It is the first time I go to China and, living in Hong Kong, the easier was to go to Shenzhen. This sister city is at 20 minutes train from Hong-Kong and is super easy to go to. While being in Shenzhen, I absolutely wanted to deep dive into the wine scene of this city.
Starting from there, I tried to find the perfect wine place. The number of potential places was a bit limited. I stumbled on Otheroof. Saw an instagram account that looked pretty nice: great bottles, consistent tastings, beautiful plates. Everything was gathered to spend a great evening. And it was a special evening! A 7-courses wine pairing menu.
So time to arrive and start this journey!
Menu and wine at Otheroof in Shenzhen
Food at Otheroof Shenzhen
For this seven-courses menu, we had the opportunity to discover the cuisine of Lola. Here is the detail of the menu:
- Fresh oysters, spicy cherry, cucumber gin sorbet, mini lime. This was super interesting. The cucumber gin sorbet was a perfect match with the oysters. These chines oysters were so big, it was impressive. We had to cut them in 3 to eat them.
- Summer solstice salad. Very good salad with marinated vegetables. Texture and taste were perfect.
- Grilled wild tiger prawns. This was an absolute banger. The prawn was perfectly cooked. The texture was absolutely perfect and the sauce was just amazing. I actually asked for more sauce.
- Spanish Gazpacho with Scallops. This was a little bit disappointing versus the rest. The gazpacho was a terrible success but the scallops were a bit behind. Their texture was a bit chewy and the taste was not super pronounced, especially versus the gazpacho.
- Zhanjiang style spicy orzo pasta with beef. This was really good. To be honest, it was a little bit spicy for me but I understand that for Chinese clients, it must be perfect.
- Olive oil ice cream. Very nice one even though I hoped for more olive oil directly in the ice cream. But it’s a good way to wait for the dessert.
- Chef’s fresh cheese, Guiwei lychee, rum with figs, Jam Crackers. Pretty nice to end this dinner. The lychees were really great.
To be honest, we were hoping for an early dinner because it started at 7pm and we were a bit tired. It turns out, we left a bit before midnight.
That being said, do not take this menu for what is traditional at Otheroof. It was a special night. Food still looks very nice on traditional nights.
Wine at Otheroof Shenzhen
For this night, we had a wine-pairing focused on Austrian wines. It is not what we expected as we wanted to try Chinese wines but this will have to wait a little. Austrian wines can be great discoveries so let’s go for it. Here is the list of wines we tasted and a quick description of them. I wrote an article about this tasting right here if you want more details.
List of wines we tasted during this dinner:
- Pet Nat ready Steady Gol, Welschriesling
- MO Weiss Martin Obenaus, Gruner Vetliner – This was really nice and the pairing with the summer solstice salad was really well done.
- Stein und Holz Weiss Martin Obenauf, Gruner Vetliner, Weissburgunder, Riesling
- Welschriesling Grunschieter 2023 Tom Straka, Welschriesling
- Blaufrankisch Grunschiefer 2021 Tom Straka, Blaufrankisch – Already very interesting and with a long finish.
- Stratos RNV Tom Straka, Zeigelt & Merlot
- Stratos Mash N.V. Tom Straka, Welschriesling, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon blanc
In a more general sense, Otheroof is mainly focused on natural wines and you’ll find wines for a great variety of places. We saw a lot of French and Italian labels so you won’t be that much homesick.
Price at Otheroof Shenzhen
So this won’t help you that much because it was a special night. For this special menu, it was 788¥ (94 euros) with 2 glasses of wine, 888¥ (105 euros) with 4 glasses of wine, 988¥ (115 euros) for the full wine pairing. So it is relatively close to European prices for this restaurant. I don’t know how it is for a traditional night.
What I thought about Otheroof in Shenzhen
When you read all that, you should have understood that it was a great experience. If you are in Shenzhen, Otheroof is definitely a good way to spend a nice evening.
I thought it was interesting to have such an experience in China. I liked the food and wines, especially the use of local ingredients such as tiger prawns, lychee, spices. I would have hoped for a bit more of that throughout the menu that was sometimes very close to the experience we have in Europe (which is maybe more tailored for clients living and Shenzhen but a bit frustrating for me).
More information
Instagram account of Otheroof
Address: 702 Yucheng Center Building No. 424, No.3 Bagua Road, Futian District Shenzhen, Guangdong
Note about access: rooftop (just enter the building, take the elevator on the left and go to the last floor).