Up to 30 Participants

As summer finally arrives, we welcome the eighth of the 24 Solar Terms—Xiaoman (the beginning of summer)—on May 21st. To celebrate the season, Fou Gallery is delighted to invite chef Yuezhou Zhu to curate a special afternoon tea and dessert journey featuring seasonal herbs and fruits.

For this exclusive menu, Yuezhou Zhu thoughtfully blends Asian-origin ingredients such as rhubarb and green tea with southern Mediterranean flavors like blood orange, incorporating them into French- and Japanese-style desserts. This menu features a seasonal selection that blends Asian flavors with classic French culinary techniques. The matcha canelés, crème fraîche with blood orange jelly, and rhubarb mini tart showcase fruits and vegetables currently in season, offering a vibrant and refreshing taste. Each dessert highlights a thoughtful balance of textures from crunchy to creamy, and flavors that evolve from sweet and tangy to a subtle hint of bitterness. Complementing the experience, the selected beverages draw inspiration from traditional Chinese herbal teas—a time honored practice in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, and Macau— designed to dispel internal humidity and heat. Much like artist NISKY, who finds inspiration in Surrealist painter Max Ernst, traditional Chinese landscape painting, and European Renaissance art in his painting Midsummer Darling, chef Yuezhou Zhu crafts a fusion menu that harmonizes Asian ingredients with European culinary techniques. This special event embodies a shared artistic and cultural dialogue, transcending both time and tradition.

Guests are invited to explore the exhibition, engage with the artworks alongside curator Yifu Liu, and savor the thoughtfully prepared small plates and beverages.

Chef

Yuezhou Zhu  is a professional pastry chef with a degree in Baking and Pastry arts from the Culinary Institute of America. She has gained extensive experience working as a pastry cook for Sankara Hospitality Group in Tarrytown, New York, and Union League Cafe in New Haven, Connecticut. Yuezhou later served as the pastry chef at Blanko Cafe in Beijing, where she led the pastry program and further refined her craft.

Curator

Yifu Liu is an art historian and curator. He is a PhD candidate in Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, and Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow at The Frick Collection. His research focuses on the cultural exchange and hybridization of artistic practices between Europe and China in the 18th century. He was the doctoral fellow at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History at Boston College, and he worked in the curatorial and education departments of the Morgan Library and Museum (New York), Brooklyn Museum (New York), and Princeton University Art Museum (New Jersey). He also gained curatorial experiences by working in a number of art institutions in China, including M Woods Museum (Chengdu) and Museum of Contemporary Art (Yinchuan) and Today Art Museum (Beijing). Currently, he is preparing for an upcoming exhibition at the newly renovated Frick space in 2026, and organizing the annual art history symposium in collaboration with the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University in 2025.

Payment and Cancellation Policy

At Fou Gallery, we are dedicated to offering meaningful and enriching experiences through our courses. Due to the intimate nature of our programs and the detailed planning required with our instructors, we kindly ask for your understanding of our non-refundable policy. Once registered for a course, all payments are final and cannot be refunded.