A culinary exchange between Taiwan and mainland China got underway at Nanjing’s Jinling Hotel today; that any reference to cross-Straits relations were deliberately avoided is significant.
Back in March, a team of chefs from the iconic Nanjing hotel (the first 5-star hotel in China) travelled across the Taiwan Straits to present a Nanjing-themed menu (Huai Yang cuisine), consisting almost entirely of duck dishes, in the Regent Taipei hotel.
Today, the favour has been returned, as chefs from the Taiwan hotel launch the National Palace Museum Imperial Treasures Feast, that runs until 1st May in the Plum Garden restaurant of the Jinling Hotel.
The story goes that, over a decade ago, the hotel was asked to collaborate on a restaurant inside the museum that would somehow be reflective of that which the museum represents. The hotel came up with a menu in which the dishes are edible versions of many of the antiquities on display in the museum.
It turns out the innovative idea was the brainchild of Mandy Yang, Executive Director of the Regent Taipei, who was also present at the launch ceremony in the Jinling Hotel earlier today.
When The Nanjinger asked as to why no dishes from the Nanjing Museum are included, Yang explained that the omission was really just down to time pressure. Yet, in a deft piece of political outmanoeuvring, she did not rule such a collaboration for the future, saying, “I want to go to the Nanjing Museum, then see what I can do, combined with the museum in Taipei”.
Local media, on the other hand, had their sights set sensibly on the food. In addition to that pictured, the menu features Dongpo Pork, the culinary equivalent of the Taiwan museum’s Meat-shaped Stone that is precision carved agate, Steamed Bitter Melon with Mashed Shrimp, representing the White Jade Branch of Elegant Lychee, and Classic Desserts in a Chinese Curio Box.
If the way to a man’s heart is through is stomach, then it may also be possible that the soul of an entire island can be reached through culinary representations of some of China’s most treasured pieces of culture.
