The sweet smell of food & flowers

Karen Kong has abandoned the world of finance for a culinary venture with a distinctive touch

The idea of marrying floristry with dining is not exactly new. You do not have to go far to stumble on a coffee shop whose main accoutrement is flowers or to come across a banquet decked with beautiful bunches of the best that nature has to offer.

Tomacado, a restaurant that opened in Beijing over the past month, has managed to find the perfect balance between kitchen arts and floral arts, and between delights that can please one's eyes, nose and taste buds.

The restaurant, on the basement floor of the prominent Jiaming Center office building on the Third Ring Road, makes a pitch to busy office workers with relaxed, healthy and light meals.

Karen Kong, Tomacado's owner, says she had long dreamed of having her own restaurant, but it was only when she worked in the finance industry and often frequented big office buildings that it dawned on her how this dream could play out in real life.

The problem, she says, is that "there are few choices to eat on workdays. Food courts, canteens, restaurants in big office buildings are either too noisy, greasy, or very high-end. You can't eat in five-star hotels very often on workdays.

"So my idea was to build a restaurant that offers both fresh, healthy, simple, original food, yet brings refreshment to a busy life. In this regard Shanghai excels; in Beijing these kinds of eateries in office buildings are few and far between."

She quit her job as a product manager for a funds management company, and a restaurant-cum-floristry called Tomacado began to blossom.

Kong's enthusiasm for her venture, and indeed anything to do with food, shines through as she talks about the restaurant's name, a portmanteau of avocado and tomato.

"Tomato and avocado are the perfect match. The monounsaturated fat in avocado makes the cancer-fighting lycopene in tomatoes four times more powerful."

On reading the menu, diners will learn that the two are Tomacado's most used ingredients.

The floral section sells a wide selection of plants and cut flowers, and can customize arrangements. Happily, the floral side of the business does not sit isolated from the dining section as though it is merely an appendage.

Instead, flowers and plants dominate the decor, and every dish is ornamented with flowers, such as the viola tricolor, commonly known as heartsease, a pansy as delicate as they come. And these pansies are not there only to be seen, but to be eaten as well.

We had the organic tomato soup (35 yuan), served warm enough, and acidic but sweet. On top of the soup was a miniature yellow-faced pansy floating on a bed of avocado foam.

At Tomacado when you order a drink or dessert you are also brought a dainty cluster of flowers in tiny vases that go with each dish. These flowers are decorative only and not for sale.

We tried a refreshing drink called Very Berries, a Tomacado special made with strawberry, blueberry, Sprite, lemon and mint leaves. It is served with a delicate bouquet made of a pink rose and tiny, exquisite purple-blue forget-me-nots.

In short, Kong's aim has been to create an ambiance in which the small, delightful things of life can be appreciated.

Tomacado's table water is light, easy to drink and appealing to the eye. It is made with basil, mint leaves, rose and blueberry.

As a smoothie there is Let's Avocado, made with green apple, honey and, obviously, avocado. It is served with an arrangement of a little daisy and a species of pink and white dianthus called China pink in a green vase, forming a matching color with the avocado and the apple.

For the main course we chose the Teriyaki salmon with coconut rice and sauteed snow beans (98 yuan).

Rice is the Wuchang variety, widely considered the best rice in China. Wuchang is a city in Heilongjiang province renowned for its rice-producing prowess. The rice is soft, even if chewy. Cooked with coconut milk and small pieces of mushroom, it gives off a sweet aftertaste of mild coconut. The flavor is perfectly balanced, with no risk of overpowering the salmon, which is outstanding. It has a delightfully crisp outer crust and juicy, flaky flesh. In preparing it, the chef probably used the sous vide method, which means first half-cooking the salmon in water at a low temperature, about 50 C, and then searing the fillet in a pan.

The serving was generous, a large salmon fillet sprinkled with teriyaki topping on a bed of coconut rice. This could be a perfect dish for dining solo with a drink.

Tomacado uses Julius Meinl coffee, an Austrian brand said to represent the time-honored Viennese coffee house culture. This brand is hard to come by in cafes in Beijing, one of those that do have it being the lobby lounge bar of the Kempinski Hotel in Liangmaqiao. At Tomacado, an Americano using Julius Meinl will set you back 28 yuan and a cappuccino 35 yuan.

Tomacado offers different lunch set menus on weekdays, each comprising a daily soup, salad and main course, the total cost being less than 100 yuan a person. Whatever you are expecting here, it is likely that in a most relaxing environment you will get more than you bargained for. I for one will be back for more of the same: food, drink and of course the flowers.

dongfangyu@chinadaily.com.cn