Chef Yu shows creative touch in Lunar New Year menu

Visiting chef de cuisine Jacky Yu of Park Hyatt Ningbo Resort and Spa said he had to be creative when preparing the menu for Hyatt Regency Saipan’s celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Yu, who spent 10 of his 16-year culinary career with Hyatt, was invited by Hyatt Regency Saipan to prepare a dinner buffet that features traditional dishes of Ningbo in Zhejiang province.

He let members of local media taste some of his savory dishes that included crispy fried carp fillet in sweet and soya sauce, fried prawn with minced pork, wok-fried crab in soy sauce, Dongqian lake fish soup, and eight-treasure rice cake.

“Some seafood and other ingredients here were hard to find. I have to use what was here and put it together. But the style of cooking is the same as Ningbo cuisine,” said Yu through an interpreter.

“Fresh seafood is also limited on Saipan but I tried my best in creating the dishes. I used what’s available to cook these dishes,” added Yu, who studied for three years in a culinary school in Shanghai.

“There are no cooks or chefs in our family, I’m the first one. Chinese food and recipes are hard to describe and are handed down by other cooks. There are no formal manuscripts so most of the time you have to invent or improvise, depending on the audience.”

For example, for his Dongqian lake fish soup, he used the basa fish as an alternative to their region’s freshwater fish.

He also whipped up a succulent prawn dish that is swimming in a sauce of minced pork, chili, and ginger. You have to use your bare hands to peel the prawns, which was not hard to do. The minced pork sauce also made the difference with the ginger’s taste fusing with the right amount of spiciness.

Next up was the wok-fried crab in soy sauce adorned with rice cakes. The thick and salty soy sauce blended well with the chewy and sweet rice cakes, which has the same texture of the traditional Filipino favorite merienda palitaw.

The eight-treasure rice cake, made from glutinous rice, is partnered with cooked beans in coconut sauce and fruits in season. The dessert is a classic festive delicacy in Shanghai. The number eight is synonymous to good luck in Chinese tradition.

“I am really fond of cooking. I love it and I have the passion. We all love to eat in our family. Before, I used to cook for my parents and my family. But right now I have no time to do it because of my busy schedule,” said Yu, who also cooks western and fusion cuisine.

Yu was invited by Hyatt Regency Saipan as part of their celebration to welcome the Lunar Chinese New Year, which started Monday. The Chinese Lunar New Year dinner buffet is only available for three nights, from Feb. 8 to 10, Monday to Wednesday, from 6pm to 9pm at the Kili Café & Terrace. Buffet includes unlimited beer, wine, and iced tea.

The Chinese Lunar New Year dinner buffet is priced at $50 per person and $35 for Club at the Hyatt members.

The Chinese Lunar New Year will welcome the Year of the Fire Monkey, the ninth of the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.