Back to basics

Simple flavors recalled from our youth are the heart of a new menu that highlights old Beijing's hutong cuisine. Liu Zhihua tucks in for a tasting.

The foods we love most are often the authentic home flavors remembered from childhood. That's exactly why the chefs at Vic Bistro - an international team - have reached back into their own pasts to offer dishes not only from French-style bistros and Indian kitchens but also old Beijing's hutong (alley) cuisine.

These dishes have their roots in the Chinese capital's hutong lifestyle. The plates are quite downscale in contrast to upper-class imperial cuisine, served to the royal families, and guanfu cai, literally "cuisine in officials' houses", which used to be served at official banquets.