Crown's new restaurant China gold

When the $10 million Silks restaurant opens its massive timber doors for business at Crown Perth tomorrow, it will be an auspicious occasion as befits a restaurant selling chicken encased in real gold, $90-a-serve wagyu beef and a 1982 Chateau Latour wine for nearly $5000 a bottle.

It's no coincidence tomorrow is the eighth day of the eighth month: eight is the most significant number in Chinese culture and believed to bring prosperity.

Perth A-listers will help celebrate tomorrow evening's official opening. The restaurant will employ about 120 staff. The main dining room will seat 120. Up to 100 more can be seated in private dining rooms.

Crown chief executive Barry Felstead said the lavish decor aimed to create a high-end experience for wealthy Chinese gamblers but the average menu pricing "makes the restaurant accessible to everyone". _We sat down this week to a tasting lunch at Silks. When the man with the white gloves set fire to the gold-encased chicken and then cut away the wrap to reveal a soft, aromatic braised bird, it was clear this was no ordinary Chinese restaurant.

It was great showbiz but essentially stir-fried chicken. Where Silks set itself apart was its roasted barbecue pork with jarrah honey, steamed lobster and caviar dumplings and Sichuan lamb.

But it is dessert that is always the deal breaker at a Chinese restaurant. Silks' pressed mango with mango mousse and sweet crumbs was more than a culinary triumph - the best Chinese in WA has arrived.

Source: The West Australian, 7 August 2013