China adventures in Changsha

 China, the land of the amazing food, culture and nice people, I was luckily invited to do a amazing dinner in the city of Changsha where the owner was opening up his own personal museum of photography, he is one of the largest collectors in China with hundreds of ancient and old photos that he wanted people to see and admire, so he simply just made a decision to build a huge museum to showcase his collection.

Story short a Chinese guy came to Sweden and looked me up and asked if I was able to do a dinner for the opening night for the owner and his closest friends, who am i to say no to this, 40 people 8 course dinner, no problem, I can do that by myself with a little planning and a good mis an place"

I arrived 6 days prior to the opening and was hosted by the officials from his office and NO ONE could speak a word of English! I had to use google translate for everything, luckily I had send a shopping list a few weeks ahead so that was kind of safe, they took me to see the venue on a rainy night and I was very surprised to find that the museum was far from being finished and the tep kitchen that they promised me was outside in the rain with some cover and the kitchen space was a huge pile of rubble, 

I was surprised and confused, but hey in China everything is possible , right! the next day they found me a catering company who was able to host me for the prepp, I got one bench 120 cm and some pans, BTW the figures have changed to 120 people, ok can you find me some assistants? yes sure, one guy shows up with no skills whats so ever so I had to put him to clean and wash veggies, that he can do, my prepplist on day 2 changed of curse and the shopping list got bigger, I had a car and a driver, take me to any big HORECA store to get stuff, later that day (day 3) they told me that they now expect 350 guests, 

I was slightly stressed and wondering how to pull this off, the first meeting with the FOH staff was crazy and all in Mandarin, but I made it clear to that that I need help to pull this off, they promised me 40 kitchen staff, ok cool, the menu was Nordic inspired as was ordered and as a soup I was planning to do a lobster bisque with scallops and garnishes, well the lobsters arrive from a supplier in Shanghai and they whare all deat and the box smelled like crazy, ok get me new one - cannot find in Changsha, ok frozen Canadian? yes ok fine, lets do that, new lobster arrives Live! I got lost in translation obviously but fair enough.

I visited the temp kitchen and all the rubble was gone and the area was actually very clean and they started to mount the kitchen equipment with everything that I did not order...improvise dear...and take a deep breath, anyway 2 days to the show I was told to get on a stage to meet the waitering staff, I can do that...150 staff was attending and the guest list was now 420 people...hurray I was thrilled 

The irony is that the staff who was serving was all from a local college with zero experience so I spend hours to teach them how to hold one plate at the time, no more and dont drop!!

On the morning of the event I was told that the dinner can only be 40 minutes in total, we all know that for an eight curse menu this is not possible, so I had to adjust again to make 3 dishes as fists course, then soup and the fish on one plate then Kobe beef as meat followed by double dessert plates, ridiculous but it actually worked out and everyone was happy I guess, the boss invited me to that stage and gave me a Mandarin speech that I didn't understand anything from...

This was absolutely one of the craziest dinners I have ever done or been to, nothing beats a challenge and I am still wondering why I didn't just bailed and took the first flight back...I am not a quitter I guess.

Some photos from this crazy adventure and the menu as follow (Might have missed some details)

Hasselback potato with Kalix rom

Matjes herring on black bread kavring 

Melba toast w smoked monkfish liver

Lobster bisque w panfried scallop

Dover sole w Skagen sauce 

Kobe beef in bone marrow broth

Strawberry tart

Cloudberry parfait


















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