Forget limp cold cuts and flat champagne. Guests at South Korean beauty brand Sulwhasoo's gala dinner last Thursday at the Four Seasons in Central feasted on a menu that ran to HK$10,000 per person.
The stellar dinner party, held to celebrate the brand's 40th anniversary, attracted about 170 people, including TVB actress Maggie Cheung Ho-yee and celebrity models Kathy Chow Man-kei and Irene Wang Yuen-yuen. K-pop star Jun Jin of singing-and-dancing band Shinhwa was flown in from Seoul to boost the night's celebrity quotient.
The Four Seasons' Chan Yan-tak, the first and, so far only, Chinese chef to earn three Michelin stars, took inspiration from the Sulwhasoo brand to design a special menu for the night based around rare ingredients such as ginseng, sea cucumber and Oma abalone.
"In Chinese cuisine, we commonly use medicinal herbs such as ginseng, cloud ear fungus and superior bird's nest as they can help … address the root cause of an ailment. Very often they are used to strengthen the immune system," he said.
Chan said the menu took its cue from the natural ingredients the company uses.
"Ingredients such as ginseng, in particular Korean ginseng, are considered precious. It has a long history of being used to heal the body and mind. Because of its remarkable qualities, it is a most precious herb."