Celebrity chef Zhou Xiaoyan presents his first restaurant, The Huaiyang Garden, in Macau at The Londoner.
The Londoner said in a recent statement that as one of the four great traditional Chinese cuisines, Huaiyang cuisine originated in Southeast China, around the Huai and Yangtze Rivers, about 3,000 years ago. The statement said that Zhou’s culinary philosophy is to maximise and perfect each individual ingredient, before carefully combining them with other elements in a symphony of harmony and delight.
The statement pointed out that the signature dishes include stewed meatballs with crab roe in superior soup, which takes two days to make; steamed Hilsa herring with 20-year-old Huadiao wine, which requires chefs to painstakingly remove over 100 fish bones; shredded bean curd with crab meat and egg white in superior soup; braised Hokkaido sea cucumber with shrimp roe; baked rice with eel and yellow chives and more.
Meanwhile, according to the statement, the restaurant design is created to complement The Huaiyang Garden’s cuisine. The statement underlined that the restaurant’s main dining area, ‘West Lake Garden’, is inspired by ‘Orioles Singing in the Willows’, one of the most scenic spots at the famous Hangzhou location, while another dining area, ‘Fragrant Garden’, features golden walls with gilded and hand-embroidered motifs of sweet osmanthus, a symbol of nobility and elegance in Chinese culture and the inspiration for many folk legends.
The Huaiyang Garden’s Shredded bean curd with crab meat and egg white in superior soup – Photo and caption: The Londoner
