Spanish Brasserie Agua Beijing Celebrating Triumphant Return as ‘Restaurant of the Year’ with New Summer Menu (China)
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Spanish Brasserie Agua Beijing Celebrating Triumphant Return as ‘Restaurant of the Year’ with New Summer Menu (China)
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Category: Asia Pacific - China - Exclusive experiences
- Gourmet restaurants
- Rewards - Gourmet restaurants
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2011-08-02
Moorish-Mediterranean style brasserie Agua Beijing is celebrating its triumphant return as the city’s ‘Spanish Restaurant of the Year’ unveiling a new summer menu by ‘Chef of the Year’ Jordi Valles.
Superb contemporary Spanish cuisine is headlined by summer specialties including jet-fresh seasonal tuna and giant ‘botan’ prawns at its newly relocated venue at Nali Patio in fashionable Sanlitun.
Chef Valles is personally recommending the succulent jumbo ‘botan’ prawns priced at RMB 50 each – “but only if you eat the head”, which he insists is the tastiest bit.
Mediterranean-style tuna belly is also on the new menu. Comparable to Japan’s prized ‘toro’, it is presented slightly torch-flamed with vinegary shallots or seared and served with mushrooms, balsamic and ‘dashi’, juicy rice at RMB 280.
Also recommended are two traditional Spanish summer specialties, smoked eggplant with basil creamy rice (RMB 98) and lamb loin with eggplant and roasted tomato (RMB 220).
Tapas platters designed for sharing and starting from just RMB 25 range from homemade sausages and chorizo – a unique specialty of the chic restaurant – to aged Iberico ham, swordfish belly carpaccio, fresh shrimps, cold Spanish piquillo peppers stuffed with tuna, Manchego cheese, pork and duck terrine and simple toasted tomato bread.
Main courses for two or four to share include the restaurant’s signature dish, half a traditional-style crispy suckling pig (RMB 380), 1kg of rib eye on the bone (RMB 628), and juicy lobster rice (RMB 598).
As well as market fresh ‘Fish of the Day’ (RMB 188), slowly cooked Wagyu veal cheek with marinated plums and beetroot salad (RMB 188) is a melt-in-your-mouth summer specialty, along with oxtail stuffed with Rougié duck liver, served with pumpkin purée and glazed parsnip (RMB 220).
Authentic Spanish desserts priced from RMB 48-58 feature traditional Spanish Torrija, served with a catalan cream and almonds scented with Havana Club rum, apple tart & ice cream, coulant of chocolate and basil served with coconut toffee, chocolate truffle tart with hazelnut ice cream and spiced, caramelised fresh pineapple, served with vanilla bourbon ice cream and cocoa biscuit.
Since moving to the 4th floor of Nali Patio, home to a unique courtyard of Spanish restaurants, cafes, delicatessens and designers, Agua Beijing has again been voted Beijing’s 2011 Best Spanish Restaurant of the Year by lifestyle magazines, The Beijinger and City Weekend – with Executive Chef Valles voted ‘Best Chef’.
The remarkable achievement mirrors the same awards collected two years ago at its previous venue.
Agua’s wine list also features 70 of the finest wines available in Beijing with 30 exclusive to Agua including less common grape varietals, boutique growers (Olga Raffault, Federico, San Roman) and upcoming wine regions (Ribera Del Duero, Toro, Montsant).
Agua is at 4th Floor, Nali Patio, 81 Sanlitun North Street, Beijing 1000027.
Advance reservations are recommended by calling 010 5208 6188 or at www.aqua.com.hk
Agua is managed and operated by Hong Kong based Aqua Restaurant Group.
About Agua Beijing
Moorish-Mediterranean themed Agua Beijing is newly relocated to the fashionable Spanish nightlife and design enclave of Nali Patio in Sanlitun.
It is styled by internationally acclaimed Aqua Restaurant Group after a “chic Spanish brasserie which would look right at home in Barcelona, London or New York”.
Agua Beijing was voted Beijing’s 2011 Best Spanish Restaurant of the Year by lifestyle magazine City Weekend – with Executive Chef Jordi Valles voted Chef of the Year.
Its award-winning formula returns with superb contemporary Spanish cuisine and Beijing’s finest Spanish wine cellar.
Exotic décor and design by Aqua Restaurant Group founder David Yeo incorporates coloured glass and brass lanterns from Morocco souks, natural Spanish woods, and Moorish windows and doors.
Signature dishes include Sergovia-style crispy suckling pig, Piquillo red peppers from northern Spain stuffed with tuna and the traditional Torrija served with a Catalan cream.
Exclusive wines include unusual grape varietals, boutique growers and upcoming Spanish wine regions, with a wide choice of Spanish aperitifs, infused rums and signature cocktails.
Agua Beijing seats 77 in the main dining room with two glass-walled private dining rooms each seating seven, or combined to seat 14.
About Fez Bar
Beijing’s award-winning bar and lounge Fez Bar is re-opened at a new rooftop location atop the Spanish nightlife and design enclave of Nali Patio in Sanlitun.
The exotic chill-out oasis for cool cocktails and Mediterranean and Middle Eastern tapas is open daily through the summer from 5pm-late.
It relocates from CH’ IEN MEN 23, where it swept Time Out Beijing’s 2009 Best Bar Design, Bartender and Cocktail Awards.
Fez Bar returns with a Moorish and Mediterranean theme above newly-opened upscale Spanish restaurant Agua and is operated by the same owners – Aqua Restaurant Group of Hong Kong, London and Beijing.
About Aqua Restaurant Group
Ten years ago, former lawyer David Yeo launched his first 60 seat aqua restaurant on Hollywood Road with just 20 staff, and a vision to bring some of the chic restaurant buzz of New York, Tokyo and London to Hong Kong.
It proved such a phenomenal success that today Aqua Restaurant Group has grown to a formidable culinary empire of 20 groundbreaking outlets which embraces some of Hong Kong’s most innovative and successful destination restaurants, a landmark boutique hotel, and talk of the town multi-faceted restaurants in London and Beijing. Today, Aqua Restaurant Group serves more than 700,000 customers every year and employs around 560 staff in Hong Kong, London and Beijing.
Throughout these ten years, aqua’s fundamental philosophy has remained unchanged; to source the freshest highest quality produce, prepare it in a way where the true flavours shine and where food is presented in an aesthetically stunning manner.
This is coupled with service that is approachable and unobtrusive, and always in a jaw-droppingly stylish environment that features the very best of innovative Asian-inspired contemporary design, right down to the last small details, which has become the hallmark of the Aqua Group.
aqua group’s signature restaurants, aqua and Hutong at One Peking Road in Tsim Sha Tsui have for several years been two of the most admired restaurants in Hong Kong, and a “must” for sophisticated visitors to Hong Kong. The group has also taken everyday casual neighbourhood dining to a new level of sophistication with its trio of Soho and Wyndham street brasseries, tivo, vivo and ayuthaiya.
In 2009, aqua restaurant group expanded its portfolio to include aqua london, its first offering outside China. aqua london comprises three integrated parts: aqua nueva which offers a very modern take on the traditional cuisine of northern Spain; aqua kyoto, a contemporary Japanese restaurant and aqua spirit, a stylish pre and post-dining bar with three outdoor terraces and sweeping views over London’s rooftops. Located at 240 Regent Street in the heart of London’s West End, aqua London has quickly became the in place to see and be seen.
Towards the end of 2009, in addition to bringing delectable cuisine to the hippest happening areas of Hong Kong, aqua restaurant group also set out to preserve Hong Kong’s heritage. Hullett House is an intimate hotel with bespoke luxury suites and five restaurants housed in a magnificent colonial building dating from 1881, the Former Marine Police Headquarters on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. The property is inspired by Hong Kong’s rich and varied history over the last 150 years, with its unique blend of Chinese and British influences and a mix of old and new.
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