Comparison is cruel

Lamb chops. Le Quai's decor blends the best of East and West. Photos by Ye Jun / China Daily

Judgments about the best food you've eaten are bound to come back and haunt you, Ye Jun reports, after an impressive tasting at Le Quai in Beijing.

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Some meals you eat and forget, others are memorable. In the latter category was a lamb chop from chef Kenny Fu at Le Quai some time ago. It was tender, juicy and had a clean aftertaste. But at a recent tasting at the same restaurant, I realized belatedly that the chop was not necessarily the best dish that Le Quai served. It was merely one among many of its best dishes.

For instance, there was the Angus tenderloin that was juicy beef wrapped in Parma ham and had an amazing taste and beautiful texture.

Each time I experience good lamb or beef, I realize the success of the dish depends primarily on the quality of the original ingredient, which is how I learned about the source of chef Fu's lamb chops.

The hosts of my recent tasting was Food South Australia Inc, and Elders Fine Foods, the Australian company that provides Murraylands lamb chops and Angus beef to Le Quai.

Australia is the number one exporter of meat to China, followed by New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay.

The meal allowed local media to learn more about Australian ingredients: Seafood from South Australia, such as southern blue fin tuna carpaccio, braised abalone, and Spencer Gulf king prawn.

While all the foods served were good, the Ausab Kangaroo Island abalone was brilliantly fresh and textured, leaving a sweet aftertaste that testified to its purity.