It's happening again. The Beijing heat descends like a wet, smelly blanket upon our heads, bringing with it pleasant visions of roasting in cabs and sweltering in offices.

It's no mistake that at this time of the year most food-hounds are extolling the virtues of dishes like prosciutto with melon, grilled fish, and tabouli. Since no one in their right mind feels like slaving over a hot stove baking cakes, stews, and pies (except me, but I hate summer), summer food tends to be lighter, seasonal, and fresh.

The wise Chinese view seasonality of foods in a more complex light, through the application of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) wisdom to dietary habits. In short, certain foods are considered too yang, or hot to eat in excess during the warmer months, while others are prized for their yin ability to cool the body, useful in the heat of summer. If all that sounds a bit too wacky for you, simply try to avoid eating things like beef tripe or sauteed snake meat in summer. Much too much yang! Save it for Spring Festival, or your next trip to Iceland, or something. Overall, the goal is internal balance between yin and yang forces within the body.

Inherently cooling foods tend towards the green end of the spectrum, with lettuces, cucumbers, lotus root, mushrooms, and watercress some of the coolest. Few vegetables are warming. Fish and seafood are cooling, while most meats are warming. So if you're feeling the heat both inside and out, check out some cooling dishes like these: grass jelly drinks at Din Tai Fung, or a classic Cantonese-style steamed fish at your favorite dim sum joint. Finally, there's Bellagio's baby napa cabbage in light chicken broth, a wonderfully balanced dish, or their gongbao dofu, smooth tofu contrasting in texture with crunchy peanuts and the loads of chilies on the plate. Chilies, you say? Well, even though chilies give heat, it just so happens that the Sichuanese eat chilies to encourage sweating, to cool the body, so go ahead and dig into the chips and salsa.

Bellagio
Location: No.6 Gongti Xilu, Chaoyang District. 
Tel: 010-65513533

Din Tai Fung
Location: No.22 Hujiayuan (northwest of Yu Yang Hotel),Dongcheng District.
Tel: 010-64624502 ext 101