Rosewood Hong Kong’s Asaya Kitchen is championing sustainable tuna fishing practices with a new limited-edition menu featuring the prized fish.
Led by Italian native chef Fabio Nompleggio, the venue – which highlights seasonal Mediterranean cuisine using ingredients sourced from local farmers, fisheries and food artisans – has launched an epicurean weekend lunch menu centred on the Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna.
The menu, which will be available until mid-February, features tuna sourced from JC Mackintosh, a sustainable fishery that has been awarded for preserving bluefin tuna fishing in Spain. The company uses the humane ikejime system of capturing and slaughtering each fish, a method that preserves the best flavour of the meat while preventing the animals’ suffering. The fish is delivered fresh from Spain to Hong Kong within 48 to 72 hours.
Highlights from the Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna Lunch Menu include crispy rustic flatbread topped with seasoned Apulian burrata and cured tuna loin; homemade gnocchetti sardi with tuna ‘ragu’, zucchini cream, tuna bottarga and pistachios for crunch; and tuna sekami, a seared confit tuna served with anchovy emulsion and zesty broccoli rabe.
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna was classified as endangered in 1996, and by 2006, the extinction of bluefin tuna appeared imminent. Through the efforts of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and World Wildlife or World Wide Fund for Nature, a recovery plan was put in place and today the bluefin tuna stock is recovering. Asaya Kitchen strives to raise awareness among consumers of bluefin tuna, a popular delicacy in Hong Kong, of the need for better, sustainable fishing practices.
