Pride of place

After working in some of New York's finest kitchens, Austin Hu returns to Shanghai. Rather than trying to go international or fusion, the commitment Hu has made is to source local produce and cook locally. [Photo provided to China Daily]

But rather than trying to go international or fusion - as most of his peers do - the commitment Hu made with his first venture is to source local produce, although the Chinese names of most of the items were as strange to him as to foreigners.

"What's the difference of cooking here if I source everything from New York, which is not impossible. It should be different. Like food, like wine, there should be a sense of place," Hu says.

"It comes with training. I played with things like molecular cuisine when I was young. But for me, the most natural and right way of cooking is still seasonal and local."

The challenge of having to change the menu every month in accordance with what is available from the market - or, say, nature - is also "exciting" for the adventurous restaurateur.

"It feels very special, like having Christmas every season," Hu says.

After three years of learning and with a special purchasing manager who trots around the country looking for new things, the restaurant now has a food calendar: hairy crab at the beginning of autumn, asparagus when spring arrives, and corn and juicy tomatoes in summer.

"I am a born glutton, and food for me is like a Christmas present (given) by nature," he says.

"Every time the freshest food of the season comes to me, it feels like I am receiving a new toy."

Some of the favorite "toys", or signature dishes, at the restaurant include foie gras and squab meat paired with Chinese hawthorn jam, whose sweet-and-sour flavor perfectly balances the carnivorousness of the other two.