KRUG FOCUS
The Tatler 500 lister and businessman hosted 10 of his closest friends for an evening of Krug champagne and reinterpreted classics
Food and drink—their taste, smell and appearance—have the power to evoke vivid memories. This connection between consumption and emotion is the premise of our Creating Memories series of dinners in collaboration with Krug Champagne, which aim to leave guests with a night to remember. The first two dinners, hosted by Hong Kong Tatler 500 listers Peter Cheung, followed by Victoria Tang-Owen and Christopher Owen, took place at Krug Room during the summer and autumn season—by our third feast, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong’s culinary team, led by executive chef Robin Zavou, was transformed into a winter wonderland, ready to receive Evan Chow and his guests.
A few weeks before the big dinner, Chow—the managing director of boutique asset management platform MCL Financial Group—took time out of his schedule to enjoy a glass of Krug while discussing the dishes with Zavou in the Krug Room itself. As the miniature steam train model trundled along a specially made track hoisted high above the dining room table, the two discussed favoured ingredients, dislikes and dietary requirements. Spotting ingredients such as sea urchin and oysters on the proposed menu, Chow couldn’t help but chuckle at how easy Zavou was making the job for him: “Everyone loves these, so can’t complain!”
Then another dish caught Chow’s eye: snails. “As a kid, I loved escargots,” he explained. He also mentioned growing up eating a lot of Cantonese food, from fried pigeon (identified as another crowdpleaser) to abalone. Zavou quickly caught on and it was decided that for the third Creating Memories dinner, the chef would take parts of Chow’s favourite things growing up and reinterpret them into elegant new dishes to pair perfectly with Krug champagnes.