"Goût de France" (Photo/CCTV.com)
Beijing's top French restaurants are putting on a special menu this month. It's all part of "Goût de France" - or "Good France" - and CCTV reporter Shen Li got a taste of her own at the second edition of the French gastronomy event.
Bon Apetit! The best of French cuisine has come to the Chinese capital. Here at the French Embassy, chefs from leading hotels presented mouthwatering dishes to raise the curtain on 'Gout de France'. This year's event champions fresh local produce, as Chef de Cuisine, Thomas Ciret, explains.
"The menu we've arranged for this evening is truly a la francaise. This year's theme is country delicacies, so the menu features a lot of country produce. We have blue lobster from Bretagne, served with gelee Granny Smith for starter; roasted pork as the main dish; and a chocolate mousse cake with truffle for dessert. And the dining experience will be accompanied by different kinds of wine and liquor," Ciret said.
Launched in 2015 by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and celebrated French chef Alain Ducasse, 'Gout de France' embraces the nation's culinary traditions and aims to show that French cuisine caters for every budget.
Ciret hopes the event will encourage Chinese chefs, as well as diners, to explore French cuisine.
"This is a nice way of reaching out to people's hearts through their stomachs. For this evening, we got a lot of help from Chinese chefs as well. This is our invitation to the world to take part in an unforgettable culinary journey," Ciret said.
A total of 18 cities in China will participate in the event, including Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou, joining more than a thousand French chefs across five continents.
Menu prices are at each restaurant's discretion, and they all donate 5 percent of proceeds to a local NGO promoting health and the environment.
