Dishing up a taste of the culture

The restaurant was invited to cater at the birthday banquet of the princess of Thailand in Bangkok in 2015 and served the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics, both held in Beijing. Their Sichuan dishes, including braised Dongpo pork joint and Mapo tofu, were popular among the athletes and coaches from around the globe.

"Sichuan cuisine has 24 flavors, 56 techniques and over 3,000 classic dishes — it is one of the Chinese cuisines that has a complete system," Wang says. "Each dish has its own flavor, so the 3,000 dishes could allow you to have a different meal every day for (almost) 10 years."

Born in Meishan, Sichuan, Wang learned to make the state banquet-level Sichuan dishes as well as authentic local Meishan dishes.

"Sichuan cuisine is comprehensive and does not discriminate, insofar as it includes everything from street snacks to fine-dining dishes," Wang says, adding that there are dishes for ancient officials, for common people, for Taoists and for monks.

Unlike Wang's professional training in Sichuan cuisine, 36-year-old chef Li Junjie, from Chengdu, has managed to teach himself based on his French cuisine background.