Two models (middle) were posing in the wheat field while the calligrapher (left) was writing the Chinese characters for Mangzhong. Photo provided to Hangzhoufeel
Guests were enjoying the special dinner.
By Zhuo Shuyang
Grains, double bass and calligraphy--this was the menu put together by chef Xia Yiwei for his special celebration of Mangzhong, the 9th solar term in the lunar calendar. When the solar term was used on the Beijing Winter Olympics, it was translated into Grain in Ear. Chef Xia expanded this idea into Grain in all Senses.
The evening started in a golden grain field where the Chinese characters for Mangzhong were written in running calligraphy. It was accompanied by the flowing notes from a double bass. Chef Xia was busy collecting grains for the dinner while an artist was drawing a picture of a large trunk of wheat field. Two models were posing in the field while the early summer breeze dispersed the refreshing smell of grains.
Back at the dinner table, numerous grains were piled into the shape of golden mountains and rivers. Chef Xia started serving the dishes. Colorful and rare food, indeed.
Back at the dinner table, which was decorated with numerous grains to form mountains and rivers of gold. Chef Xia then started serving the first of four dishes. It was a cut of Eel steamed in a half-cut gourd with an aperitive freshly baked Shaobing. The soft yet chewing mouthfeel of the eel was neutralized by the crispy and hot Shaobing.
The second dish utilizes the shell of a mussel as a heating base, on which two dumplings and a half of sponge gourd were kept warm. The shell shared its remaining flavors to the two thick dumplings which makes for a mixed experience where you could taste and feel the sea in a dumpling purely made of materials on land, two amphibia dumplings if you will.
The third dish features a shredded crab stick covered by a layer of cheese, which was melt down by a handheld Bunsen burner, inside a carb shell. Its layered yet sticky taste was countered by the weedy alkaline taste of the companying bitter melon. The final dish featured a stir-fried green grains rice with a fancily filleted cuttlefish placed in the middle. The green grains had soaked up the oil so perfectly that it looks alive while the cuttlefish enhanced it with its similarly gritty texture and white color.
Qian Tang district, where the dinner was held, is a newly given name of this administrative area. Chef Xia wishes that the dinner could celebrate the new beginning for Qian Tang as a district in the same way as celebrating Mangzhong as the planting season.