New song at Aria

Kingfish tea is brewed with confit tomato, shiitake mushrooms, asparagus and turnips. Photos provided to China Daily

A young Australian chef returns to a Beijing hotel, eager to share the best of two worlds, Ye Jun reports.

Fresh tasting scallops come with abalone, Iberico ham, truffle, hazelnut and dehydrated cauliflower. Seared foie gras is matched with sour and sweet cherry, raspberry, crisp wild rice, honeycomb, dark chocolate and brioche.

Natural, tasty and sophisticated. That's how Phillip Taylor, Aria's 28-year-old new chef, designs his food.

At a recent media tasting, pairings are generally innovative and well thought out. Very nice and tender lamb loin and braised lamb shoulder, for example, are served with carrots, pistachio crumble and kale.

Aria at China World Hotel Beijing is considered a "contemporary European" style restaurant. Taylor thinks that means cooking with inspiration, evolving dishes constantly, offering seasonal foods and using techniques that enhance the flavor and texture of ingredients－especially the local ones he likes to find.

"I can get mushrooms from France, dried or frozen," he says. "But it is better to use fresh ones from Yunnan."

Recently he found custard apple, a sweet tropical fruit resembling litchi, in Beijing's market. The chef plans to use it in a coconut sago pudding along with white peach, all of which are just coming into season.