Warm prawns with olive oil (crevettes tièdes à l'huile d'olive) [Photo provided to China Daily]

Heading under the sea, the crevettes tièdes à l'huile d'olive (warm prawns with olive oil, lemon juice and julienned fresh basil) was a simpler antidote in which a quintet of king prawns, undressed from their shells, were halved and placed in a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and basil. Painterly by way of presentation – somewhere between impressionism and pop art – its effect was most esculent, sating and simultaneously provoking the palate's cravings.