Jin R (her real name is Jin Jie Zhang) is a latecomer to the world of fine dining: she took her initial baby steps in the business with her own restaurant at the age of 25. Her carreer as a chef began even later, and in a way not entirely voluntary: when her cook quit suddenly, she stepped herself as his successor.

What she has managed to do in the few years since then is simply unbelievable: Jin R is "China's hottest young chef" (Time Magazine), "China's brightest culinary star" (New York Post) and the "undisputed star of Beijing's design and gourmet scene" (Die Welt); in addition to her "Green T. House", she runs restaurants together with partners in Singapore, Bangkok and New York.

Experts all over Europe are still raving about her appearance at the 2005 St. Moritz Gourmet Festival. At Vila Joya, she will be presenting a cross-section of her celebrated "neoclassical Chinese cuisine" including chrysanthemum tea soup with fried meat, sauteed sea bass with pesto of green tea and roasted fillet of beef with oriental sauce Chinese Pitta bread.

Jin R is a woman of many talents: a graduate of Beijing's music conservatory and a solist on the traditional stringed instrument known as the gu zheng, a stylish designer (of which Green T. House is impressive evidence), an ingenious cook and a passionate advocate of her culinary art.