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All of the best
To ensure it offers up the authentic tastes of the Central Plains, a new Beijing eatery has recruited all its chefs from the same small village in Henan, Li Yingxue reports.
Beijing restaurant gathers chefs from Henan to bring out five basic flavors
Cao Cao, the emperor of the state of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-280) is now wearing a cardigan, plaid pants, sneakers and a pair of glasses.
The image of the Chinese warlord who once conquered the Central Plains has now been redesigned as the logo for The Five, a newly opened restaurant at WF Central in the Wangfujing area of Beijing, which has the Chinese name of Zhongyuanshitang (Central Plains Canteen).
Co-founded by Gao Ran and Yu Yang, together with designer Patrick Yip and catering promoter Leo Wu, The Five focuses on food from the Central Plains, mostly Henan cuisine.
With colanders hanging from the ceiling and bamboo baskets placed artfully on the shelves, the design of Five is based on elements taken from everyday life for people in Henan province, albeit with a contemporary twist.
“Cao was also a gastronome who wrote a culinary book titled Sishishizhi, a book about ingredients and their places of origin which greatly influence Henan cuisine. So we picked him to appear on our logo,” says Gao.
The logo also includes the image of a deer, which diners can find at the bottom of their empty soup bowls. “This is because one of Cao’s poems mentions him hearing deer calls as he ate,” says Gao.
As Gao sees it, the concept behind The Five can be interpreted as either the five basic flavors — sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and salty — or the five elements that combine to make a dish, namely color, smell, taste, shape and texture.
Growing up in Henan until he moved abroad to study at the age of 18, Gao found he missed the flavors of home. The Five is Gao and Yu’s second foray after opening a simple noodle restaurant in 2015 called Mianhetang, which also specialized in Henan cuisine.
Having turned down several investors, Gao and Yu decided to close the first restaurant and concentrate on developing the modern flair of The Five as a platform to promote Henan cuisine.
“We wanted it to be small and intimate, as people usually have the impression that Henan cuisine is not fashionable,” says Gao.
All the chefs in the restaurant were recruited from the same small village in Henan province, Zhouzhuang in Xiuwu county. “Ninety percent of the people in that village are in the business of catering — most men work as cooks, while the women help with serving,” Gao says.
“Around 70 percent of Zhouzhuang people share the surname, Xiao — and so do all our chefs.”
As well as providing classic Henan dishes, The Five also serves up authentic Henan street snacks. Mudanyancai (radish soup with vegetables and Chinese ham) is a dish that has to be preordered because of its preparation time. It’s one of the most important dishes served at the Luoyang Water Banquet (Luoyang Shuixi), a local custom that dates back more than a thousand years that is made up of 24 different soup dishes.
This sliced radish broth has a taste similar to bird’s nest soup, and its rich flavor permeates the slices of carrot, ham, mushrooms and many other ingredients contained in the dish.
Mudanyancai is listed as one of the top 10 dishes from Henan. The Five also offers two other dishes from this list — stir-fried spicy and sour fish tripe and braised sea bass with crispy noodles.
Steamed vegetable cake is another dish that can only be found in Henan eateries. Made from sliced potato, carrot and crown daisies, they are covered in flour before being steamed.
Distinctive regional snacks like fried noodle pancakes, tripe skewers, stir-fried bean jelly, fried pork buns and steamed meat dumplings can also be found at The Five.
Lamb rock broth noodles is another signature dish. Made with goat’s brains and bones and pork ribs, the soup is cooked for over four hours using more than 20 traditional Chinese herbs.
Traditional desserts like almond soup, osmanthus jelly and tofu pudding are a great finish to a meal at the restaurant, together with Maojian green tea from Henan’s Xinyang.
Only one kind of baijiu (white liquor) is available at The Five, Du Kang, of which Cao Cao once poetically wrote: “What can unravel these sorrows of mine? Only by drowning in Du Kang wine.” cy hot pot) with conch, shrimp, Argentina red shrimp and many other ingredients. Gao has developed a special flavor of sauce that is both pungent and piquant.
— a Tianjin snack consisting of deep fried dough sticks rolled in a thin pancake — is a must try with tuna, as it elevates the snack with a richer flavor.
Jianbingguozi No 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6505-2277-6620.