A taste of love

Dining in a fancy restaurant on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month has become a popular way to say three little words. Liu Zhihua reports.

Qixi, which falls on Aug 20 this year, is the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is the day when the Weaver Girl (Zhinu) and Cowherd (Niulang) can finally reunite for a night after a year's separation, according to Chinese folklore.

The festival is promoted as the Chinese St. Valentine's Day nowadays, and many restaurants now offer the food of love.

"Many young Chinese have strong spending power and they want to use it to show their love for someone, and dining in a fancy restaurant on qixi is a popular way of doing that," says Kelly Xu, a publicity executive for the Regent Beijing.

The hotel decided love should be celebrated all day, not just in the evening.

It began offering set qixi dinners in its Italian Daccapo Restaurant last year, and because of the demand, it decided to extend it to the set lunch menu at its Jinbao 99 Restaurant.

Priced at 388 yuan ($61) net per couple, the four-course lunch menu features modern Asian and international dishes.

The restaurant is also working with a matchmaking service to offer free meals to one woman and three men, to celebrate the festival.

This year, Daccapo's exquisite four-course dinner, featuring gastronomic highlights from Italy's rich and varied cuisine, is priced at 688 yuan plus 15 percent service charge per couple.

"Qixi is an exceptionally romantic day for people who want to celebrate their love, and it is quite natural for us to design a set menu for this special occasion," Xu says.

Conrad Beijing has offered a qixi set menu since 2013. Executive chef Yannick Ehrsam says the menu is inspired from the life one shares with a wife or husband: hot, spicy, crisp and sweet.

The hotel's Chapter restaurant, a "gourmet library" where creative offerings are presented in a distinct setting resembling European libraries, creates a special ambience for those in love.

As the spiral staircase connects the second and third floors with the hallway featuring a bookcase wall, walking upstairs gives people the bygone memories of school and first love, Ehrsam says.

The qixi menu features a sparkling welcome drink, a sumptuous seafood buffet with fresh oysters, lobster and other seafood delicacies, and a heart-shaped cake for two. Writing a memorable page in a romance costs 600 yuan per couple, plus a 15 percent service charge.

The hotel's other stylish restaurant 29 Grill, which specializes in high-quality seafood, beef, cheeses and a comprehensive wine list, is also a good choice for a romantic evening.

Its qixi set menu is filled with unconventional delicacies, such as seafood lollipops, sea-urchin in egg shell with smoked bacon emulsion and caviar, and grilled Australian lamb with goat's cheese and pecan ravioli. The price is 1,388 yuan per couple plus 15 percent service charge. For that you also get a lovely pink suitcase filled with macaroons that you can take home.

Roses are a well-known and popular symbol of love. This year, high-end desert kitchen Berko has cooked up ideas to make "roses" not only good-looking, but also tasty.

Its qixi-themed gift box is filled with 25 colorful low-calorie cupcakes resembling white, pink and red roses, in a variety of flavors, including raspberry, mango and chocolate. They are sweet and delicious, and sure to melt even the hardest heart.

While the list of gourmet restaurants and kitchens helping couples celebrate qixi is long, the options for singles are just as appealing.

Red Wall Garden Hotel in central Beijing, well known for its strong Chinese style, is offering a qixi menu featuring both Chinese and Western cuisine in its courtyard bistro, and it is hosting an event for people to meet and share their opinions on stylish and artistic lifestyles through interactive games, a chance to meet the man or woman of their dreams.

Huoli, a Shanghai-based platform for people to share food events and socialize, is going to launch a set dinner on qixi for single women and men in Shanghai, so they can meet to share food, and perhaps share their lives in future.

Established chef Gao Danyi, who used to work for top gourmet restaurants, now operates a private kitchen. She will cook for 10 to 15 people on the romantic night, at a reduced price of 699 yuan per head.

The menu includes plenty of delicious delights, and there will also be a live jazz performance. Only single people are invited to join the party, says Jiang Yunjie, the founder of Huoli.

"We don't want to say it will be a blind date, but it is indeed a good opportunity to find a better half."

Contact the writer at liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn