Californian dreamer

Lime Tempura Oysters. Provided to China Daily

He's got movie-star looks, a charming grin and the ability to make chocolates from bacon. Who can resist a chef like that? Pauline D. Loh succumbs in Hong Kong.

AT JW's California in Hong Kong, the roast suckling pig is a sell-out, and it's all thanks to Chef Jordi Villegas' Spanish culinary heritage. In Spain, they eat everything on the pig, from its snout to the tail. Just like the Chinese.

The baby animal is thoroughly marinated, then slow-cooked until the rich meat is meltingly tender. Then, when the order comes in, the portions are given a final roasting to crisp the skin. This is down-home cooking, and for the chef, it's both nature and nurture when it comes to his kitchen arts.

No wonder, since he first practiced his cooking skills under the stern supervision of his mama, in the family's home-style restaurant in Spain. He has all the right genes. Later, when he was fully fledged, he worked under the tutelage of Guy Martin of Grand Vefour in Paris and Xavier Pellicier of Abac in Barcelona.

To this day, the young Jordi still credits these two master chefs as his culinary inspirations.

The baby-faced chef has an affinity to what he calls the "noble meat" and he has regularly promoted special evenings where diners enjoy a "Head to Tail Pork Night". Even dessert has pork in it.

When my eyebrows rose, the chef hurries into his kitchen and returns with a little can that has a pretty sketch of a chubby porker on the label.

Inside are paper-thin wafers of chocolate with a sprinkling of something pink on them. I pop one into my mouth and my eyebrows rose even higher. It was bacon.

This unusual flavoring works very well, with the salt of the bacon contrasting with the sweet of the chocolate, and as the chocolate melted away on the tongue, the bacon softened into pleasantly chewy morsels. Brilliant.

It was immediately obvious that Chef Villegas likes to play with his food, which dovetailed well into the "California" concept of the restaurant. His creativity and innovations find good display here, in what the JW Marriott calls it casual dining outlet.

Here, you can pop by in your golf or tennis whites after a game and recharge with steaks and chips. Or, as the chef will prefer, an order of his version of surf and turf, huge red prawns from Spain and buttery soft-braised beef short ribs that tower on the plate. The portions are old Californian, not new California.

If you are looking for a sushi roll named after the Sunshine State, however, stop by the counter at the entrance and indulge. It's also where the oyster bar is. There is a good selection here of the shellfish here and I drooled at the thought of a half dozen Lime Tempura Oysters. Definitely Californian.

Contact the writer at paulined@chinadaily.com.cn.