Via Roma, the Italian restaurant at Kempinski Hotel Beijng Lufthansa Center, is offering a new menu featuring simple but authentic flavors from northern Italy.

Starting this month, the restaurant has launched a new a la carte menu and business lunch menu developed by new Italian head chef Andrea Rumere.

Originally from Piedmont, Rumere has "a rich international background and knowledge of fine Italian cuisine", according to the hotel.

His cooking philosophy is "simplicity is the best".

"I want Beijingers to know that good food can be simple," the chef said.

That is indeed reflected in a starter of homemade buffalo ricotta cheese, tomato aspic and basil sauce, at a recent tasting. It is a secret cheese recipe by Rumere, presenting a pure, clean taste with quality ingredients.

That is followed by a flavorful chicken-filled ravioli with micro green and demi-glace. The chicken is roasted and tastes smooth, paired with chewy pasta and aromatic thyme jus.

Another signature dish on the menu is steamed codfish with leek, lemon sauce and asparagus. The cod goes through a heavily marinated steam vacuum process and presents a very tender taste.

The cod is paired with rosemary and thyme, besides lemon juice, sea salt and olive oil. Most dishes on the menu are paired carefully with herbs, jus, or green vegetables.

With his dishes looking natural and tasting pure, the new chef's interpretation of northern Italian cuisine is beautiful and healthy.

But like many other European or Mediterranean cuisines, it is best appreciated by someone who knows the original taste of the ingredients.

The foods might not taste as savory as Chinese people are used to, as the foods do not use their familiar ingredients, and they are considerably less salty.

Also, Chinese cuisines tend to be more complicated, with flavors from seasoning and a mixture of ingredients well blended, often by powerful wok-frying.

Yet Rumere's new menu does include some dishes even the Chinese will find flavorful. Those include foir gras brulee with Parmesan cheese foam, risotto with bolete, and stewed shortrib in Barolo wine sauce.

It would be better for Chinese customers who are not so familiar with Italian cuisine to have some knowledge of pairing to better enjoy the dishes. For example, cod fish with leek tastes much better if one squeezes the lemon juice on it. And diners can add more flavor to the ricotta cheese if they apply the pairing pesto sauce.

Nevertheless, the new chef's debut in the capital's dining scene has proved his creativity and ability to adopt local ingredients (such as the leek). It can be trusted that he'll be familiar with local taste preferences in time. A meal in Via Roma with the new chef should still be eagerly anticipated.

(China Daily 07/22/2017 page10)