These light, airy buns are filled with smoked tofu, shiitake, coriander or crevettes gauchoi, or even Stilton with Amarena cherries.
On any one day you could find a rich pumpkin soup with leek, cauliflower and sage, basmati rice with bitter puntarelle, courgette and marinated tofu, crunchy buckwheat smothered with a tangy hummus, seaweed risotto, and red cabbage flan.
This 10-part meal is expensive, but it's beautifully prepared and you probably won't want any other food than a late light supper after breakfasting on miso soup with tofu, pickled vegetables, nori seaweed, salted fish, Japanese omelette, steamed rice, spinach with sesame seeds, fried tofu, salmon sashimi, daikon turnips with soy sauce and green tea.
His tofu, which inspired this dish, is really a soy custard, but who cares when it's as delicious and smooth as this.
Remove the leaves and discard, put the tofu into the same bowl as the aubergine and mix together.
Selections include butter chicken, Indonesian beef rendang, lamb curry and Thai red curry with tofu.
The vibrancy of ginger, garlic and chilli, crisp tofu, meltingly soft aubergine and zing of coriander were all beautifully balanced with the coarse texture and creamy flavour of desiccated coconut.
It is a key ingredient in Sichuanese classics such as mapo tofu, as well as a vegetarian version of twice-cooked pork, and adds a spicy savouriness to western stews (it's also the secret ingredient in my father's shepherd's pie).
But there is nothing tofu and soya milk about the way he does his politics.
There are no cooking facilities but plenty of cheap eats locally (tofu tempeh curry and rice will set you back less than £2).
This ensures the tofu will crisp up well.
