FSR magazine April 2018

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it comes to bringing in other local influences from
different parts of the world.”
on the menu, or not.
Trends, customer feedback (shared
especially through social media), and
changing consumer patterns drive new
menu development. “We are seeing a
lot more vegetables come into play in
Chinese cuisine and a more sophisticated
play on textures with lighter
sauces,” Kopera says. “We have been
refining dishes such that the plate
might look similar, but the honey sauce
is definitely lighter with less sugar and
there is more of an emphasis on nonmeat
ingredients and textures.”
Hakkasan Group events like worldwide
chef competitions also help spur
new ideas for menus. For example, last
October, five chefs competed in Shanghai
to go on to compete against winners
from Hakkasan Group teams in
Doha, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and
Dubai, U.A.E.
Some of the dishes from that event,
such as a curry dumpling that was
developed in India to cater to a highly
vegetarian consumer base, have since
led to new dim sum options at Yauatcha,
a dim sum and chinese restaurant
brand with locations in Texas and
Hawaii, as well as India, the U.K., and
Saudi Arabia.
“Now that we’re seeing the rise of
more vegetarian dishes in general, we
are bringing some of those ideas from
the India locations to the U.S.,” Kopera
says. “It’s easy to be more experimental
with dim sum when it comes to bringing
in other local influences from different
parts of the world.”
As region-specific Chinese food
fever grows, including interest in the
modernized Cantonese variety Hakkasan
restaurants serves, Kopera sees
the Hakkasan Group’s role as necessary
to guiding the narrative away
from the “cheap” comfort food image.
“I think Hakkasan continues to serve
as a benchmark for high-end Chinese
food, similar to what Nobu did for Japanese
food,” he says.
Salts Pictured (top to bottom):
Fusion ® Vintage Merlot Salt,
Artisan ® Cyprus Flake Mediterranean Sea Salt,
Yakima ® Applewood Smoked Sea Salt
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