Cook who's talking

Ten of Time Out’s favourite chefs pick their top Beijing dining experiences. Their choices may surprise you.

Alessandro Montedoro Chef de cuisine, Barolo

At the age of 22, the Ritz-Carlton Chaoyang’s Alessandro Montedoro quit the Navy and decided to become a chef. He has since taken his classic Italian dishes as far afield as Japan and a free-standing casino off the Kenyan coast. At Barolo, his exquisite dishes include a divine sea salt-crusted rack of lamb (230RMB).

Favourite Chinese restaurant

At Din Tai Fung they really do make an effort. There’s so much precision goes into making every single dumpling. Even at some of the best Chinese restaurants you’ll find a lot of oil in the dishes, but you won’t find that here; it’s a real light and tasty bite.

Favourite international restaurant

The new chef at Blu Lobster, Jordi [Villegas Serra], is talented. He has the ability to combine a lot of different flavours and textures and present them in an innovative way, but the food still remains remarkably simple.

Hidden gem

I usually end up at Taishuxi, by the East Gate of Tuanjiehu Park, at about 2 or 3am after finishing work. Along the street there are a handful of restaurants that open late, and from the outside it looks like the worst one – but in fact it has great food, and is clean and fast. They have a good selection of fish in tanks for you to choose from that they’ll cook fresh; they do it quickly, and it tastes great.

Favourite dish

The hummus at Element Fresh is the best dish. All the ingredients are fresh: you can tell that the oil is added at the last minute; you can tell that it’s been blended recently because you can’t see the cracks in the cream; the bread you have with it is still warm and fresh; and the carrots have been cut that day (if you cut them the day before it won’t taste as good). All I’d do is add a little bit of salt to make it perfect.

Zhong Fanming Head chef, Dezhe Xiaoguan

Aged 17, Zhong Fanming arrived in Chengdu from Leshan City, Sichuan, and learned the subtle craft of Sichuan cuisine from one of the city’s leading masters, who was working at its most famous fandian, the Jinjiang Hotel. After a three-year apprenticeship, he has been cooking Sichuan food ever since (he’s now 33), mostly in Chengdu. For the last year he has been head chef at Dezhe Xiaoguan, the charming hutong restaurant co-owned by model Li Ai. We love the xiangla huiguo, a classic sweet pork belly dish.

Favourite Chinese restaurant

Although most people know  LAN as a bar or club, it does great Chinese food. It’s almost a shame that Philippe Starck’s interior design is so spectacular that it takes the spotlight off the dishes. Take the sautéed diced beef with garlic – it’s just a common Chinese dish, but it’s done so well. The chef uses Australian beef, which is 50 per cent fat and 50 per cent lean meat, and the garlic comes from Shandong Province, which is the best place in China for garlic.

Favourite international restaurant

I think Hatsune in The Village does what it does very well. The location, décor and presentation are all very sleek and modern, but there’s an understanding of what’s important about Japanese cooking – the freshness of the ingredients and exquisite presentation.

Hidden gem

Shizi Shanxia (Below Lion Mountain), a Cantonese restaurant which I often go to with my boss Li Ai. Li Ai is from Guangzhou, andsays the soup there is very authentic. I like the stir-fried rice noodles with beef – the beef is from very tender rump steak , and the noodles are perfect; neither too hard nor too soft.

Favourite dish

My favourite dish is huanla wujiang (happy spicy Wujiang fish), from Wujiang in Guizhou. It’s made from chub, but I add my own secret ingredient, a spice blend I created using 20 different Chinese seasonings. Every day, I go to the fish market at 6.30am to pick up the freshest fish I can find. I put the fish in 100-degree water to kill it and make sure the meat is tight and heavy, and then put it in water with green onion and ginger to get rid of the fish smell. I wrap it in paper and freeze it, so the onion and ginger get infused. I fry the fish with the seasoning, then boil it quickly.

Sai Men Head chef, Golden Peacock

Sai Men was born in Dehong, Yunnan Province, and is of the Dai minority. Because Dai customs dictate that men aren’t allowed to cook (women should cook for them), Sai didn’t learn to cook until he came to work at Beijing’s Golden Peacock restaurant, aged 22. He has been here for seven years and has gradually developed into one of the city’s leading lights in Dai cuisine. Try his delicious guoqiao mixian (pork in bamboo tubes).

Favourite Chinese restaurant

Nine-headed Bird China Restaurant, which is a chain restaurant serving Hubei dishes. A lot of the dishes are quite healthy – for example, I really like the braised trotters with soy bean paste, which is not only delicious but acts as a natural moisturiser for your skin.

Favourite international restaurant

I like KFC. When I arrived in Beijing, I’d never eaten Western food before, and I liked it. My favourite is the spicy chicken burger, which I often eat when I’m not working.

Hidden gem

I don’t know how hidden it is, but I love Chengdu Xiaochi, where all the dishes are really cheap yet satisfying and bursting with Sichuan flavours.

Favourite dish

We Dai people all like steamed fish wrapped in Japanese banana leaf, which we do at Golden Peacock. We season the leaf and fish with a special mix including garlic and wild parsley, but the main ingredient is xiang liu, which takes the smell out of the fish.