The sweet smell of food & flowers

Tomacado pumpkin soup. Photos Provided To China Daily

Karen Kong has abandoned the world of finance for a culinary venture with a distinctive touch

The idea of marrying floristry with dining is not exactly new. You do not have to go far to stumble on a coffee shop whose main accoutrement is flowers or to come across a banquet decked with beautiful bunches of the best that nature has to offer.

Tomacado, a restaurant that opened in Beijing over the past month, has managed to find the perfect balance between kitchen arts and floral arts, and between delights that can please one's eyes, nose and taste buds.

The restaurant, on the basement floor of the prominent Jiaming Center office building on the Third Ring Road, makes a pitch to busy office workers with relaxed, healthy and light meals.

Karen Kong, Tomacado's owner, says she had long dreamed of having her own restaurant, but it was only when she worked in the finance industry and often frequented big office buildings that it dawned on her how this dream could play out in real life.

The problem, she says, is that "there are few choices to eat on workdays. Food courts, canteens, restaurants in big office buildings are either too noisy, greasy, or very high-end. You can't eat in five-star hotels very often on workdays.