Fans of Xin Ge Liu’s Chinese fine dining concept can now sample creative main courses and simpler, more inexpensive fare at the chef’s design-driven restaurant on viale Belfiore.
The locale has been split in two with the Xinge Gogo street food now being served along the curved section of the award-winning restaurant. Opt for the party bag takeout (a trio of bao buns, shumai dumplings, dessert and beer) or sit in the electric blue space at the one of the school-desk-like tables with floating office-style lamps for Cantonese rice, spicy pork wonton and a selection of satisfying noodles. The Hainanese chicken is an everyday dish, delicious in its simplicity, cooked in a lemongrass and ginger broth before being served in a powder blue double boiler with steamed rice, bok choy and carrots.
“We had to do something to innovate,” Xin Ge explains over one of her signature Drinx cocktails. “The plates, dishes and glasses are memories of my childhood.”
Jasmine tea and accompanying scented towels welcome diners into the terracotta-coloured fine dining inner sanctum of Il Gusto di Xinge. Alongside the sumptuously presented bao and dim sin for which the stylish Polimoda graduate is renowned, new inventions like Martini Sweet and Salty Tears (an oyster served beneath an apple, shallot and champagne foam), Duck in the Clouds (thinly sliced duck breast immersed in an orange, cinnamon and fermented chili pepper sauce topped with a halo of candy floss) and Spiced Lamb (ribs in Chianti sauce with grilled mantou bread, horseradish yogurt and tomatoes) display Xin Ge’s culinary evolution and Michelin-grade creativity.
We can’t wait to go back soon!
