For the Islands issue of TK (Tasting Kitchen) magazine we visited the lovely Mandarin Oriental resort located in Sanya on Hainan Island, China. Being a tropical island many of the dishes created by Chef Stuart Newbigging, Director of Culinary and Food and Beverage, and his team are inspired by local ingredients. For shot above we went down to the beach and found a nice piece of corral to place the pot of fresh oysters upon. Lighting was with a Godox bare-bulb flash mounted with an extra-small Chimera softbox.
One of the local ingredients that Chef Newbigging likes to make use of the Hainan Yellow Lantern Chili. In addition to the chili-enhanced ponzu which is served with the oysters above these spicy peppers are also made into dipping sauces and served with a variety of dishes.
Executive Sous Chef David Pooley makes use of the stems from a lotus combined with a pan-seared grouper and a few other fresh ingredients to create the dish below…