Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/49393
W ing Lei, Wynn's upscale Chinese dining venue, combines the elegance of a top hotel dining room in Hong Kong or Shanghai with the diverse cuisines found in world capitals like New York or London. It is immutably Chinese, but with touches of Western luxury the Chinese aesthetic so seamlessly incorporates. It was the first Chinese restaurant in this country to garner a presti- gious Michelin star. Under the guidance of executive chef Xian Ming Yu, who took over the kitchen here in April 2010, the restaurant is achieving new culinary heights one must experience to understand. The design is stunning. You enter through a "tiger" bar of backlit, striped onyx into a vast main dining room, with seating at meticulously set tables whose settings include gold-tipped chopsticks and chopstick holders. Seating is on high-backed, red-velvet-armed tapestry chairs, which wouldn't be out of place in an emperor's chamber in the Forbidden City. Key design elements include a garden stocked with 100-year-old pome- granate trees, and a pair of Imperial-era Chinese vessels lined with jade. The name Wing Lei is a Chinese play on the name Wynn; its Chinese characters mean "eternal prosperity." There are also sleek booths against the walls, which look more like thrones than tables from a distance, plus an amazing private room that can be reserved for special occasions. The multilingual staff cater to almost any need, clad in their designer Armani uniforms. The kitchen, and chef Ming, will attend to the rest of your evening. Dining here involves many options, from seasonal tasting dinners and the chef's terrific Peking duck tasting menu, to humbler fare, such as Cantonese dim sum and various rice dishes. The duck, hung carefully until the fat drips off and then lacquered until a deep bronze, is brought out on a cart and carved tableside, served in five courses. First is the traditional crisped skin inside delicate steamed buns, brushed gently with hoisin sauce and stuffed with cucumber and scallion. Then comes a duck salad inspired by one at Hakkasan in London, where the meat gets tossed with mesclun greens, slivered almonds, mandarin orange, and a peanut-truffle vinaigrette. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chef Mian Ming Yu; tai chin Dungeness crab; duck salad with mesclun greens, slivered almonds, mandarin orange, and peanut-truffle vinaigrette (part of the Peking duck tasting menu); lapb cheong (Chinese sausage) on Napa cabbage OPPOSITE PAGE: Wing Lei's backlit-onyx "tiger" bar PHOTOGRAPHS BY BARBARA KRAFT (BACKLIT BAR); ALEX KARVOUNIS (CHEF MING YU); JEF GREEN (CRAB, DUCK SALAD, LAPB CHEONG)