Call of the turtle

Xiaoxiang Jiayu Cun restaurant's dinner tables are replicas of small covered boats creating an illusion of dining at lakeside. [Photo by Mike Peters/China Daily]

In a signature soup here, for example, the turtle dominates though much of it is submerged in a milky broth it shares with spring onions and red dates, morsels long-treasured in China for good health. I find the meaty legs to be delicious, but struggle a bit with the collagen tissue around the ribs that's eagerly consumed by Chinese diners around me for its long-treasured reputation for enhancing the skin.

Our meal had started with a delicate plate of cold pork knuckle. Next came a beautiful dish of fried eggplant, spiced with chilies and slathered with a shimmering red sweet-and-sour sauce. Another plate featured what seemed to us like a Hunan taco: a savory mound of stir-fried pork, onion, garlic and herbs piled on a thick, round cracker.

There is a predictably nice tea selection as well as baijiu, the traditional Chinese firewater distilled from sorghum, but we opted for a dry French cabernet from the expansive winecellar shared with the restaurant's neighbor, the Chicago-style eatery called Windy City Ballroom.

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