This elegant Taiwanese restaurant in the Jianguo Garden Hotel might be brand new, but it still looks to the past for its inspiration, drawing on the ancient Chinese dining concept of yangsheng, which emphasizes the connection between food and good health and disproves the adage that good medicine should taste bad.

The difference between great food and that which is merely good, is more often than not the choice of ingredients. This is why Jing Tan uses the superior aged huadiao instead of the typical Shaoxing wine to provide the inebriated element to the wine-preserved drunken chicken (28RMB). Prepared by parboiling the chicken before marinating it in the wine; ginseng-like root danggui, a, and wolfberries are added to enhance the medicinal elements. Be warned: if you are not a fan of ginseng, you may be put off by this dish’s strong flavour.

It takes six hours to braise the pork knuckle (138RMB), which is cooked in apple juice, giving the meat a delicate and fruity flavour. The best part is the skin; the lovely fatty texture melts in your mouth. The excellent stuffed green peppers (26RMB) are listed as an appetizer, but are perfectly good as a main dish and the delectable sauce means they go well with rice. The suanni bairou (28RMB), cucumbers rolled in streaky pork and doused with a sweet garlic sauce, are mild compared to the original Sichuan version and the Hakka classic Meicai kourou (38RMB) is sadly too soupy, ruining the normally distinctive flavor of the preserved mustard greens, which were specially flown in from Miaoli, a Hakka area south of Taipei. However, the three-cup chicken (48RMB) is flawless, cooked with ginger, cloves of garlic and basil, making the dish a memorable one.

The menu also lists some Nouveau dishes: lobster roll (138RMB), lobster meat, peaches and walnuts wrapped in a spring roll skin; baked scallops with orange sauce and cheese (28RMB); and grilled stuffed mandarin orange (22RMB), a hollowed-out orange filled with crab meat, shrimp, fish roe and cheese. The baked pumpkin (98RMB), filled with glutinous rice, cured innards, chestnuts, and hairy moss, must be ordered in advance. The chicken soup in coconut (28RMB) is impressive: the pitted red dates and lychee marry well with the coconut and the broth is delicately sweet, with each flavour complimenting the other. The flesh inside the coconut is delicious, and quite filling.

Jing Tan’s creamy beige, bright and clean décor is surprisingly pleasant. The semi-circular booths are comfortable with plenty of legroom and the spacious tables are covered with crisp, white tablecloths. Clay teapots for drinking kungfu teas fill the cubic shelves that divide the dining area and hotel foyer – embodying the stylish mixture of traditional and modern Chinese elements that has come to be the hallmark of many a Taiwan restaurant.

Jing Tan Second Floor, Jianguo Garden Hotel, 17 Jianguomennei, Dongcheng district (tel 6528 6666 ext. 20218) Open 11:30am-2pm, 5:30-10pm Meal for two 150-250RMb

京坛 养生台菜, 好苑建国酒店 东城区建国门内17号