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Rice wine-stewed fruits paired with soy-milk ice cream. [Photo by Dong Fangyu/China Daily]

Chai Xin, chief chef of Country Kitchen and a Beijing native, says that roasted and crispy pork in wood-fire oven were very popular with wealthy people in Beijing before the 1950s. However, most of the recipes got lost and have not been cooked since.

"We resurrected the classic crispy, tender pork belly cooked over fruit wood, which gives a special subtle fragrance. The meat is roasted for some three hours after being marinated with a dozen spices," Chai says.

Small plates involve China's different regional specialties including those from Beijing, Sichuan and northeastern China. I tried the fern- root noodles with spiced beef shank and mustard sauce, a savory and healthy cold noodles dish to start my meal.

Fern-root noodles, made from bracken starch, is a classic Sichuan cuisine. The dish adds Beijing-style seasoned beef with soy sauce on top of the noodles, making it a tricky combination among different Chinese cuisines.

Spiced black chicken feet are to my liking.

Boneless and thrown into a mix of pickled chili for more than 10 hours, the meat is just the right flavor: chewy, salty and spicy. But if chicken feet don't tempt you, try the chilled jellyfish with chili oil or the Beijing salad. The two appetizers are both a little sweet and sour, reflecting the taste of many Beijing dishes.

Handmade noodles are tops here.

The knife-cut Shaanxi flat variety with braised beef brisket and handmade Bejjing-style noodles are hot tickets. The open kitchen allows diners to interact with resident noodle-making chefs who make noodles in front of you right, and right from the start. Pliable, chewy and smooth noodles with sauces such as eggplant, mushroom and tomato are worth trying at Country Kitchen.

For soups, don't miss the black- chicken soup with yam. The soup is refreshing with a mild sweetness. According to Chai, black chickens are sourced from local farms in Shunyi in northeastern Beijing, which highlights Rosewood's "Partners in Provenance" culinary philosophy.

Chefs are committed to working closely with local farmers and producers who deliver the finest homegrown ingredients to the hotel's kitchens.

This bounty includes everything from fresh eggs from Shungyi Farm, to premium poultry, meats and vegetables from Ronking Farm and even local-made French-style goat cheese, produced by Le Fromager de Pekin, he says.

Among all the dishes I tried, my favorite was fried prawns with tomato sauce. Before I went to Country Kitchen, I had heard a lot of compliments for that dish being paid by Beijing's media foodies, and as I discovered to my delight, it wasn't hype. The prawns were indeed delicious, even if they were served with their shells on them. Since the prawns were deep-fried, the shells turned crunchy and tasted yummy with the accompanying sweet-and-sour seasoning.

Fried prawn is a typical dish of eastern China's Shandong province. Prawns are deep-fried in very hot oil and then put aside to draw out the oil. They are then quick-fried in a new wok preheated with oil and seasonings, and prepared tomato sauce.

Desserts at Country Kitchen blaze new trails in combining local Chinese flavors with Western style.

The crispy peanut pancake topped onto a silky banana ice cream made a good pairing. You could try the rice wine-stewed fruits paired with Soy-milk ice cream and discover the fun of fusion desert. Hawthorn fruit jelly, almond tofu and the Beijing snack lvdagunr (glutinous rice roll with sweet bean flour), are among the Traditional Chinese desserts you will find here.

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