A feast of classical Chinese flavours and warm hospitality awaited Ailsa Whyatt on a visit to Liang.
Tonight, I make my way into Msheireb under a waning crescent moon, where the beam of light reflected by this moon, or ‘Liang’ in Chinese, rests over the Plaza. Appropriate then, that we are setting our sights on Liang at Mandarin Oriental, Doha, where Chef Thomas Fong is waiting for us with the best of his menu.
Our wonderful server is an absolute fountain of knowledge for every item and ingredient lucky enough to find its way onto Liang’s menu. The gentle hum of voices and unobtrusive music are the backdrop to the convivial atmosphere. This elegant restaurant feels both intimate and homely.
Our dinks arrive, and we are treated to Asian twists on of some of the classics, where ingredients such as pandan (the fragrant leaf), aloe vera, coconut, matcha and lemongrass are firm features.
Our server insists we try as many dishes as humanly possible, so we buckle up (or perhaps that should be unbuckle?!) as dish after dish appears. First up are the soups – we try Hot and Sour and Sweetcorn Soup with Scallops and Shrimps. The former contains white and black pepper for the hot and black vinegar for the sour – the heat rises and falls with each mouthful and the silk-like ribbons of tofu, egg whites, chicken and shitake mushrooms make it a broth that packs a hearty punch. For the less spicily inclined, the sweetcorn soup is mild and reminiscent of warming meals by a fire, with the added decadence of scallops and shrimps melded in.
We move onto dim sum, via a whistle-stop tour of Liang Stir-Fried Wagyu Beef Rib-Eye (A5-grade Australian Wagyu with flavoursome garlic chips on every bite) and Baked Creamy King Crab and Scallop (Alaskan king crab and Japanese scallops with a melt-in-your-mouth cheesy bechamel and crispy topping). We try both fried and steamed dim sum, and neither disappoints. We love the Taro Puffs (gently purple, taro root vegetable, combined with water chestnuts, carrots and soy, and encased in a crispy, wispy coating of cornstarch and water) and Baked Wagyu Puffs. The Wagyu puffs are an especial delight, with their layers upon layers of spinach puff pastry sheets, encrusted at either end with black sesame seeds, holding nuggets of Wagyu beef, onion, spring onion and oyster sauce. The craftsmanship that has gone into creating them is fine and delicate and the flavours are perfectly balanced.
Steamed dim sum is up next and, oh my. If you are a dumpling fan, then this is the place for you. We try Har Gau – light and al dente crystal shrimp and bamboo dumplings, served with Liang’s signature XO sauce (dried scallops, shrimps, mushrooms, garlic and chili, mixed with a delicate chili oil, for a warming, extra bite), and then we try Liang Xiao Long Bao, a signature dish. For the uninitiated, there is a technique to consumption – use your chopsticks to ease the dumpling onto your spoon (not too near the bottom of the dumpling or the soup within will soon be without!), pop a little sauce of your choice (we choose XO), make a small hole in the dumpling to let the soup run out and then enjoy. The chicken and umami are a winning combination, and we think that dumplings cannot get any better than this.
Arguably no Chinese meal is complete without Peking Duck – a mainstay of this wonderful cuisine. We opt for the Half Duck, and it is well worth the 60 minutes required for Chef Thomas and his team to produce this tender, mildly pink, glorious bird. The duck is imported from Bangkok, carved at the table with an impressive Chinese knife, and served with 10 pancakes, home-made hoisin sauce, cucumber and leek. The leek is a wonderful amendment to the traditional spring onion, as the bite of the flavour is there, but none of that lasting oniony taste, and the hoisin sauce has secret elements of sweet potato, soy beans and chilli pepper to lift the traditional sweetness. And it is a two-course extravaganza. Once we’ve eaten our fill of pancakes, the duck extras are stripped, diced and cooked with mushrooms, pine nuts, carrots celery and green onion, and then served with ‘lettuce leaf wraps’. Not only delicious, but a way of making absolutely certain that no part of this delectable duck goes to waste.
We are further treated to Kung Pao Tiger Prawns, where the sweet chilli sauce contains osmanthus syrup (a flower native to China that gently floral flavours with notes of apricot, orange and peach). These prawns are to die for – they are succulent, al dente and really rather marvellous. Our mains are rounded off with Sichuan Wok-Fried Spicy Chicken, Sizzling Mushrooms, Stir-Fried Shanghai Pak Choy and Liang Fried Rice. All house wonderful ingredients such as flavoursome chicken thigh (Sichuan Chicken), apricot chilli (Sizzling Mushrooms), smooth ginger (Pak Choy), and scallops and freshly steamed asparagus (Fried Rice), and all showcase the immense thought and skill that has gone into such a beautifully curated menu.
We have the smallest corner into which we squeeze dessert – Chilled Mango Sago and Liang Coconut Tropical Paradise. Both refreshing and delicious. The pomelo and tapioca pearls are the balancing ends of the sweet mango ice cream in the Mango Sago, and we have truly entered a tropical paradise with Liang Coconut Tropical Paradise. Its taro adds an intenseness to the pandan ice cream and the coconut combines with the black tapioca pearls, transporting us to the jungle and the beach simultaneously. Sipping an Osmanthus tea to aid our digestion, we feel like we may have peaked.
Chinese food culture is steeped in rituals and traditions, where eating is not just about nourishment of the body, but also of the soul. Attention to intricate details ensures ingredients, aesthetics and taste come together in a profusion of colour and explosions of flavour. Liang at Mandarin Oriental, Doha not only lives these values, they are the drumbeat that pulses through its core.
Please call +974 4008 8888 for more information or
to make a reservation.
@liangdoha