Beijing's OMGD members and guests welcomed the 2017 spring season with a celebration of 1917, a time of great artistic upheaval in the world. The event was held in the MIO Private Dining Room at the Four Seasons Beijing.

In honour of the avant-garde spirit from that era we invited the hotel’s Executive Chef, Aniello Turco - a rising star of ultra-modern international cuisine - to create a special dégustation menu. For the beverages we selected a variety of international sparkling wines, each one a tribute to the revolutionary influences of the “méthode champenoise” and “méthode Charmat”.

Chef Aniello’s six courses were a convergence of technology, multicultural references and food as conceptual art. His opening dish was a duo of laser-printed pasta with beef tartare and a macaron of mussels, along with a classic duck terrine and a Chinese jianbing of duck confit.

A Chef Gualtiero Marchesi dish of fried frog legs with five ceviche sauces set the stage for two main courses that followed. Firstly an oyster and mussel abstraction with a foam of Spanish cava and clam, followed by a “land and sea eggs workshop” of chicken, sturgeon, crab, lobster with a pasta-based tempura.

The dégustation ended with two desserts: an Andy Warhol-inspired banana-shaped print of frozen tropical fruit and classic banana ice cream, then “photo negative exposures” of white coffee ice cream topped with dark caramelized coffee sugar.

Accompanying wines included:
- Bellavista “Alma” Cuvée Brut NV - Franciacorta, Italy
- Rustico Valdobiaddene Superiore Prosecco NV - Nino Franco, Italy
- Gramona ‘La Cuvée’ Gran Reserva Cava 2012 - Spain
- Bouvet Ladubay ‘Saphir’ Saumur Brut Vintage 2013 - France
- Caposaldo Sweet Red Sparkling Red NV - Italy

We look forward to Chef Aniello's return this autumn with the “Avant-Garde Variations, Part Two: Love, Italian-style”, also featuring a selection Italian wines made under unique production methods.

Michael Delacruz
Vice-Échanson