The entrance of the restaurant is inconspicuous, and the location of the store name is not particularly eye-catching.
As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were guided to take the passenger elevator and arrived at the box on the third floor.
Looking out of the window, you can only see the green bamboo planted.
The cover of the wine/tea list is made of wood grain and flax close to the golden ratio. It echoes the materials used in the indoor space.
We are tasting this year's spring package. There are nine courses and four kinds of tea on the menu.
The first appetizing tea: white tea-spice eight-treasure tea
Unlike Fuding white tea, this kind of eight-treasure tea is made on the basis of Yunnan white tea dried in the shade. In addition, Xinhui tangerine peel, mint, dill, lemon grass, lemon leaves and vanilla were added. The freshness and beauty of plants tease the sense of smell. Tea entrance, clear and cool, feels relaxed and clear. Spring has crept into the house and the breeze is blowing gently.
The tea set has also been carefully designed, and the tea should be held and drunk, so that you can smell the fragrance of plants while enjoying the tea.
As a person who doesn't usually drink tea, this appetizing tea really surprised me. Not only surprised by the face value and taste of tea, but also surprised by the ingenious connection between tea and its creative inspiration. The last time I felt this kind of inner excitement, my former boss asked me to design a coffee shop, and finally we won the bid.
At the same time, I have written a series of "Spring Blossoms" on "Agriculture" before, so I have observed many flowers and plants and found them very familiar and kind. This time, plants and spring were painted on the dining table, which made people feel surprised and happy.
Free pre-dinner snacks.
Green flowers, kiwi slices with butter jam, and then sprinkle hazelnuts. Yellow flowers and pickled radish slices are filled with radish paste and radish juice, and then sprinkled with lemon powder.
The waitress suggested that we eat sweet and sour green flowers first, because the sour taste of kiwifruit is more appetizing, and then have an appetizing tea and taste the yellow flowers.
The first impression of green flowers is crisp, followed by the sweetness and sourness of kiwifruit, plus the graininess of hazelnut. Personally, I like avocado very much, but I feel that the sour and sweet taste of kiwi slices is too heavy, which has covered up the taste of avocado.
The taste of yellow flowers is amazing. This is the first time for me to eat such crisp white radish. After soaking potato chips, the original flavor of white radish is more intense. Soft radish mud neutralizes the crispness of radish slices, which makes the whole flower taste richer and the overall taste is very sweet.
I asked the waitress if she had a name for such a beautiful snack. The answer is: the chef didn't name it, just ordered a snack. All the dishes here are the names of the ingredients.
There is no arbitrary definition, which is the greatest respect for the ingredients themselves and nature.
Appetizer-Lily
The main material is fresh lily from Lanzhou. Lanzhou lily is sown every year 1 and August, then it becomes a seedling for three years, and then it is planted for another three years after soil removal. After six years of tempering, it has become the blooming Bai Lianhua on the dining table today.
Planting in sandy soil at an altitude of 2,000 to 2,500 meters, coupled with some growth environment factors such as drought and large temperature difference between day and night, Lanzhou fresh lily tastes tender, crisp and slightly sweet, which is different from ordinary lily's soft waxy and slightly bitter.
Lily blooms like a lotus, and Bai Jie is like jade. The entrance is crisp and refreshing, and the taste is slightly sweet. With the following lily paste and slightly sour apple juice, it increases the richness of taste and the layering of taste, which is very appetizing.
Ningxia freeze-dried medlar is hollow and has a bitter aftertaste.
Lettuce soup
Jiaozi, a lettuce girl from Sichuan, dressed in cauliflower, thin green clothes and shredded lettuce, nestled in the arms of a thousand layers of cabbage, lying in the clear soup with lettuce leaf oil, lazily enjoying the spring, breezy and comfortable.
Lettuce tastes fresh and pure. I thought clear soup would be the same fresh and peaceful. Unexpectedly, the sour and hot taste of clear soup hit the taste buds directly, as if smooth running water suddenly flew down. Vegetarian clear soup, a quiet move, opens the heavy door of taste buds to meet the long-awaited first protagonist-Grifola frondosa.
The first hot dish-Grifola frondosa
The chef's creative inspiration comes from some events that happened in early 2020, such as the Australian forest fire some time ago and the epidemic that has swept the world so far. The chef created this dish with a beautiful vision of a world full of trees, green grass and vitality.
Grifola frondosa has been marinated in advance, and the marinated sauces include smoked sesame seeds and mushrooms. Curing and baking to form a crown. Mushrooms can be stained with "soil" to add flavor. Granular soil brings the triple taste of salty and delicious.
The new green part of the tree is sweet pepper sauce, and the trunk is Flammulina velutipes. The soil is made by drying the sauce of pickled mushrooms. Grifola frondosa tastes fresh, fat and heavy, and the smell of gravy has a smoky aftertaste. Flammulina velutipes is crisp and fibrous, and the original flavor of Flammulina velutipes is concentrated in it.
The second kind of tea-oolong tea? Zhangping narcissus
Zhangping Narcissus is the only pressed oolong tea cake in the world. Zhangping is located in the south of Fujian, with subtropical monsoon climate, rheumatic fever, abundant rainfall, no severe cold in winter and no heat in summer, which provides a unique growth environment for Zhangping Oolong.
When the Oolong tea leaves are still wet after kneading, they are put into a wooden mold and pressed into square tea cakes by hand. Hold the strength in your hand during pressing, because pressing too tightly will make the inside of the square cake heated unevenly during baking. After the tea cake is formed, it needs to be wrapped in wool paper and baked continuously for 30-40 hours.
The six major tea families in China mainly have different production techniques: white tea, dried in the sun or dried in the shade, and the taste of tea is more natural and pure. Green tea, fried or baked. Yellow tea, on the basis of green tea production, adds the process of braising yellow. Black tea, which belongs to fully fermented tea, is made by kneading, fermenting and drying. Oolong tea, also known as green tea, belongs to semi-fermented tea, and the baking process is very important for oolong tea. Black tea and Pu 'er tea belong to black tea. The basic technological process of black tea is enzyme fixation, primary kneading, pile fermentation, secondary kneading and baking. Among them, pile fermentation is very important for the formation of tea soup aroma.
The second hot dish-peas
This dish was inspired by the Shanghai dish Douban Sha. The bottom mud is made of pickled vegetables and broad bean petals, and then wrapped with a layer of freshly peeled peas. Peel a catty of bean rice from five catties of beans, and then the chef will choose the most tender and juicy one to cook. This dish is also served with Shanghai mini scallion cake.
The container for holding vegetables is a "three-talent bowl", also called a bowl cover. Building the sky, supporting the land and serving the people is the right time, the right place and the right people. The container of scallion cake is a lid.
The beans are full of juice and crisp, as if walking in the green grass, and the breeze is blowing on the face, and the mouth is full of the smell and breath of green leaves sprouting in spring. Douban mud is flavored with cotton yarn.
Mini scallion cake, crispy outside and soft inside, the smell of scallion oil is amazing.
Later, I asked the waitress if the scallion cake could be extra. Miss Xie said that the kitchen prepares dishes according to the number of people who make an appointment every day, and can say it in advance next time. Fu's scallion cake is more layered than Ada's, and it has become a taste that I never forget.
The third hot dish-? tomato
Tomatoes cooperate with farms in Chongming. The shy Miss Tomato wore emerald-green hair accessories and a long mop-up dress made of beetroot and tomato juice.
She looks cute, but she reads a lot of poems. Quinoa, corn and zucchini all witnessed her rich connotation.
Tomatoes are rich in flavor, slightly sour and slightly sweet. Subsequently, the red sauce brought a sour taste; Bite down again, and the sweetness of corn appears again. Riding a roller coaster is a pleasure.
The fourth hot dish-tofu
This dish uses organic soybeans from Shandong, and tofu is homemade in the store. Use the same homemade soy sauce and sufu.
The waitress scooped all the tender parts on the top and in the middle for us, and then poured soy sauce on them.
Personally, I like bean products such as tofu and bean skin, but I don't like tofu. Either the texture is too dry and old, or it is too tender and tasteless, and it smells like beans.
Moreover, this tofu tastes tender and smooth, with a faint bean smell, and it will slowly melt after a few bites. Mom says it's like steamed egg soup. Tofu dipped in soy sauce has a faint sweetness. The taste of tofu milk is very thick and smooth, which brings fresh and salty taste sublimation to tofu. Tofu Trio won my heart. This is also the biggest piece of tofu I have ever eaten.
Is the third course tea? Black tea Masayama race
Smoking competition in Wuyi Mountain. "Zhengshan" means authentic, and "race" means that its tea varieties are lobular. Local tea farmers use masson pine to smoke tea directly, so the most primitive people in Zhengshan have the smoky aroma of pine smoke. 1689, Wuyi tea flowed into Britain. Wuyi tea is black tea, but it was smoked black, hence the name black tea, which is still in use today. With the improvement of tea-making technology, there is no need to directly smoke the seeds, so there is no smoky smell.
This tea pays tribute to the original craftsmanship and fragrance of Yashan people, and uses agarwood from Nha Trang, Vietnam. The whole piece of grease ignited and smoked on the spot. The choice of containers is also very particular, and the shape of the gourd matches other gourd elements in the restaurant. Tea is below, and smoke is above. The lock at the waist of the gourd can lock the smoke in the container for the longest time, reaching 3-4 hours.
The taste of tea is thick and smoky. People who love tea should like it, but as a star who doesn't drink tea, I can't accept the taste.
Staple food-bamboo shoots
The rice in crispy rice is Wuchang rice in Northeast China. I ordered it and now it is cooked. Add chrysanthemum, bamboo shoots and Tricholoma matsutake sauce and stir. The casserole is still hot, and the rice sizzles when it is stirred.
Rice is moderately soft and hard, with distinct grains, crispy rice crust and rich flavor. Perhaps other dishes are too excellent and the staple food is slightly ordinary.
Hide menu-shepherd's purse steamed buns
I usually like to eat shepherd's purse jiaozi and shepherd's purse wonton. So this time I also ordered a small shepherd's purse cage on the hidden menu. In my opinion, this small cage is better than the staple food rice. Its outer skin is crystal clear, and its inner depression is full of substances.
The skin of the small cage is so thin that chopsticks can feel its elasticity when they pick it up. The shepherd's purse stuffing is mixed with sesame oil, and the juice is rich. In one bite, the oil fragrance and shepherd's purse fragrance blend with each other, which not only has the moisturizing feeling of oil, but also can eat the fiber feeling of shepherd's purse.
The first dessert-seabuckthorn cream
Seabuckthorn fruit is orange. The vitamin C content is high, and it also has the effects of relieving cough and resolving phlegm, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. This dessert is made of Gansu seabuckthorn. The orange blossom on black talc is bright and charming, and its posture is graceful. The petals are carrot slices, the heart is seabuckthorn cream and vanilla cream sauce, and the stamen is carrot powder. ?
Sugar-coated carrot chips taste sweet and crisp. Seabuckthorn cream brings the illusion of mango flavor, cools the heart and spleen in the mouth, and vanilla custard sauce brings milk flavor and smooth taste.
The fourth kind of tea-Tommy Jasmine Tea
Inspired by Tunmi, it is mainly used to match desserts and snacks. This tea uses Wuchang rice, and only takes the clearest rice soup after boiling water to moisten and nourish the stomach. Then add jasmine tea according to a certain proportion, and add floral fragrance to make the taste of rice soup lighter.
When I saw this cup of tea, I thought of Margaret, whose cup was stained with salt. The mouth of the cup is stained with the powder ground by Xinjiang jujube, which brings a little sweetness to the light rice soup tea.
The second dessert. water chestnut
The seaweed in Qingdao is rich in natural seaweed gum, which is made into a bright moon by the chef and seasoned with horseshoe and tremella juice.
The vessel is lotus leaf-shaped. From the short side of the dish, I can only see the moonlight in the lotus pond, with bright light and shadow. The whole cauliflower embedded in the moon is still full of vitality.
Gelatinous cauliflower is as elastic as jelly. But for those of us who are not from Shanghai, this dessert is too sweet and greasy. Fortunately, it balances the sweetness with rice soup and jasmine tea.
Dietary snack-Qingtuan walnut crisp
The green group is made of Xinhui old leather bag, which is ten years old, plus the homemade red bean paste in the store. The exquisite walnut crisp is carved by hand, and walnuts, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds and pine nuts are added to the stuffing.
Walnut crisp tastes crisp and has the texture of cotton yarn. These two kinds of snacks are not very sweet, especially walnut crisp.
I ate for two and a half hours. We listen to the story behind food, know the source of raw materials, savor all kinds of flavors, and enjoy the happiness and pleasure brought by food to the maximum extent.
The design of the whole set of dishes is very careful, from new tea and appetizers that open the taste buds, to hot dishes and tea that stimulate the taste buds, to snacks and rice soup that appease the taste buds. Taste buds will calm down after reaching orgasm. The tableware used is also very particular. Basically, it is a dish for a pair of tableware, and the dish should be heated to ensure the taste and temperature of the ingredients. I am also very grateful to the waiters and sisters for their thoughtful service and explanation.