Flavors of Japan: A Birthday Menu by Brian McKenna

Posted: May 16th, 2011 | Author: LumDimSum | Filed under: A Day In My Life, Foodies & Dining Scene, Special Events | Tags: Alan Wong, Birthday Party, Brian McKenna, Japanese food, ROOMbeijing | No Comments »

Alan Wong has said that the best meal of his life was a 15 course dinner + 20 course dessert menu by Brian McKenna.  After a very successful Hatsroomie & ROOMsune event back in January 2011, I began to realize the amazing talent and creativity that Mr. McKenna is widely known in the kitchen for.

So to celebrate Alan’s birthday last week, we managed to scheme and successfully throw him a surprise birthday dinner at ROOMbeijing where Brian McKenna specially created a “BMK Japanese inspired menu dedicated entirely to Alan Wong”.

“6AM I was doing sushi…I might even ask Alan for a job after this!”

- Brian McKenna (BMK) on prepping for Alan’s Birthday Dinner

In the end, we managed to surprise him with both the arrival of his friends with distraction schemes and BMK’s special birthday dinner was beyond outstanding.

BMK’s Japanese Inspired Menu Dedicated to Alan Wong:

Appetizers: Chilled tomato tea in tubes, foie gras with carmelized rice, raw oyster with passionfruit foam and raw shrimp inside cooked shell

Tuna wrapped in avocado with wasabi ice cream & citrus dressing / Salmon sashimi with orange textures

Daikon Salad with Ginger Dressing / Foie gras with Avocado rice and sauce.

Searned tuna sushi / Bag Baked Cod fish with sake and shiitake mushrooms

Crispy Shrimp Wrapped in Basil / Grilled asparagus with wasabi hollandaise

Miso Marinated Beef with Sesame Green Beans

Grilled rib eye beef with sea urchin butter / Crispy bean curd with 8 mushrooms

Brian’s Signature “Breakfast” Dessert with Mango & Lemongrass Hard Boiled Eggs

Strawberry Shortcake with Balsamic Ice Cream (Mr. Wong’s Fav dessert with “BMK Twist”) / Black Forrest Cake 2011

ROOMbeijing’s Signature Fruit Tree with Dry Ice

Highlights of BMK’s Dinner were definitely the appetizers (raw shrimp in cooked shell was ridic), daikon salad with ginger dressing, foie gras with avocado rice and sauce and the miso marinated beef was to die for – among the most tender and juicy steaks I’ve had in awhile!

This dinner was truly a labor of love by BMK and with a table full of sushi fanatics, I have no doubt everyone was ecstatic as I with every dish of the dinner.

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