Peking Restaurant Offers Cures, Food

PEKING — Diners at a new restaurant in the Chinese city of Hangzhou don’t consult the head waiter when ordering a meal--they call over the resident doctor.

The restaurant, attached to the outpatient department of Hangzhou’s Chinese Medicine Hospital, serves 100 therapeutic health-food dishes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Alongside each dish on the menu is a description of the ailment the food can help cure, or a part of the body it can strengthen, Xinhua said.

And a doctor from the hospital is available to give diners advice.

The restaurant offers drinks prepared with tonic herbs and other traditional Chinese medicines, such as white fungus and the root of membranous milk vetch.

Its pastries, noodles, rice and sweets are said to boost the body’s resistance to disease and contain ingredients good for the stomach, liver, kidney, eyes and blood circulation.

All the dishes were concocted by doctors of traditional Chinese medicine after a careful study of ancient imperial cuisine and folk recipes.

One of the doctors, Han Zhaoqi, described the diet therapy as “a jewel in the rich history of Chinese medicine,” Xinhua said.

It said the restaurant is the 14th of its kind in China, with others located in major cities such as Peking, Guangzhou and Chengdu.