When I first entered Huangtingju (»ÊÍ¥¾Ó), a restaurant which opened a month ago on Xinwen Road, I thought I had entered a caf¨¦. Its home-style furniture, rosewood floor, and especially its soft music, instantly carry me away from the bustle of city life and into a calm, relaxing world.

However, when I sat down at the table and read its menu, I was surprised at the variety of dishes the small restaurant had to offer.

The menu is a blend of cuisines from Beijing style, Sichuan style, Cantonese style to Hunan style. Not to mention snacks such as noodles, dumplings and wontons, all made by hand.

"We can serve a customer for two months without repeating any of the dishes," said Mr. Lian, a manager with Huangtingju. And the menu was to be updated in two months, he said.

I tried several dishes there and found them all to be beautiful, delicious and fragrant.

I first tried jinwucangbao, which is a stewed cuttlefish contained in pumpkin. The chef cleverly put the stewed cuttlefish in a steamed pumpkin so that the dish combined the fragrances and flavors of the pumpkin and the cuttlefish. In fact, just looking at the dish made my mouth water. The cuttlefish was snow-white, the soup dotted with shredded green cucumber, and the pumpkin was round and golden.

The Indian-style thin pancakes there are a big attraction to gourmets, especially girls, according to Mr. Lian. The pancake is very crunchy and as thin as a piece of paper, and the stuffing is very fresh and fragrant. After I ate an Indian pancake with pineapple stuffing, I could not help ordering one with banana stuffing for the next day.

The chef said he learned to make the pancake from his Indian master and therefore his Indian pancake is authentic.

In summer, nothing is better than green and fresh vegetables. A popular cold dish called dafengshou (Chinese-style vegetable salad) satisfied my thirst for vegetables. It was a blend of at least five kinds of vegetables including shredded green peppers, scallions, cucumbers, radishes and dry bean curd. Other vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage can be added according to customers' tastes. The dish is served raw in order to retain all the nutrients. It is served with salad dressing homemade in North China.

The restaurant also offers different drinks including beer, wine, fresh fruit juice, coffee and milk tea. Its milk tea is of authentic Hong Kong style, according to Mr. Lian.

Taking a sip of the silky drink, my mouth was filled with the aroma of both tea and milk. I found it really different from the milk tea I had tasted elsewhere.

The chef, who had nine years' experience in making the drink, told me the secret of making good milk tea.

"Most restaurants in Shenzhen put one kind of tea leaf in the milk, but I put four kinds of tea leaves in the milk, as many Hong Kong restaurants do."

Ms. Lian, the owner of the restaurant, is very peculiar about the quality of the materials and the taste of the food. All the vegetables were bought in North China and transported here by air, and no fresh materials or dishes would be left for the next day, she said. "We would rather tell our customers that a dish has run out than offer them a dish made with stale materials."

You might think that such quality food, good environment, and considerate service must come at a high price, however, Huangtingju is not expensive at all. One can enjoy a satisfactory meal there for about 30 yuan (US$3.6), and the price for a fast food or snacks is about 6-10 yuan.

The restaurant also offers free home delivery service for customers within two kilometers.

Address:

No. 105, 1st floor, Inform Action Building, Xinwen Road, Futian District

Tel: 8373-3382

µØÖ·£º¸£ÌïÇøÐÂÎÅ·ÖеçÐÅÏ¢´óÏÃÎ÷×ùÊײã105ºÅ

Editor: Wings