A flower painting inspires a colorful dish at Barolo in Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The food is Italian, the presentation resembles floral elements of magnolia, lily and lilacs from the paintings, and ingredients are very spring and local.

An example is leek flower, a very rare find even in Beijing. As far as Ferri knows, there is only one supplier in the capital.

Purple canola flower, the main ingredient in the salad "The Langostine and The Garden", is another local vegetable rarely used by western chefs. Chinese people usually eat it stir fried but Ferri finds this "crunchy and juicy" vegetable ideal to eat raw in western salad.