Beijing restaurant puts Yunnan mushrooms in spotlight

Stir-fried coral mushroom with roasted bell peppers. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Mushrooms are known as shanzhen in Chinese, which means "delicacies from the mountains". Rich in nutrition and in flavor, edible fungi has long been a delight on Chinese dining tables.

As people around the world develop a taste for mushrooms, more dishes are being created with the fungi in mind.

Yunnan province in Southwest China, thanks to its unique geography and climate, produces most of the high-quality mushrooms for the world.

To highlight the province's contribution to cuisine, Zen5es, a fine dining Cantonese restaurant in Beijing, has created a seasonal menu, bringing fresh mushrooms from the southern forests to local gourmets.

Wayne Wang, executive chef of Zen5es, says he values the balance between flavor and nutrition. Each dish is created to bring the best out of every ingredient.

The menu highlights 8 types of edible fungi, including the well-known matsutake mushroom and the wild cauliflower mushroom, which grows exclusively in Yunnan.

Paired with diverse ingredients like beef, seafood and vegetables, the dishes in Zen5es demonstrate the restaurant's core value - "Eat well".

If you go:

Zen5es, L4, The Westin Beijing Chaoyang, 7 East Third Ring North Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing (010 - 5922 8888)

Contact the writer at liwenrui@chinadaily.com.cn