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For a fine feast of traditional Chinese cuisine, Soie at the Sheraton Bahrain Hotel in Manama is an excellent choice.
The ambience gives a truly Oriental feel with carpets, paintings, silk canopies, dark wooden floors as well as the customary lanterns, bamboo plants and an ornamental vase kept at the entrance which symbolises good fortune, a prevalent tradition of the country.
The venue offers a vast menu of delicacies from all over China including butterfly prawns with sweet chilli, lobster with green pepper, steamed baby hammour with lemongrass and ginger, sautŽed lamb in a clay pot, stir fried beef with spring onions, pan fried noodles topped with prawn and egg and the 'lobster two ways' - cooked to perfection - in two different sauces, a black pepper sauce and chili garlic sauce.
Mastering the kitchen at Soie is Chef Choi Pha Ching Wefa who has been with the hotel for the past 12 years.
Chef Choi's 20 years of experience has also taken him to Chinese restaurants in cities including Hamburg in Germany, Nicosia in Cyprus and Kolkata in India.
Chef Choi, 50, from Gudaibya is originally from Canton in China.
He said: "I remember I used to watch a show on TV called Yan Can Cook.
"Chef Yan used to chop and cook at speed. Watching that show, my fascination with cooking began.
"Later I started cooking with the father of a friend of mine who was a chef at a restaurant. I realised that I enjoyed cooking and so took the plunge and became a chef!"
Chef Choi's specialty includes traditional Chinese cuisine with a preference for the Cantonese style of cooking.
According to him the three most important ingredients in his kitchen are soy sauce, corn oil and salt.
As for the future, Chef Choi hopes to someday prepare a meal for singer Madonna.
