ONE of the most amazing Chinese meals I have ever had was cooked by a woman. The cuisine was contemporary: cucumber orange yogurt soup, spicy lemon grass seafood touched by ruby red grapefruit, a tofu named �Green�, purple rosebud green tea, and, for dessert, fresh strawberries with wild hazelnuts and hot chocolate fondue. I did not care much for the meal. But the chef, I am happy to say, was as eclectic as her food. Also, achingly attractive!

Her name was Jin R. And in China, she is regarded as the high priestess of contemporary cuisine. Her restaurant, the Green T. House in Beijing, is renowned for introducing a dining experience that embodies nature, elegance and simplicity. The Taj Mahal in Bombay, generously realising that few of its loyal patrons would be able to travel to Beijing to dine with Jin R., invited the celebrity chef to come and present her cuisine at its Golden Dragon restaurant.

I was one of the lucky few to meet and eat with Jin R. She is a beautiful woman, elfin-like, with an inscrutable Chinese face, but blessed with sexy and expressive eyes. Most of her talking she does with her eyes. Now they flashed at me angrily, and in surprise, for I had done the unforgivable. I had asked Jin R. whether her cuisine was meant to be satisfying. What I meant, of course, was that while it was awesome to look at, and different to taste, it was certainly not the same as having a hearty and filling meal in a Chinese restaurant. With rice and noodles, a gravied chicken, dried meats, seafood in rich sauces, spare ribs, an exotic dessert.

Jin R. arched an eyebrow at me: �Is my food satisfying! Is that a question? Of course it is! It satisfies the spirit. And that�s most important.� Dramatically, she placed a delicate hand over her heart. �You eat my food, the effect lasts for years. You will think about it even in your dreams. My restaurant gets many international travellers and they all say it is the best restaurant in the world!�

I did not doubt her. I asked her, instead, to tell me about her restaurant. �The Green T. House is truly a dining experience,� purred Jin R. sexily. �It is stylish but has minimalistic elegance, it is black and white, seats 50 only, though the restaurant is 640 square metres big, and with high ceiling like a temple, and unusual furniture. It has been featured in Harper�s Bazaar, Newsweek and Time.�

And no wonder, for Jin R. was a designer earlier, she did architecture, interior designing, furniture, anything that took her creative fancy to new heights. Food came later. �I am also a musician,� she continued. �And I opened the Green T. House to teach people how to enjoy tea with snacks. It is so (she searched for the word, hands emptily groping the air) pleasurable to hear music when drinking tea. Much better than the clinking of wine glasses.�

I could have disagreed, but I did not. Apparently, the Green T. House in Beijing became a big hit. For Jin R. opened another and another. She also went over to Bangkok and Singapore and repeated her success there. �I don�t think I am a success,� she said to me, however. �Maybe I am hungry with desire. Whatever I do, I can never get enough of.� I asked, �Why tea? What�s tea got to do with Chinese food?� She pouted. �Tea is in our blood,� Jin R. said. �Like wine is with the French and coffee with the Italians, tea is with the Chinese. Tea means many things. Attitude, activity, intelligence. It is a lifestyle.�

She uses all kind of teas to accompany her contemporary Chinese cuisine, many flavours. �Rose, chrysanthemum, jasmine, I use bamboo leaves, flower petals, all kinds of spices like ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, but my favourite is green tea,� Jin R. revealed, serving her favourite dessert, strawberries with hazelnuts and hot chocolate fondue and pouring out a cup of purple rosebud green tea. She said it was difficult for her to describe what was unique about her food. �You must feel it,� she expressed. �Stillness speaks. Silence is golden. But it is a food that strives to create harmony and balance. It is inspired by the variety and depth of Chinese food. From spicy Sichuan to minority specialities. The presentation of the cuisine is what brings out its true feeling.�

The Chinese tea adds a light, subtle flavour and richness in texture to the food when she cooks with them. Teas apart, Jin R. uses a lot of fresh herbs and medicinal elements in her food. �You know, natural stuff,� she explained. �There are no preservatives, plenty of seafood, light meats, chicken, duck, rabbit, pigeon, then bigger and stronger animals like pig and lamb. I am not a meat person. So I cook meat that doesn�t look like meat. I take a thin slice of beef and dress it with black sesame. This dish I call, �In the Mood for Fantasy�. When you taste the sesame, it wakes up the meat. Likewise, I do a champagne barbecue spare-ribs touched by cocoa sauce. It�s called, �Cloud is Clear, Sky is Higher�! It has a very strong orange flavour. You can taste the rose of the champagne and the cocoa powder.�

Jin R.�s evocative descriptions were painting fanciful pictures of food before my eyes. I tried to visualise her at her Green T. House, cooking for the celebrities she would rather not name. �Food is not for the stomach, but the eye, it is a feeling. It creates environment like a beautiful piece of art. And dinner is a ceremony. Jesus invited his disciples for the last supper. Not for a dance! Dinner is more than just a meal.

Our eyes touch each other. With words we make points. The food becomes very meaningful then,� she said, picking up a pair of chopsticks and making soft music with them.

Field Dreams
This starter, in Jin R.�s section of Preludes, has Hangzhou Pecan Walnuts, Longjing Green Tea, Honey Mustard Seed Sauce on slices of Green Pears. �The presentation of the cuisine is what brings out its true feeling,� says Jin R. The presentation of Field Dreams is tantalising. It includes a stuffed dragon-fly hovering above the starter.

Scene II
After the Prelude, comes Jin R.�s Scene II... which is the main course. This one very simply is A Tofu Called Green. Her food is always inspired by the changing seasons and each dish in itself, is a work of art. Her food embodies nature, elegance and simplicity.

Blessed Splash
As a prelude to her designer meal of contemporary Chinese cuisine, Jin R. serves a soup. This one, Cucumber Orange Yogurt Soup, which is served chill in a wine glass, is one of the celebrated chef�s signature �Preludes�. She calls it the Blessed Splash.

Green T. House
No. 6, Gongti Xilu Chaoyang,
Beijing, China 100027.
Tel: 65528310/311.