Gaddi's

Infobox Restaurant
name = Gaddi's


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image_caption = Gaddi's at night
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established = 1953
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head-chef = David Goodridge
food-type = French
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city = Hong Kong
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country = China
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Gaddi's is a French haute cuisine restaurant situated in The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel. It was opened in 1953 and named after a former general manager of The Peninsula, Leo Gaddi. The current executive chef is Britain's David Goodridge. The former executive chef was Philip Sedgwick, the first British head chef of Gaddi's.

Decor

The decor is meant to evoke old Hong Kong. and the hotel's original 1928 neoclassical architecture. It has an European dining room, with two six-foot crystal-and-silver chandeliers from Paris, Tai Ping carpets, and a Chinese coromandel screen dating from 1670. [Frank Gray, "Peninsula Hotel", Cigar Aficionado, Winter 1996. [http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,906,00.html Online version] ]

Gaddi's uses expensive tableware, which includes polished antique silverware and Bernardaud fine chinaware. It also created the first Chef's TableFact|date=September 2008 in Hong Kong where the Chef Table diners sit at a special table beside the Gaddi's kitchen viewing the dishes being prepared.

Food

Gaddi's was considered the best European restaurant in Hong Kong for a long timeFact|date=September 2008, but that reputation has since been challenged by a number of new restaurants that opened in recent years. The food is classically French but with inventive European influences. [http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hongkong/D44542.html Online Frommer's review]

The food is classic French haute cuisine and utilizes the highest-quality products imported from various countries. Examples of past dishes include:
* Raw-marinated foie gras with toasted brioche
* Twice-cooked pork belly with mustard risotto
* Bitter herb salad and balsamico sauce
* Specially selected American Black Angus Sirloin baked in a rosemary and salt crust with pea puree
* Roquefort fritters and pan-fried rye bread with melted Camembert and oscietra caviar

There is a ten course tasting menu which lets the diners taste a sample of many of Gaddi's famous dishes.

The wine cellar is among the best and largest in Hong KongFact|date=September 2008, with a collection of rare vintages.

In a 2006 Independent feature on romantic dining, author Alexandra Antonioni wrote:

"They don't make restaurants like this any more and everyone should dine at Gaddi's at least once in their lifetime. Nothing can touch it for glamour and sheer indulgence."

[Alexandra Antonioni, "Valentines' Special: Alexandra Antonioni's recipes for love", The Independent, 12 February 2006. [http://travel.independent.co.uk/news_and_advice/article345031.ece Online version] ]

References