming is a traditional Chinese cooking method, and to steam the pumpkin can bring out its own sweetness, so I don't add any milk or cream," Wong explains.

He also pays homage to Chinese cuisine with his soy-sesame cod with steamed foie gras, baby spinach and bean sprouts. Its broth has six oils: deep-fried ginger, deep-fried garlic, lemon, Italian parsley, deep-fried shallot and sesame.

The fish is marinated with sesame oil, soy sauce, coriander roots, minced garlic and a special cream of mushroom soup for two hours and then slow cooked before the soup is poured onto it. Pepper slices, bean sprouts and yellow mustard are then added.

"The codfish and foie gras also have two kinds of oil. But the whole dish does not taste oily but fresh. So, you can eat up all the soup," Wong says.

Wong also creates a version of curry wurst sausage that looks like the traditional German dish. But he uses pork shoulder and chicken thigh with satay flavor inside.

His curry powder uses 13 ingredients. And his sauce includes granular onion. He uses red cabbage-rather than white cabbage-boiled in red wine and red-wine vinegar to make the side dish.

Wong's signature dishes at Mercedes include salt-crusted half rack of lamb, the "M.E" Burger and Tomahawk Steak.

"Some dishes may now have their fifth version. Some may have the 10th. I hope all my dishes can grow with me," says Wong.

For example, he created a dish using apples and beetroots this spring.

"Next spring, I'll bring the dish back with the same flavor but with new plating," Wong says.

"I can play with the texture, whether it's jelly, or hard or soft. I want my dishes to have strong bonds with my diners' memories. It would be my greatest pleasure if I can take them (back) to their childhood memories with my cooking."

Contact the writer at liyingxue@chinadaily.com.c