A Beijing restaurant chain famed for roast duck has unveiled a
range of Olympic dishes, including desserts that resemble
miniatures of the Great Wall and the "Bird's Nest," Beijing's
91,000-seater Olympic stadium.
Cooks at Beijing Quanjude Group made miniature Great Walls out of
pumpkins and taros, cakes in the shape of the Bird's Nest and
statues of top world athletes with fruits and vegetables during
Wednesday's Olympic cooking contest.
Baker Song Xiaoyan won the audience's applause with her
prize-winning "dragon whiskers cake", a fried pastry that has 4,096
threads of extra fine noodles fused together with cream, chocolate
and sugar.
The cake will be a special dish for Olympic guests at all its
outlets, said group chairman Jiang Junxian.
Quanjude, which opened in 1864, regularly features on the "must-do
list" for first-time visitors to Beijing.
More than 2,500 staff members have received training over the
past month on English, sign language, etiquette, cooking skills as
well as facts about the participating countries.
People all over Beijing are studying English and improving
behavior as the Beijing Olympics -- an event that will draw 500,000
foreigners -- begin to draw near.
(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2007)
