https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Ee-Da-Le-21-July-2016/i-q773bJH
After a year travelling and exploring new tastes and flavours Harlan Goldstein is back as Ee Da Le, the first of four new restaurants with new partners ZS Hospitality, opens today. Hong Kong’s own ‘celebrity’ chef is not to everyone’s cup of tea. Over the years though he’s built a strong personal brand and a solid coterie of loyal customers and staff because not only is he a good chef he’s also very good at genuinely ensuring that the people who matter feel needed, welcome, important… as required.
While not every restaurant he’s opened has been either a critical or commercial success, the menus have usually been solid and the decor interesting if not extravagant.
At our tasting lunch, a trailer to the launch of Harlan III (this is Harlan’s third group of partners) it’s difficult to tell if the man has mellowed. The passion, ambition and desire are clearly still there with solid thoughts and ideas for the future – it’s fascinating and invigorating to listen as Harlan talks through the concepts and themes of the upcoming outlets as well as the ideas behind Ee Da Le.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Ee-Da-Le-21-July-2016/i-jXBKH5P
Every now and then though, it was like an alarm went off inside to reminded him that he was chatting to journalists and ‘celebrity chef Harlan’ would make an appearance and the comments become more rote and filled with soundbite cliches voiced somewhat unconvincingly from a man who appears a little nervous, not that he’d ever admit it, about opening night.
To use a cliche there are lots of people around who like to talk the talk, but few who can walk the walk. Harlan is one of those who’s passionate about food and has walked that talk into a series of fine restaurants over the last 20 years. So with Harlan the three-quel opening into a fiercely competitive market, we’ll leave the final word to the man “I’m back baby”.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Ee-Da-Le-21-July-2016/i-QV2mStJ