Krug in the Kitchen Hong Kong: carrot pairings with Krug Rosé

Nov 04, 2026

Cover Carrot tarte tatin with caramelised carrot and a rich yellow wine sauce at VEA meet a glass of Krug Rosé 29ème Édition

Carrot tarte tatin with caramelised carrot and a rich yellow wine sauce at VEA meet a glass of Krug Rosé 29ème Édition

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For its twelfth annual single ingredient challenge, Krug asks Hong Kong’s top chefs to experiment with one of the world’s most familiar roots

The carrot is a humble ingredient. It is the dependable backbone of a thousand stocks and a vegetable that usually arrives on the plate without ceremony. It comes in orange, purple, red, white, yellow or even black; it can be steamed, baked, puréed, caramelised, roasted or juiced; and its delicate sweetness marries as readily with salt and acidity as with bitterness and umami, which is precisely the point.

For the twelfth edition of Krug in the Kitchen, the Champagne house has called upon its ambassade chefs to take a single ingredient, this year the carrot, and transform it into something worthy of a glass of Krug. The brief comes with conditions: each dish must be zero-waste, using the whole carrot from tip to greens; ready within an hour and made exclusively with local, seasonal ingredients. It must also pair with Krug Rose perfectly. The carrot, as the Maison notes, is always accessible and readily available around the world and throughout the year. That is the challenge. There is nowhere to hide behind rarity or expense. The ingredient must do the work.

Above Vicky Cheng of VEA

Above Carrot tarte tatin with delicate spices and a rich yellow wine sauce

Vicky Cheng of VEA

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The premise is easy to underestimate until you understand what Krug is actually asking. The champagne house has always built its reputation on blending. Cellar master Julie Cavil tastes around 400 individual wines each year, including 250 from the current harvest and 150 reserve wines drawn from some 15 previous years, and composes from them a champagne that no single harvest could produce. Each plot is an ingredient, each wine a voice.

A chef working with a single carrot is being asked to think in the same register, to find the range inside one ingredient rather than reaching for a dozen. It is a harder brief than it sounds, but one that can reveal layers of flavour and unexpected combinations. “In the kitchen or in the tasting room, we create recipes and champagnes to be experienced; both come together through these delectable pairings,” says Cavil.

Above Carrot purée with saffron and carrot flan, with confit baby carrots and fresh shavings

Above Guillaume Galliot of Caprice

Carrot purée with saffron and carrot flan, with confit baby carrots and fresh shavings

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In Hong Kong, that range is available from October 15, as Krug Ambassades and Krug Lovers restaurants present bespoke Krug x Carrot pairing menus built around Krug Rosé 29ème Édition and Krug Grande Cuvée 174ème Édition. The Krug Rosé, a blend of 29 wines from five different years, is the more supple of the two, with red fruit and floral notes that flatter the carrot’s natural sweetness. The Krug Grande Cuvée, drawn from 143 wines across 10 years, brings brioche, toast and citrus, and a structure that can handle the vegetable’s earthier side.

Above Uwe Opocensky of Restaurant Petrus

Above Carrot, wasabi, parsnip and ricotta with a wasabi-carrot sauce

Uwe Opocensky of Restaurant Petrus

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At VEA, Vicky Cheng offers his dish, the carrot tarte tatin. It features caramelised carrot and a rich yellow wine sauce, paired with Krug Rosé 29ème Édition. The dish trusts its ingredients, and the pairing follows suit: the tarte’s caramelised sweetness and gentle spice find their match in the Rosé’s red fruit and floral notes, while the wine’s freshness tempers the richness of the sauce.

Guillaume Galliot at Caprice serves his dish, the carrot purée with saffron and carrot flan. Here, the carrot is treated in three ways at once, from silky purée to tender confit baby carrots to crisp carrot shavings, while the Rosé’s brightness cuts through the flan’s creaminess, revealing the carrot’s flavour and texture in a variety of ways.

At Restaurant Petrus, Uwe Opocensky takes a more colourful route with his dish: carrot, wasabi, parsnip and ricotta. Here, heirloom carrots are layered with ricotta, earthy parsnip, and a wasabi-carrot sauce. The champagne’s floral character and refined acidity meet the dish’s gentle heat, and the natural sweetness of the carrots echoes the red berry fruit in the glass.

Above Carrots variation, a dish featuring different textures

Above Umberto Bombana of 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana

Carrots variation, a dish featuring different textures

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Umberto Bombana at 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana offers his dish: carrots variation. This dish features silky purée, tender confit and crisp raw shavings. Its natural sweetness and delicate earthiness are balanced by the champagne’s vibrant acidity and red fruit notes, allowing the rosé to show its poise.

At Mono, Ricardo Chaneton celebrates the carrot from root to seed with his dish: carrot royale with cendre de champagne. The dish features silky royale, creamy cendre de champagne, pickled and raw shavings and an aromatic carrot-seed spice blend. It’s a harmonious balance of sweetness, freshness and depth that complements Krug Rosé 29ème Édition, with the pickled elements giving the wine's acidity something to work against.

Above Ricardo Chaneton of Mono

Above Carrot royale with cendre de champagne, pickled and raw shavings and carrot-seed spice blend

Ricardo Chaneton of Mono

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Agustin Balbi at Andō presents his dish: lobster, carrot textures and caviar. The pairing reveals a dialogue between depth, freshness and elegance, with the carrot’s many textures bridging the sweetness of the lobster and the saline richness of the caviar.

Robin Zavou at The Krug Room has created carrot, bark, sesame and parsley. This dish pairs roasted carrot with toasted sesame, carrot bark and parsley sauces. The roasted carrot and nutty sesame notes enhance the champagne’s delicate cherry nuances, a subtle pairing in which the char of the roasting meets the fruit, and the herbal sauces keep it lifted.

Above Lobster, carrot textures and caviar

Above Agustin Balbi of Andō

Lobster, carrot textures and caviar

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Hong Kong’s Krug Lovers bring their own interpretations. Modern Fujian restaurant Hokkien House serves gourd-shaped braised bamboo pith and carrot, served with carrot and pickled carrot. This dish features braised bamboo pith filled with carrot purée, chicken mousse, fish maw and crab, finished with a carrot-vinegar broth, a savoury counterpoint to Krug Grande Cuvée 174ème Édition. Meanwhile, contemporary Italian restaurant Noi presents their dish: hiramasa, carrot textures and blood clams. This dish, with dry-aged yellowtail amberjack, is a crudo that finds harmony in salinity, freshness and a vibrant carrot essence.

Above Robin Zavou of The Krug Room

Above Carrot, bark, sesame and parsley, with roasted carrot in multiple forms

Robin Zavou of The Krug Room

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Olivier Krug, sixth generation of the family, says, “Krug Grande Cuvée offers an almost infinite palette of culinary pairings.” The proof is in the glass as much as on the plate. The carrot, it turns out, rewards the attention. It is a test of craft, a quiet revelation, and, in the right hands, a very good reason to open a bottle. Krug in the Kitchen is running now across Hong Kong’s Krug Ambassades and Krug Lovers restaurants.