Green haven where Beijing meets the Mediterranean

Mansuy is keen to make the most of what the local land has to offer, and to use farm suppliers only within a few kilometers away in the surrounding Yizhuang area to maintain freshness and low prices.

"For me, importing avocados from the other side of the world makes no sense. It's expensive, and the quality may not be worth the money."

Seasonality is also something he takes into account when choosing ingredients.

For example, winter fruits such as fresh oranges and tangerines are attractive and tasty, and cheap right now, he says. So the restaurant offers a winter salad (32 yuan) that incorporates half a roasted caramelized orange in a creative way that can be squeezed into salad as a natural, delicious dressing. The inspiration, Mansuy says, came from him seeing a garlic head chopped in half and shaped like flowers in a steakhouse.

In summer, he says, the restaurant usually offers fresh salmon, but in winter tends to smoke it then dry it. That gives us the home smoked salmon salad (42 yuan), made the traditional way, with a full-bodied dressing coating the green leaves and elevating the taste of all vegetables.