From Italy to China: A Culinary Friendship

Grilled vegetables are just one of many tasty ciccetti offered by servers at the Venetian culinary event. [Photo/CRIENGLISH.com]

A local chef serves paccheri pasta with crab, cherry tomato, olives and zucchini. [Photo/CRIENGLISH.com]

The event also paid homage to traditional Venetian cicchetterias, which are traditional taverns where locals can stop after work for a small glass of wine and a small bite of antipasti. Servers passed small dishes of various creations from fried calamari and vegetables, beef carpaccio, prawn and polenta, cuttle fish stew, and grilled vegetables. Meanwhile, regional wines and cocktails were on hand to wash down the delicious ciccetti.

Thursday's meal ended with two live dessert stations- one serving mascarpone sabayon and another with profiterole, chantilly and chocolate sauce. Finger desserts and tartlets were also passed at the event, presented by Executive Pastry Chef Herwig Knapen.

Many guests were left hankering for a trip to Italy after the evening's scrumptious dinner, but one of them will go sooner than expected. The hotel held a drawing for a grand prize of a three-night stay at The Westin Euorpa & Regina in Venice, where Alberto Fol works. Yu Tiefeng from the Bank of Dalian won the prize.

The event effectively promoted cultural exchange with guests given the chance to taste so many different kinds of food from Venice. "Everyone who eats something like this becomes an explorer," according to Antonello de'Medici, the Venice area Managing Director for Starwood Hotels. "This is creating a common platform for understanding each other using food as the ambassador."

Ilias Tzanetoulakos, Director of Food and Beverage at The Westin Beijing Financial Street, noted that the hotel's local talent also benefited from the exchange by learning new techniques and approaches to cooking. "It's a great way to leverage our resources," he said of the Starwood network's worldwide reach.

He added that the hotel is in the process of planning a culinary promotion for one of the local Chinese chefs in Venice.

The Venetian culinary event appeared to be a success, as the servers had no trouble finding guests to try each item on offer. "Italian food is so special for Chinese people," said Air Wang, and attendee at the event. "It feels great to be here."