Special Chinese vegetarian delights for Narendra Modi at Xi Jinping's dinner

XI'AN: President Xi Jinping today offered traditional Chinese delicacies like beancurd with mushroom and water chestnut in bean sauce during the fully-vegetarian banquet he hosted in the honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

"Chinese specials tonight. Banquet dinner in the honour of Prime Minister @narendramodi in Xian," tweeted External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Swarup also posted a snapshot of the menu card for the dinner.

The entire list included, sour and spicy soup with fired dough, assorted vegetables with pancake and red bean rice, bean curd with mushroom, water chestnut in bean sauce, braised asparagus and bamboo fungus with lotus root, noodle dumpling and pancake, fruits and sorbet, apart from the first course.

The dinner was followed by a colourful cultural event in the ancient city of Xi'an, which is also the hometown of President Xi.

This was a departure from protocol and is being seen as a reciprocal gesture by the Chinese leader who was hosted by Modi in Ahmedabad when he visited India.