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Bao Li, the latest project of María Li Bao and Felipe Bao, opens it's doors at 5 Jovellanos Street. Bao Li, the most special project of the two siblings, is a space that pays tribute to the great Cantonese cuisine, with a menu full of flavor and history, which combines perfectly with modernity and product quality.
Felipe Bao tells, through his creations, the story of both brothers. Bao Li recreates traditional Cantonese recipes, but reinterpreted by the Bao brothers, which are far from everything that has been replicated so far in Western cuisine, and born of years of research, travel and study.
Each dish is the result of years of research and the Bao brothers' passion for Cantonese gastronomic culture. With proposals such as handmade sweet potato noodles with marinated Iberian, an original recipe of the Baoli people, or its high seafood offer, as well as Bao Li black wagyu silk thread, txangurro xiao long bao, Iberian xiao long bao with foie gras and black truffle, king crab with ginger sauce and rice cannelloni with prawns in two textures.
Madrid, February 2023- The region of Canton, the port city located northwest of Hong Kong, stands out for its variety, a land where the green of its mountains and the richness of its waters result in an abundant and diverse gastronomic culture. Gastronomy has always been a form of expression within the Cantonese tradition, a country with an extensive culture and a millenary history, which is narrated through careful elaborations. Aware of this, María Li Bao and Felipe Bao have transferred through their restaurants the story of Cantonese cuisine to Western culture. A philosophy that is elevated to the maximum power in their latest project: Bao Li, which becomes the most special restaurant of the two siblings, opens its doors in Jovellanos street number 5. It is the project with which María Li Bao feels most identified, as she has had a constant involvement in the design of its menu, as well as an evident influence in the kitchen decisions, which offers an unparalleled gastronomic proposal.
Felipe Bao tells, through his creations, the story of both brothers, offering a proposal that evokes some of the most important recipes of Cantonese gastronomic history, characterized by incorporating a wide range of ingredients, such as mollusks and seafood. Bao Li recreates traditional Cantonese recipes, but reinterpreted by the Bao brothers, which are far removed from everything that has been replicated so far in Western cuisine, and born from years of research, travel and study. The new temple of traditional Cantonese cuisine is located in the emblematic square of the Zarzuela Theater in Madrid. This is the most heartfelt project of the Bao brothers, who are committed to creating a unique space for tasting a cuisine full of flavor and history, combined with modernity and the quality of a unique product.
Felipe Bao is in charge of the stoves and his mission, to showcase a traditional Chinese cuisine less known in the West. Bao Li's menu explores a wide variety of flavors, rediscovered after traveling in search of the original ingredients and recipes and then adding the family's point of view. Each dish is the result of years of research and the Bao brothers' passion for Cantonese gastronomic culture. With a proposal that goes from the variety of Dim Sum (xiao long bao of txangurro, xiao long bao Iberian with foie and black truffle). Highlights include dishes such as Bao Li black wagyu silk thread, king crab with ginger sauce and rice cannelloni with prawns in two textures.
In addition, Maria Li Bao and Felipe Bao have wanted to capture the intense flavor of the sea, traditional in Cantonese cuisine, with dishes such as caramelized black cod with vegetables, blue lobster sautéed with ginger and spring onion, king crab with ginger sauce & handmade rice cannelloni, "buddha jump" traditional stew of abalone, seafood and boletus and sautéed lobster in pickled vegetable sauce and egg tofu.
They bring to the table the excellence of the rice and noodles of Cantonese cuisine: blue lobster with handmade noodles in its juice, glutinous rice ingot with marinated Iberico, handmade sweet potato noodles with marinated Iberico, original recipe from the village of Baoli and golden lotus rice wrapped in lotus leaf with scallop. Also of note are their meats: Cantonese style roast duck, traditional Cantonese fortune chicken and low-temperature duck breast.
María Li Bao and Felipe Bao want the visitor to Bao Li not only to enjoy the gastronomic proposal, but also to live an authentic experience. For the more curious, Bao Li offers two closed menus. The Baoli tasting menu, the Imperial tasting menu, the Fortuna tasting menu and the Spring tasting menu.
The interior design was the work of architect Jean Porsche, who wanted to pay homage to both Imperial China and the Western fascination with that magical world, as distant as it is unknown. To create this concept, they have spent more than a year collecting stories and recipes of traditional cuisine, family recipes, and above all memories of flavors with which they grew up and were formed. Cantonese cuisine is rich for its combination of ingredients, the conjunction of a culture that, like the Spanish, gathers at the table to celebrate any kind of celebration, the restaurant being a space for happiness, encounter and pleasures.
Pleasures that can be found not only in its carefully selected menu, making the space an experience from the moment you step over the threshold of the door. Jean Porsche has created a unique mix with a combination of colors, motifs and materials, such as gold leaf paper, wood on ceilings and floors, textiles with oriental and western motifs, pieces with history that have been sought in Paris, Belgium and England, furniture and upholstery that create different environments that make you want to discover everything and more that Bao Li has to offer.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is reminiscent of the luxury of Frenchified China, or of the Western interpretation of Chinese culture, as was done in the palaces of the nobles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with their Chinese salons, full of patterns in ceramics and porcelain and combinations of reds and blues. While Felipe and María Bao were preparing the current menu of Bao Li, they looked for art deco furniture, Chinese vases, lamps with history and detail, plaster pieces were made for the bar or the fireplace area with motifs deeply rooted in Chinese culture such as the horse or fish, pieces were bought in Swedish, German and French auctions in order to create a trousseau according to the succulent cuisine of Felipe Bao, as if it were a wedding with gastronomy.