Yunnan twist at top Beijing restaurant

Lotus box [Photo by Ye Jun/China Daily]

Yunnan's popular fungus are everywhere on the menu: tree mushrooms with dried cuttlefish, beef slices fried with fresh Matsutake mushroom and morel boiled with old chicken soup.

A hot chicken soup with mushroom is believed to be a great energy booster in winter according to Chinese tradition. There are many more hot dishes on the special Yunnan menu.

Fresh scallops and abalone are braised along with green and red chilies in a hot stone pot. Seafood is believed to be slightly cold in nature. Braising balances that with a hot temperature, while giving it a lot of flavor.

Pork from "small ear" pigs, a Yunnan specialty, is braised with chestnuts and served hot in an clay pot. Deep-fried lotus root "boxes" with pork stuffing are present on sizzling hot iron plates. It is a traditional Chinese food, using two pieces of lotus root with pork stuffing in between, before deep-frying and stewing. In this case, only the sour and spicy taste is distinctively from Yunnan.

There is sour fish in soup and a small pot of rice noodles also in hot soup.

The sour fish soup uses fresh tomatoes and dried papayas to give the mandarin fish a soothing sourness. On the other hand, the sourness of the pot of rice noodles comes from preserved green chilies.

Compared to other Yunnan restaurants in town, Jin's Yunnan foods are just as tasty but better presented. Made in China's Peking roast duck is considered to rank the best in the city. But other dishes in the eatery have also maintained high levels of quality.

Jin has been introducing different food styles onto his menu, rotating each on a three-month cycle. Although the chef is considered by gourmets in Beijing as a representative of northern China-style cuisine, he likes to showcase his ability to mix different styles - the result is mouthwatering.

The special Yunnan menu will be available at Made in China for three months from November.