Four Seasons delivers fine dining, with art on the side

Ham and beer may be common items on many Chinese menus, but what about ham and floriculture? Ham and oil painting? Ham and Affogato?

That's just the sort of combination recently offered at Four Seasons Hotel Beijing, which elevated mealtime to a fine art during its "The Taste of Artistry" event held Oct 19 to 22 in Beijing, bringing its guests a series of exclusive experiences.

Gathering top chefs, artists, mixologists and designers to explore the intersection of Italian food and culture, the event presented guests with a visible and edible feast.

Two award-winning Italian culinary chefs, Aniello Turco and Marco Veneruso, brought their customers a four-hands dinner menu, which involved aperol spritz, foie gras, figs and bread and ravioli of oxtail with roots consomme.

Based on their cumulative experience in world-renowned Michelin-starred restaurants, they created a Molto Italiano dinner menu of modern Italian fare, hoping to satiate the most discerning palates.

Besides the Molto Italiano, they also served simple and flavorful Milan street eats made from both Italian and locally sourced ingredients. Their guests were able to choose from various free-flow drinks including wine, beer and Italian sparkling wine.

The chefs "came from the same city in Italy, but they have very different styles on how they represent the cuisine," said Andrew De Brito, general manager of the hotel, adding that the menu is a sort of east-meet-west offering, though the soul is still very Italian.

Cui Fenghua, a resident artist, painted a profile of the guests at the scene. Upon the fiery red canvas, she outlined the picture of men and woman in black.

She also brought along her photo-paintings, which were based on photos taken on Italian streets.

"When I was wandering in Italy, its history, art and culture burst into my eyes. Walking on the ancient streets was just like traveling back in time to several centuries ago. I cannot wait to express my feelings through my pen," Cui said.

Added De Brito: "The pace of modern people's daily life is really fast. We tried to catch up with what's happening. We forget this moment because we are thinking about tomorrow."

The idea of this event is to deliver a lifestyle - people are living in the moment and they should enjoy every experience right now and connect with the people beside them.

"As for the guests who came today, I don't want them to say how good the food was. I would rather them saying this is the experience I would remember for a long, long time," De Brito said.

liyou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/28/2017 page10)