Seared cod with hazelnut crust, garden greens and vanilla-butter sauce. Photos Provided to China Daily

Gilbert Wolfarth combines new cooking methods with traditional fare.

The new chef at Heritage draws on French classics as he explores ways to keep his kitchen 'close to nature' in Beijing, Ye Jun reports.

The new executive chef at Heritage, one of Beijing's premier French restaurants, is a mere 28 years old. But he's certainly been around: He already has 11 years of experience working in the kitchen in different parts of France.

"It's important to travel and understand the ingredients and cooking techniques," says Gilbert Wolfarth from Alsace, France.

The chef combines new cooking methods with traditional fare in dishes such as half-cooked salmon with a base of sour and sweet passion fruit sauce, and topped with black olive oil confit. He also presents a beautiful black cod topped with nut crust in sweet and sour broth, dotted with greens and looking like a small garden.

"Many of the new chef's dishes can be easily recognized as typically French cuisine, compared to the more fusion style in the restaurant before," says Thomas Jouan, director of marketing at Sofitel Wanda Beijing hotel, where Heritage is located.

Some of these dishes are beef tartare, Burgundy snails ravioli, slow-cooked lamb shank with white beans, and "grandmother's traditional fruit tart".

In his native Alsace, he says, foods are rich and strong-tasting, including butter, meaty sweetbread, chicken and calf liver, and even seared kidneys. There are fresh mushrooms and "very nice white asparagus in spring to eat with mayonnaise".

Wolfarth trained in Le Cheval Blanc, a one-Michelin star restaurant in Village Neuf, Alsace in 2003 and 2004. Later he acted as demi chef de partie at Marina di Cavu, another one-Michelin-star restaurant in Corsica, in 2008.

He also worked in Canada at West, named restaurant of the year by Vancouver Magazine in 2010-11. His last job before coming to Beijing was as sous chef at Hotel Resort & Spa of St. Regis in Bora Bora of France.

So while his roots are firmly French, the chef believes that "cuisine is always open".

Wolfarth describes his style as "close to nature", and his philosophy is "to follow the seasons and working in harmony with nature". That is probably best reflected in the vegetarian dishes the chef makes, in which he uses many seasonal vegetables creatively to deliver both good taste and visual enjoyment.

He often plays with traditional French dishes and modern techniques with new recipes. He considers precision in temperature control essential in his work, which often involves low-temperature cooking, vacuum cooking and smoking.

"It's good to know the exact temperature and the right texture," he says.

He has drafted a new menu for Heritage for two weeks. All the vegetables are fresh and sourced locally. The meats are mostly imported, but he's on the lookout for good local meats.

Finding what he needs isn't always easy. He cannot find sweetbreads in the market, for example, and vegetables here are sometimes not exactly the way they are in France.

He realizes he needs to adjust both saltiness and sweetness for Chinese customers. Some local patrons find his lobster bisque too strong; he explains it is just more concentrated than they have been used to.

Wolfarth's impression of some French restaurants he has visited in Beijing is that they look like bistros, and there are many dishes that are not so "fine dining".

He says he will try to make Heritage a fine-dining experience. "You will not find noodles here," he says.

Fine dining is meant to be a ritual. Aline Engels, the restaurant's new manager, has worked in the three-Michelin star restaurant L-Arnsbaurg and one-star Chalet Mounier. She will be presenting many of the dishes, printed in gold letters on the menu, a la minute from a cooking cart.

Beef tartare, for example, is mixed well right on the spot. She also makes banana with rum at tableside for a dessert of banana caramelized with old rum, vanilla ice cream and soft chocolate cake.

"Service is part of the eating and dining experience," says Wolfarth. "It's like a theatrical play."

Contact the writer at yejun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/20/2014 page8)