When he was the executive chef at Migas, a Beijing restaurant specializing in Spanish cuisine, Olabegova was given Time Out Beijing's award for best chef for four years in a row.
And now, for Fresco, Olabegova has designed a menu that literally smacks of spring both visually and in terms of flavor.
A dish cooked with aged wagyu beef slices with porcini and black truffle caviar is a must-try. It's an upgrade of the classic carpaccio, which is made up of thin slices of raw beef.
The edible egg yoke that accompanies this dish is marinated for three hours to create a special dressing based on Japanese soy sauce. The smooth yolk covers the beef, adding to the taste, while the hot porcini sauce lends the raw beef some extra heat, which further elevates the dish's appeal.
According to Olabegova, the porcini mushrooms are roasted before they are marinated in olive oil for several hours, after which they are diced to make the hot sauce. Another surprise are the small black balls on the plate that look like caviar but are instead made from black truffles that have a delicious kick when eaten with the beef.
Foie gras terrine with Iberian ham and figs is another surprising combination. The terrine is made with the three ingredients added layer by layer-the figs absorbs the fat from the foie gras and their sweet-and-sour flavor in turn offsets the power of the oil from the foie gras.
