Mason District now has high-end luxury dining

Elegant place settings surround a bonsai garden and fountain in the middle of the table.

Chef Guo, a beautifully decorated high-end “imperial Chinese” restaurant, offers 12-course prix fixe menus ranging from $98 to $278 per person featuring inventive, artistic dishes with the finest organic ingredients.

It’s not in D.C., Great Falls, or Bethesda, though: Chef Guo is in Lincolnia, at 6259 Little River Turnpike in the shopping center with the New Grand Mart grocery store.

Hostess Arlene Qin and Chef Guo Wen Jun.

Guo Wen Jun, a famous celebrity chef in China, opened Chef Guo in October with little fanfare. 

Reservations are required at Chef Guo, and one must select from among three menus. There are no ala carte items. The same menu is available for lunch and dinner. Wine is extra. A meal typically takes two hours.

The current menu includes these options:

The Banquet of Eternal Bliss Hot Pot ($98 per person) includes an assortment of imperial delicacies, chrysanthemum silken tofu in a clear broth, Australian scallops with mustard greens, and noodles with black bean sauce, as well as the hot pot and much more.

A typical appetizer has 12 different items, including shrimp, chicken, beef, sausage, squid, seaweed, egg roll slices, and several vegetables.

The Banquet of Peace and Prosperity ($158) includes among its 12 courses truffles from France, braised premium Australian abalone, golden squid soup, lobster tail with organic black rice and mustard greens, pan-fried Kobe beef with Sichuan pepper, tofu with caviar from Russia, and angel fish bones with skim milk and papaya.

The Banquet Filled with Precious Gem and Jade ($278) features “butterfly in love with flowers assorted sampler,” faux bird’s next with peony and gold leaf flakes, lobster tail with golden pumpkin soup, smoked Kobe beef with crispy rice in pink salt, Chilean sea bass with black truffle in green mustard, five-spiced tofu with Russian caviar, pan-fried foie gras, and more.

“We want Americans to know that Chinese food is not just General Tso chicken and beef with broccoli,” says Arlene Qin, the hostess at Chef Guo, who served as translator for the chef.

Chef Guo shares a building with Mama’s Chicken where the most expensive item is carne ala plancha for $8.95.

Guo learned to cook when he was 14 from Master Chef Ding Guang Zhou, a seventh-generation disciple in the line of royal chefs. He describes his menu as a blend of Cantonese, Hong Kong, and Western cuisine with innovative culinary techniques he invented.

Guo owns six high-end restaurants in Beijing, is frequently featured in Chinese TV shows and publications, and has served his cuisine to international heads of state, including President Obama in 2011.

A sign on the outside of the restaurant sets the mood for what you’ll find inside: “Chef Guo’s cuisine is rooted in mystic Chinese teachings that were used by chefs and physicians of emperors in antiquity.” Diners will experience “a nutritional cuisine that is centered around balance, moderation, and contemplation that fuses ancient Chinese teachings with modern nutritional science, meticulously crafting culinary works of art that satisfy even the most sophisticated palate.”

Guo plans to stay in Northern Virginia; he bought a house in Lincolnia, and his restaurant has a 15-year-lease.