Deng Hanneng deng.hneng@gmail.com IF you have watched the popular documentary “A Bite of China,” you will undoubtedly be attracted to Huaiyang cuisine. Developed from the lower reaches of the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers, Huaiyang cuisine is one of the most influential regional schools that dominate the culinary heritage of China. Good news for Shenzhen gourmets: Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen, known for its diversified Huiayang and Cantonese dishes, has invited Gao Xiaosheng, executive Chinese chef of Pudong Shangri-La, Shanghai to cook for its Shang Garden Chinese restaurant from May 30 to June 5. Gao was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, the birth place of Huaiyang cuisine, and has more than 20 years’ experience in Huaiyang cuisine. He has worked at restaurants in Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, and served many illustrious figures including Lee Kuan Yew, the founding leader of Singapore. Gao currently serves as the executive chef of Gui Hua Lou restaurant of Pudong Shangri-La and helped the restaurant receive the Best Chinese Restaurant award from Food & Wine, one of the top honors for a Chinese restaurant. “The secret of the success of Huaiyang cuisine is attention to detail — from the careful choice of materials to meticulous cooking and elegant presentation,” Gao said in a food-tasting event at Shang Garden on Thursday. Gao has designed 10 dishes for Shang Garden, based on the materials, climate and customers’ tastes in Shenzhen: hot and sour cucumber salad, marinated shrimps with spring onion, double-boiled baby abalone soup with baby cabbage and shitake, steamed scallop stuffed with shrimp paste, braised cat fish with garlic and brown sauce, fried rice with shrimp, scallop and diced vegetable. From the dishes one can easily understand why Huaiyang cuisine is loved by so many. Just one look at the dishes would rouse one’s appetite. The dark green cucumber salad, for example, is neatly rolled like ancient bamboo writing slips. In marinated shrimps with spring onion, the shrimps are presented in the form of a flower and two slices of cucumbers are put below the “flower” like leaves. But most important is the taste. “Traditional Huaiyang cuisine is known for its light flavor, and many people wrongly believe that Huaiyang cuisine has a bland taste,” Gao said. Gao integrates the skills of other cuisine schools when cooking Huaiyang food. So he used curry sauce in the braised prawn with cucumber and mushroom, which turned out to be the most popular dish at Thursday’s food-tasting. Add: 4088 Yitian Road, Futian District Tel: 8828-4088 | 