Moving from China to France was a big step for Tony Xu, who is now the executive chef of Shang Palace Shangri-La Paris. Xu, who grew up in Chengdu, had never been to Paris before she accepted the job earlier this year, and at first she wasn't sure she wanted to go. But the lure of the new city was too good to pass up, and Xu headed overseas in May.
“I wanted to try it,” the chef told the Observer, speaking inside Shang Palace before a midday service on a recent autumn day. “It's a different place, a different market. It was about a really good time. I came and jumped in. I really like it here; there's a lot you can try to find.”
Joining an established restaurant like Shang Palace, which already has one Michelin star, was not easy. The refined Chinese restaurant has a regular clientele, both locals and out-of-towners, and it was important that certain favorite dishes, such as Peking duck, remain intact. Xu quickly realized that French customers have a certain perception of Chinese food, and expect large, shareable portions of food to pile up on the table. They want their thinking about what Chinese food entails, not what Xu wants to show you.
“It's a very different market,” said Xu, who speaks no French. “I respect what [the restaurant] because my customers have been coming here for years, and they are used to it. I can't make big changes, so I slowly introduce new dishes and new versions. It's as if the house is already built, it's too tall, and I'm not here to build a new one. I'm here to bring decorations and make small tweaks to make it more beautiful. I do it step by step.”
At first, Xu adapted existing recipes based on his 20 years as a chef in China, and his experience eating the country's various cuisines. He wanted to make sure that all the flavors at Shang Palace were “100 percent authentic.” He then began presenting his creations, which he feels are important because returning customers will always have something new to try.
The first thing he added was sweet and sour foie gras, a fresh food usually made from chicken or pork. A sparkling, indulgent plate, a must-try on the menu, it tastes both mysterious and surprising.
Sweet and sour are “traditional Chinese flavors,” Xu explained. “In China, foie gras is like that [considered] very high level. We have it on good menus, but in the Chinese way, which is cleaned and cooked and cut to eat. It's a lot different than here. If I could do that here, I don't think people would appreciate it. This is a local ingredient with an authentic Chinese taste.”
Most diners opt for the à la carte menu, although Shang Palace offers an unforgettable tasting menu that better showcases Xu's range of skills and flavors. He refers to it as “the way it all looks,” because it allows the chef to perfectly measure every dish that arrives at the table, from muse-bouche to dessert. He is currently starting the tasting menu with a refined version of tomato egg soup, a classic dish in Chinese households and restaurants alike. A mild bowl of soup is served with a lobster broth, which quickly elevates the flavor while retaining the umami that jogs the memory.
“If you go into a restaurant in China, they can make this soup without fail, even if they don't have it on the menu,” Xu said. “It's very popular. It's not fancy, expensive stuff. At home, my grandmother used to cook for me, and her recipe was delicious. Here, what I'm doing is basically this authentic recipe, but I've added lobster soup instead of egg tomato soup. So it's very interesting, and I use local ingredients. They have excellent blue lobster [in France] with good flavor; very sweet and fresh. I want to share what I grew up eating. And hopefully, when you hear about this history, it makes it even better.”
Most of what Xu is doing now comes from his childhood. She always loved being in the kitchen; inspired by his grandmother and mother. He was so good at cooking that his family suggested he attend culinary school, which led to him working hard in China in restaurants and hotels. He spent several years with the Swire Hotels group as the executive chef of Mi Xun Teahouse, where Xu earned a Michelin star and a Michelin green star to go on.
“I never stopped [cooking],” he says. “I've never changed my job. I've always found it very interesting. And I want to keep coming out with new dishes.”
One of those new offerings is the Shang Palace salad, a deceptively simple dish that also finds its roots in Chinese culinary history. The standard version uses cabbage and sesame dressing, but Xu replaced the regular cabbage with something called a snow plant, which has bright green leaves that look like they're frozen (even though they're not). The plant was eaten in Mongolia generations ago, and Xu is now found in western France.
He says: “The recipe is more than 5,000 years old. “China has a very old history, but I did it in my own way to present a traditional combination. There are pickles and a traditional sesame sauce with snow plants. It is also vegan-friendly. In our current menu, you can have a lot of meat good and good seafood, but you also have [a lot of options] if you are vegan. I have a special amuse-bouche stock if you're vegan that's really delicious.”
For Xu, taste is the most important part of any dish. He says: “It is important that the food is very tasty. “It doesn't matter how nice the presentation is.” He says he doesn't want to present dishes that people come in to photograph, because what is seen will not be the one that brings the diners back. “Flavour is important,” he says. “It makes you feel confident and warm. Whenever I add something to the menu, I want it to be 100 percent right. If not, maybe we need to change the presentation or reduce the taste. There needs to be a real balance.”
While Xu appreciates the advent of social media and presenting his food in compelling, beautiful ways, he emphasizes the idea that taste will trump anything posted in a photo. He prefers to look for high-end restaurants when he travels, because he knows that people wouldn't come back if something bad happened.
“This restaurant has been open for 10 years, and in Paris, many restaurants have been open for 100 years,” said the chef. “And why do people go back? I don't think it's because it's too good or too good. They go back because the taste is good. Every time, you remember the flavors. And if we have good flavors, then we can also make a good presentation. ”
Xu takes a slow and steady approach to Shang Palace, though he admits he has to restrain himself from going in and changing the menu very quickly. Stability, however, does not mean rejecting evolution. Over the years, a chef has learned that if you stay at the same job for several years, you will become comfortable enough in the kitchen to be creative.
He says: “Each year, you can try something new. “If you change constantly [restaurants] and to quit, you waste your energy building confidence in your position and keep the operation going. You have no power to create anything. I am very stable and very focused on doing something creative and reaching new opportunities. And you need to spend time with your team. ”
Meanwhile, Xu presents his new ideas at a predictable pace. He has plenty of them ready to go, but being a chef means entertaining guests and his creative mind. “The chef and the guests should be together in everything,” said Xu. “If I only do what I enjoy, then we are separated. We need to balance. Yes, I always want to try a new, crazy idea, but sometimes I have to hold back.”
