Opera Bombana won That's Beijing's Editors' Choice award for Best Italian. See here for the rest of the results.
Enze Jiang has never been to Italy.
A lot of people haven’t been to Italy. In fact, most people haven’t been to Italy. But it’s just weird that Enze Jiang hasn’t (or rather, he hadn’t been when we interviewed him – his flight to Rome was the next day), because he’s made a career creating Italian pastries at Opera Bombana, winner of both ‘Best Italian’ and ‘Best Western Fine Dining’ in the Golden Fork Awards. And that’s not all.
“Mr. Bombana asked him to go to Hong Kong to train his Italian staff to make Italian bread,” says PR Manager Jessie Zhang, referencing Umberto Bombana, the man behind the Parkview Green spot, and founder of Hong Kong’s three-Michelin-starred Otto e Mezzo Bombana.
Jiang nods and smiles. Unlike his Italian colleagues, he did not grow up eating gelato and panettone. He grew up in Jilin, where he started his career – humbly, in a local pastry shop. That was 10 years ago, when, according to him, Jilin didn’t have many desserts of any kind. Let alone Italian desserts. Let alone culinary schools for aspiring Italian pastry chefs. He was up against the odds.
His ascent in the decade that followed is a testament to the value of hard work and determination. Jiang worked his way from a local Jilin bakery to Beijing, where we was able to learn from Western chefs at internationally minded hotels. In 2013, he was chosen by Bombana to join the team that would open Opera. And this year, he’ll publish a recipe book alongside the restaurant’s Executive Chef Marino D’Antonio.
“I’m so happy working here because Chef Marino and Chef Bombana 100-percent support me,” he says. “Even though I’m not Italian, they respect my technique and ideas.”
He also says his creations align with the philosophy of the restaurant’s figurehead, who “has respect for all his ingredients and their natural flavors.” He gives us a taste of this with his Dulcey Garden, a delightful mix of dulcey panna cotta and Italian craft beer ice cream; a rich, chestnutty Mont Blanc; and a delightfully crispy pistachio millefeuille.
Jiang humbly credits his mastery to the chefs and competitors he’s studied, but also to his own philosophy of hard work. He says he’s made it this far by simply setting one small goal at a time.
By the time this has gone to print, he’ll have made it even further: Italy. (Although not forever, don’t worry – you’ll still be able to try his creations in Parkview Green.) When asked what he’s planned for his trip, his answer is simple. He’s going to eat.
“I’ve gotten a lot of great restaurant recommendations,” he says. And with friends like Bombana and D’Antonio, they’ll certainly be good ones.
Photos by Holly Li. For more information on Opera Bombana, see our listing.
0 User Comments