The story of Jianguo Shu began in 1992 with a long journey through Russia and former Yugoslavia to get to Italy. First the work in a textile laboratory in Prato, then Rome where he discovers his vocation: bring the true taste of Chinese cuisine to our country. Since 1999 he relaunches the historic Golden Dragon (the restaurant of the wife’s family) in Piazza Bologna, up to 2012 with the opening of the first Dao Restaurant.
Today, 33 years after his arrival in Italy, Jianguo inaugurated the new Dao Restaurant headquarters in via Sardegna, near via Veneto. A project that represents the maturity of a path started decades ago and which now finds its most authentic expression in the choice of Italian raw materials, without ever betraying its origins.
No compromise with the West
The philosophy that is the basis of the Dao Restaurant menu in via Sardegna is the same that has always characterized the premises of Jianguo Shu: authenticity of the preparations, therefore no adaptation in a western key, all made with excellent quality raw materials.
Chef Xue Denglong, after years in luxury hotels in China and arrival in Italy in 2010, made a precise choice: working exclusively with excellent Italian suppliers, while maintaining intact the Chinese culinary tradition. The menu offers dishes that Jianguo Shu and the chef have recovered by drawing from the great culinary tradition of China, like it Zhaichanga typical dish of the Cantonese area based on rice tagliatelle seasoned with a sauce of sesame, peanuts and soybeans.
Our tasting
During our visit we had the opportunity to taste some of the most interesting proposals on the menu. The vegetarian rolls stuffed with vegetables proved to be a real discovery: crunchy outside and rich in flavors inside, prepared according to the Chinese tradition but with top quality Italian vegetables.
The rice tagliatelle seasoned with a sauce of sesame, peanuts and soybeans and to close the experience, the rice bon bon, sweet rice balls stuffed with black sesame that enclose all the sweetness of the oriental tradition in one bite.
A dessert that demonstrates how the simplicity of the ingredients can turn into something extraordinary when guided by a millennial technique.
The zero compromise tasting menu
The eight -course tasting menu represents a journey through preparations that respect the seasonality and origin of the ingredients, while maintaining traditional Chinese recipes intact. The rice with porcini mushrooms and truffles for example celebrates the flavors of the Italian undergrowth through traditional oriental cooking techniques, without any concession to western tastes.
Each dish arises from the encounter between authentic Chinese culinary wisdom and the quality of Italian raw materials: a perfect balance that shows how it is possible to respect one’s roots while enhancing the territory that welcomes you.
The drinks card
The wine list, curated by the sommelier Hiromi Nakayama, managed to make East and West dialogue: white, rosés, Italian bubbles but also French champagne. Particularly interesting is the non -soft drinks card with a selection of precious tea such as the PAI MU DUN white tea and the green tea tea, which represent a refined alternative and in perfect harmony with the restaurant’s philosophy.
The memory of the ancient tea houses
Guests who enter Dao immerse themselves in an environment that immediately evokes ancient tea houses, but architecturally reinterpreted with a contemporary and also more Italian language.
58 covered and a Privet with 10 seats, a space where every detail tells the encounter between two cultures: with Chinese symbolic colors – the blue of spring, the imperial yellow – to the materials that retain the artisanal soul while using modern technologies.
The story of Dao Restaurant is that of a successful integration, where respect for its roots is combined with the love for the territory that welcomes you. Jianguo Shu and his team have shown how it is possible to maintain the cultural identity of their cuisine while enhancing Italian excellence.
The result is a restaurant that does not betray the Chinese tradition but celebrates it, creating a bridge between different cultures united by the search for quality and authenticity.
Leaving Dao Restaurant, after tasting all those delicacies you have the feeling of having lived something authentic in a gastronomic panorama often dominated by compromises. In an era in which the “fusion” became synonymous with confusion, Jianguo Shu and his team chose a more difficult but infinitely more honest path: keeping the identity of their cuisine intact, raising it through ingredients of excellence. It is this type of rigor that transforms a meal into a cultural experience, and a restaurant in what really deserves to be called a temple of taste.
