By Ye Jun (Beijing Weekend)
Updated: 2007-11-15 10:56

Cantonese cuisine is known for its nutritious soups that not only replenish energy, but also provide a treat for the palate. Winter is the ideal time to enjoy this healthy and warming meal. Hong Kong Chef Eiddy Wu has created a new seasonal menu at Hua Mei Garden , Courtyard by Marriot Beijing, featuring plenty of tasty and tonic soups.

On top of the list is a small-size Buddha Jumps over the Wall soup , a famous delicacy from East China's Fujian Province. It is so named because it was said that the fragrance was so irresistible that a monk living next door jumped over the wall to try the soup. The traditional recipe contains shark fin, abalone, sea cucumber, scallop and ham, simmered for more than eight hours. One would certainly sympathize with the legendary monk when they drink it. Meanwhile, a good bowl of the soup warms the entire stomach. Another popular Cantonese dish is the boiled chicken in Chinese herb soup . The chicken is chopped fresh then marinated in yellow rice wine for more than three years, so that it produces an intoxicating fragrance when it is served in an iron pot heated from below. Corn and pork rib soup has small bite-size maize cobs in it, which not only adds a tempting golden color to the dish, but also adds a welcome vegetable element. The soup in the dish is boiled from pork ribs for more than 10 hours to maximize the flavor.

The menu includes nine soup dishes, among them beef, mutton, cod, mushroom, dried bean curd, and Chinese yam. Herbs like ginger and angelica are used in the preparation of the soups, but only in very small quantities, so that no trace or smell remains. Other dishes on the menu include stewed black chicken with ginseng , braised lamb with Chinese yam , braised beef with sliced turnip in clear soup , braised sliced beef with Enoki mushroom and glass noodles , and braised lamb with dry bean curd . The chef also recommends the restaurant's very popular dishes served on warm iron plates, The restaurant is spacious, with service and decoration to the standard of a 4-star hotel.

Hua Mei Garden
Location: Hua Mei Garden, 2nd floor, Courtyard by Marriot Beijing, 3-18 Chongwenmenwai Dajie, Chongwen District
Opening hours: 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30-10pm
Tel: 010-6708-1188 ext 2200