Reality bites on isle of Sicily

The culinary landscape of a sleepy Italian town is changed forever when a TV crew arrives to open a pop-up Chinese restaurant in a little-known beauty spot, Li Yingxue reports.

There's not a single Asian restaurant in Taormina, a small hilltop town on the east coast of the Italian island of Sicily. But for a few short weeks in June, the locals were able to enjoy the sumptuous flavors of Chinese food at a pop-up restaurant opened by a state banquet chef and four Chinese actors.

Even though the restaurant was only open for a short period, its legacy was passed on through a recipe book given to the chefs of the local Michelin-starred restaurants in the hope that the essence of Chinese cuisine would remain on the island.