Mushou Persimmon Banquet | The Best Autumn Persimmons Sashay a Catwalk for Shen Ye

[Persimmon]

This year, Hangzhou’s autumn arrived later than usual.

She came with a sway of her hips,

and before you knew it, she was here.

The temperature dropped sharply, osmanthus burst into wild bloom, and persimmons grew soft and moist.

The crimson persimmons hanging on the branches of Xixi Wetland knew it well: on the day of the Mushou Persimmon Banquet, it was 20°C; the very next day, it plummeted to 10°C.

Such once-in-a-lifetime warmth leaves one shivering with envy—and just a touch of astringency.

In my heart, West Lake, with her heavy makeup or light, is Baochai, while Xixi, through sun and rain, is Daiyu. Daiyu’s pure, unadorned beauty is a rare gift. To those who can’t appreciate her, she is sour and astringent; to those who truly love her, they yearn for her as if a gift fallen from the sky.

Autumn at Xixi Wetland

I believe Xixi Wetland has waited at least a thousand years for every encounter.

For lovers of food, a little extra mindfulness is needed when facing wild beauty. Sunlight is the stage light of autumn, and the beauties who may not seem dazzling at first must be coaxed into your hands, so they can become utterly delightful.

The autumn colors of Xixi Wetland are different half a beat early or half a step late.

Last year at this time, I invited three friends to drift through Xixi in the rain and eat fish hotpot. It was a rare glimpse of the desolate yellow found in Song Dynasty paintings. Ours was the only wooden boat; a patrol skiff rushed past with roaring water, while our boatman strained at the oars. The cockpit opposite wore a Star Trek expression, as if they thought we were four lunatics who’d never braved a cold wind. The reeds were old, the wild ducks few, but the fish hotpot was fragrant. I sighed—that kind of meal would never return, but it wouldn’t easily fade either.

This year, that “Shake-Shake Hotpot” on Xixi’s waters has become a golden memory. When I came back, persimmons hung heavy among the reed beds.

Xixi was beautiful at exactly the right moment. Then Shen Hongfei (affectionately known as Shen Ye) arrived—a man of extraordinary wit, famed in both food and cultural circles. I was among the many who eagerly sought a seat at his table. He “tossed a persimmon to test the waters” at the Mushou Xixi Hotel, and friends flocked to join. If Li Shangyin, who once wrote “West Creek near the city is fair; who’ll share a wine pot with me there?” could time-travel to this breathtaking persimmon feast, he’d surely be envious!

The Mushou Persimmon Banquet Menu

As dusk’s cyan-blue deepened into night, the little golden lanterns grew ever more crimson, until they retreated into the graceful hills and streams. Xixi’s beauty turned into an oil painting that grew deeper the longer you looked.

A pot of persimmon-leaf tea simmered under the persimmon tree, releasing an aroma of dates among grasses. For many practitioners and fasters, persimmon-leaf tea is a sacred brew that sustains metabolism, rich and mellow.

Professor Chen Li was just saying, “Persimmons, walnuts, chestnuts, and dates are the four vegetarian staples.” I nodded, and before I knew it, Shen Ye’s friends had arrived, happy and eager.

A Mushou Persimmon Banquet menu unfurled on the table. Wang Bin, the talented owner of Mushou, the jade-like Flower Sister, and Peter Zhou—the “Shining Light of the Hotel” who drove an hour across town—all gradually quieted, waiting for the meal to begin. Guest JC had already raised his camera, ever keen to capture culinary beauty, documenting each dish as “Good Persimmon Things Happen.”

“Foie Gras Persimmon Fruit” was savory and fresh. The Mushou chefs cleverly wrapped seasoned foie gras in persimmon cake skin; the creamy foie gras paired with crunchy walnuts, all enveloped in the fermented sweetness of persimmon.

“Blackcurrant Persimmon Jelly” brought a subtle tartness, cutting through the previous richness. Persimmon pulp was suspended in clear persimmon dew, translucent and glistening, with a lingering fragrance of persimmon leaves.

“Pickled Pepper Crisp Persimmon” woke the palate with a lively kick. The inspiration came from Mushou Xixi’s Xiyin Restaurant’s signature cold dish of Chang-jin radish. The chefs treated crisp persimmons as pickles, marinating them with pickled peppers.

“Persimmon Cake Butter Roll” was a creation by Professor Chen Li. Its shape and inspiration came from the northern traditional snack guodanpi. Layers of persimmon cake and butter alternated, their sweet, creamy aroma perfectly soothing the heat and leaving a milky aftertaste.

Next came the Persimmon Dressing Salad, courtesy of that night’s guest, renowned chef Liu Gaochen. He studied at Institut Paul Bocuse, the world-class culinary and hospitality school in Lyon, and worked at top Michelin three-star restaurants: Restaurant Paul Bocuse in Lyon and Restaurant Alain Ducasse in Paris. After returning to China, he founded Le Paris Group in Shanghai.

This simple salad combined persimmon in two forms—flowing and crunchy. A special persimmon dressing carried a hint of spice and a lime fragrance, mingling with crisp persimmon and seasonal greens. It was highly appetizing.

The soup was one of the evening’s highlights. It blended the gelatinous skin from Huaiyang-style braised fish head, springy and soft in the mouth, with the sour-and-hot notes of Hangzhou’s traditional Sister Song’s Fish Broth. Pepper and persimmon vinegar complemented each other, while shredded persimmon leaf and ham added layers of flavor.

Among the hot dishes, Baked Lobster with Fire Persimmon was a first for me—an innovative creation by Mushou chefs combining local ingredients.

“Xixi Vinegar Fish with Persimmon Vinegar” used the classic technique for West Lake Vinegar Fish. The interplay of vinegar and ginger, with eyes closed, evoked the taste of seasonal crab—truly remarkable. Persimmon vinegar added a fruity woodiness, seeping into the fresh grass carp from Xixi’s waters, blossoming petal by petal on the tongue.

Shen Ye’s Persimmon Wood-Roasted Lamb Chops were the night’s highest-rated dish, with an irresistible finger-licking aroma. The grilling fuel was made from persimmon leaves and branches gathered on the Mushou grounds. What I thought was just a whimsical touch turned out to infuse the lamb with a surprising fruity smokiness. Both senior food critic Tao Yu and I lingered over every rich, succulent bite.

After polishing off the plate, we all marveled: the milky richness of lamb fat and the woody caramelized notes of persimmon were a match made in heaven.

Teacher Eyebrow—an artist and gastronome—has a signature fried rice that haunts his fans’ dreams. For the persimmon banquet, he added chunks of crisp persimmon to his classic recipe, creating that night’s staple: “Post-Persimmon Fried Rice.” The soul-stirring fragrance of the translucent rice grains came from finely minced golden ginger.

Guests at the scene declared that Shen Ye’s Persimmon Wood-Roasted Lamb Chops and Teacher Eyebrow’s Post-Persimmon Fried Rice were a perfect pair!

Professor Chen Li handcrafted a noodle dough from the finest fire persimmons growing on the Mushou grounds. The broth was rich with lobster essence, sprinkled with a little pickled persimmon pulp to cut the richness, leaving a lingering fragrance.

The dessert was As You Wish Persimmon Cake, so lifelike it could fool the eye. Made using a method similar to Japanese wagashi, flat persimmon jam was wrapped in sweet white bean paste—elegantly sweet.

Shen Ye’s Caramel Persimmon Pudding hid large slices of persimmon tongue. The ladies who tasted it could only smile, wordless.

Among the friends Shen Ye brought that day were many accomplished figures. There was Pang Ying, a tea master renowned throughout the Yangtze Delta with fans all over China, who has traveled to every famous tea mountain.

Sommelier Shen Li (WSET Level 3) curated the evening’s wine list. Though she comes from media, her blind-tasting skills have made her a star beyond her field.

Autumn cast a “ten thousand persimmons as you wish” flirtatious glance over the Mushou Persimmon Banquet, and Shen Ye’s friends were utterly enchanted.

Postscript: Flowing Persimmons

Attire matters greatly at a high-level banquet. That day, I had received a dress code of “persimmon element,” so I wore a piece from “alkie collection,” a label I’ve been enamored with lately. I love its exquisite stitching and details; the entire line uses hand-woven fabrics.

Founder Rong Tai explained that India’s natural art forms the core design of alkie collection. The fabrics are dyed using fermentation and plant-based materials, including persimmon dye. Traditional Indian dyeing pigments contain dried spices, plant husks, fresh flowers, and more. In fact, China’s own handmade herbal dyes are even superior. Colors once poetically named—moon white, sky-clearing blue, silver red, crimson purple, goose yellow, autumn hue, bamboo green, jade green… the romantic names of Hanfu colors all come from natural herbs and minerals, but their cost has pushed them into niche obscurity.

In our tradition, there has long been “persimmon lacquer” made from green persimmons; today, persimmon-only dyeing is mainly seen in Japan and Korea.

Shen Ye had assigned me the task of providing welcome coffee and pastries. Beyond food, I moonlight as a senior barista certified by the Specialty Coffee Association, while also indulging my hobby of collecting professional coffee pins (including one I jokingly call the badge of the World Specialty Persimmon Association ^_^). I had never actually drunk persimmon coffee. I considered sprinkling freeze-dried persimmon powder on a regular latte, but I preferred to develop the coffee with a philosophy of “simplicity.”

Dressed in my “persimmon clothes” and filled with reverence, I created this custom persimmon coffee for Shen Ye’s banquet, using a blend of two beans.

One is an Ethiopian-Costa Rican from the Sabanailla zone of Central Valley, grown at 1,300–1,600 meters, with notes of cherry, citrus, and dark chocolate—a thick, berry-toned profile.

The other is an Ethiopian Heirloom from the president’s hometown of Zudem Estate in the Guji zone, 1,850–2,000 meters, with jasmine, lavender, and strawberry notes—a fresh, herbal profile.

I combined these two and placed them inside small, intensely flavored heart-shaped persimmons (Jixin persimmons) for three days to gently infuse, then brewed by hand. I resorted to this strategy to give the Mushou Persimmon Banquet a clearer taste and add a playful touch. Shen Ye later suggested using the frost on dried persimmons to season the coffee, which I think is an excellent idea!

For the cake, I researched existing persimmon cakes on the market and developed an upgraded version. Since many of you fans likely share my baking obsession, here’s the recipe!

Persimmon Chiffon Cake (6-inch) Ingredients:

3 eggs (about 60g each in shell), 35g milk, 45g caster sugar (30g for egg whites, 15g for yolks), 50g cake flour, 30g corn oil, a few drops of lemon juice (or white vinegar), 3–5g cornstarch (to be added to egg whites), 1g salt.

Step 1: Mix milk + sugar + corn oil with a hand whisk until emulsified.

Step 2: Sift in cake flour. Cake flour is low in gluten and tends to clump; sift once or twice for a fine, soft crumb. Stir with a hand whisk in a zigzag pattern until no dry flour remains. Do not stir in circles, or gluten will develop.

Step 3: The batter at step 2 is thick; adding egg yolks makes it easy to mix. Use a zigzag motion with a hand whisk; avoid overmixing to prevent gluten formation. Keep as little egg white as possible in the yolk mixture—protein in the yolk batter encourages gluten!

Step 4: Ensure the bowl for egg whites is clean, dry, and free of grease; no trace of yolk must remain to achieve stiff peaks. Add a few drops of lemon juice or white vinegar, plus 1g salt. Start beating at medium speed. Lemon juice/vinegar reduces the eggy smell and helps stabilize; salt is a natural dough enhancer and adds flavor.

Step 5: When large bubbles form, add one-third of the caster sugar and switch to high speed. Make sure to reach every corner, keeping the beaters close to the bottom and sides of the bowl. If some whites are unincorporated, stop and scrape down with a spatula.

Step 6: When the foam becomes fine, add half of the remaining sugar and continue beating.

Step 7: When ribbons appear, add the rest of the sugar along with the cornstarch. (Cornstarch absorbs excess moisture in the meringue, making it more stable and less likely to deflate.) Do not turn on the mixer yet; first stir the cornstarch into the whites to avoid flying powder, then beat. Reduce to medium speed to knock out large bubbles, making the meringue finer and more stable, then finish on low speed.

Step 8: Beat until the lines deepen, you feel resistance from the beaters, and the meringue looks glossy and fine. When lifted, it should form a small, curved peak (soft peaks).

Step 9: Fold one-third of the meringue into the yolk batter. You can use a hand whisk with a zigzag motion here; it mixes more evenly than a spatula and deflates less.

Step 10: Pour the combined batter back into the remaining meringue. Switch to a spatula, using a cutting and folding motion to blend. Do not stir in circles, or the batter will deflate. A deflated batter yields a short, dense cake with possible pudding layers and a collapsed top.

Step 11: Fold with a spatula: cut down vertically, scrape to the bottom and flip the edges over, while rotating the bowl counter-clockwise. This is the standard folding method.

Step 12: Once evenly mixed, pour the batter from a height of about 20 cm into the mold, filling it seven-eighths full (don’t pour too fast, to avoid large air bubbles). Tap lightly on the counter, then place in a preheated oven on the middle-lower rack. Bake at 130°C top and bottom heat for 20 minutes, then switch to 150°C for another 20–25 minutes.

A quick plea: if you photograph your cake, protect your camera—flour dust is lethal to lenses. All the finished cake photos in this article were taken by none other than Shen Ye himself!

I’ve finally experienced the devastating power of food porn… I can’t take it.

Sorry, I got a little distracted. Let me finish the cake recipe!

Persimmon Cake Final Assembly:

250g whipping cream, 10g sugar, 300g ripe Jixin persimmons, 15g honey, water as needed, a few persimmon slices and herbs for decoration.

Step 1: Whip the cream with sugar.

Step 2: Trim the chiffon cake and slice horizontally into three even layers.

Step 3: Scoop out the persimmon flesh. Mix honey with a little water and a spoonful of persimmon juice. Brush both sides of all three cake layers with this syrup.

Step 4: Fill and layer: spread a layer of whipped cream, then a layer of persimmon flesh. Cover the outside evenly with whipped cream.

Step 5: Decorate the top with persimmon slices and herbs.

Facing the flow, I too flow. My mind now fills with the passage where Zhuang Zhidie compares Liu Yue’s body to “ripe persimmon eggs.” Before writing The Abandoned Capital, Jia Pingwa must have been a deep persimmon lover himself.

What do you love about autumn?

“West Creek near the city is fair;

who’ll share a wine pot with me there?”

— from “West Creek” by Li Shangyin (Tang Dynasty)

Food Bless You!

Advisor, China International Gourmet Expo

Producer, A Table Like No Other