Green haven where Beijing meets the Mediterranean

"I needed a lot of sage next year, so I'll grow more. But sometimes the plants grow so well in the garden. For example, last year mint and chuanxinlian (better known as green chiretta) grew unexpectedly well, so we use more of them in our dishes."

A popular French saying has it that whoever has sage in the garden has no need to see a doctor, Mansuy says, and a meal at The Roots with its signature sage tea (35 yuan) that is homegrown, healthy, fragrant, and magical, pays tribute to that maxim. The more we top up water, the darker the color we could see. Water does not dilute the color; rather, it deepens the pink, which then turns to purple, ruby, and plum after a while.

The fluid color is the result of mixing two main herbs-sage, and the other Asian herb, which separately produces a yellowish green color in water, but when combined, make a difference in generating a gorgeous, and fluid color. As to what that Asian herb is, Mansuy would not divulge this secret recipe he stumbled on while experimenting with a few herbs at home on his rooftop garden. That special sage tea is a unique selling point.

Any first-visiting diner at The Roots should not miss its signature peri-peri chicken (38 yuan), "the simplest yet the best" dish on his menu, Mansuy says. One whole chicken leg is marinated for 24 hours in a housemade sauce blended with more than 20 spices (again, the recipe is a secret) before being put into the Josper oven. The result is a crisp scorched skin, with soft, bouncy flesh underneath.

Another spectacular dish is the pesto and basil pasta (36 yuan)-the recipe being passed down from Mansuy's Italian grandfather. With the texture striking a fantastic balance between being moist and creamy, the pasta is hard to beat. Perhaps the long beans in the pasta let out some water and help to balance it.

Other standout dishes include a rack of pork ribs (128 yuan) which is sous-vide to enhance the structures before being barbecued in the Spanish oven for perfection. The ribs are infused with robust southeastern Asian flavors with lemon leaves, lemon grass, garlic and a few herbs.