Culinary voyage upstream

He fries the fish heads in camellia oil at a temperature between 60 C to 80 C before stewing them for an hour in a spicy sauce-which is prepared separately-with boiling vegetables and fish bones.

"The correct order to enjoy the dish is to eat the fish lips first, then the cheeks, then suck the fish head,"Liu says.

At the end of the meal, diners usually dip baked bread made with fermented glutinous rice into the sauce, which makes for a tasty finish as it absorbs all essence of the flavor.

For the shrimp, which are usually deep-fried, Liu coats them in a sweet and spicy sauce so they turn crisp and retain more flavor.

Lotus roots grown in the Danjiang River area have a different flavor to any other kind. As well as the usual crunchy taste, they are also very glutinous-which makes a bowl of boiled lotus roots an ideal dish for a cold autumn night in the capital.