Pong

Pong Restaurant: A Creative Asian Casual Dining Experience

Located on the corner of Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street and Lenin Street, the "Pong" Asian restaurant has opened its doors, serving as a younger sibling to the "King Pong" restaurant on Bolshaya Morskaya Street. This new project by restaurateur Mikhail Georgievsky is not a clone of the original "King Pong," which opened in 2010 and became the first comprehensive Asian cuisine restaurant in St. Petersburg, but rather a younger branch of it. The project's creator describes its culinary style as creative Asian casual: fresh rolls, a colorful assortment of dim sum, seafood and exotic fruit appetizers and salads, seafood rice dishes, and elegantly prepared Hong Kong-style duck. Having spent most of his life on the Petrograd side, Mikhail long admired the cozy location, often looking through the panoramic windows of the establishments located there, and one day, his dream came true – the restaurateur acquired the coveted space, giving him a worthy reason to expand his popular gastro-project in an Asian style. "Comprehensive Asian gastronomy is a kind of composite portrait of Asia, a mosaic of its most vibrant and recognizable motifs," says Mikhail Georgievsky. "We strive to make the cuisine easy to understand, but at the same time, the dishes are complex – they contain up to 25 ingredients – and require knowledge of the nuances of preparation. For example, cooking in a wok requires not only skill and quick reflexes, but also a perfect sense of smell: you need to catch the moment so that no ingredient burns." The restaurant shares a head chef with its sister restaurant: Pavel Mitrofansky did not import the tom yum, pad thai, and other hits of the first restaurant into "Pong," but instead compiled fresh ideas in the menu of the new establishment, within the framework of a time-tested concept. The colorful dim sum are filled with crab and shrimp, vegetables and beef, duck, chicken, and pork. The Hong Kong-style duck is a strong contender for the title of bestseller, and its preparation takes about two days: the chef adheres to all the subtleties of the recipe, avoiding compromises that are typical of gastronomic casual formats. "For this dish, we choose lean, 'athletic' duck. We rinse it under cold water, dry it, and then rub it with various spices and sauces, stuff it with star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, green onions, and let it marinate overnight," says Pavel. "The next morning, after scalding the duck with boiling water, we generously pour it with a sauce based on vinegar and honey for a glossy crust and let it dry for another 12 hours under a fan. Then we brush it with honey and vinegar again and bake it, and then it sits in our window, attracting guests with its appetizing appearance, for whom it is then carved and served. The most important moment, by the way, is baking: it is important not to overcook the duck in the oven so that it turns out just right – juicy, tender, and crispy." The cocktail menu was entrusted to Valery Dyatlov, co-founder of the "Vitya" bar and creator of the stylish parties ÇAVA DISCO. The drinks are in harmony with the bright, spicy, and colorful cuisine of "Pong." Valery drew inspiration for the "Pong" gastronomy from his personal experiences traveling through Thailand: he explored the "Land of Smiles" from Chiang Mai to Surat Thani, enthusiastically tasting all sorts of local dishes and drinks along the way. The cocktail menu at the "Pong" restaurant became for the mixologist the quintessence of the taste experience he gained in Thailand.