Unbottling Shaoxing's culinary palate pleaser

Shaoxing native Chef Zhu is passionate about Zhejiang food and often teaches budding chefs the secrets of preparing regional specialties.[Photo by Richard Whiddington/chinadaily.com.cn]

It is midday and despite a morning spent commanding one of the city's most distinguished kitchens, Zhu appears immaculately clean and speaks with a soft-spoken authority, the type that fares well under the hotel's stringent standard of excellence.

The earliest records of yellow wine in the Shaoxing region date from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and, since yellow wine is made from the very food crop locals farmers toiled over for hundreds of years on rice paddies, the drink occupies a commonplace, treasured status as opposed to anything rarified or elite.

Yellow wine dishes fall into two general categories; cold dishes that use a sweet variety as a marinade and warm dishes to add a richness and, as Zhu says with a wry smile, to mask some of Zhejiang's fishier smells.

"We maintain the traditional way of cooking but create dishes in a modern and beautiful way."

The restaurant certainly excels on the presentational front, with a delicate cold tofu dish, which has spent the morning induced in sweet yellow wine, arriving in a simple yet elegant wicker basket adorned with a garland from the hotel's garden. It seems like a sin to disturb the squares of tawny tofu but diners won't be disappoint by either taste or consistency when they do.