Cantonese chef finds a new path in Ningxia

"This also limits our choice of suppliers for food materials," he adds, explaining that sometimes it is very difficult to buy goose meat for Cantonese dishes because locals consume fewer geese.

The expert who had cooked many times for VIPs in Hong Kong, Beijing, Fujian, Sichuan and Shanxi, found that he had to change his kitchen into a lab to begin adapting Canton and Sichuan cuisines for the locals' palate.

Wong's philosophy is to preserve the originality and cultures of cuisines from outside of Ningxia, and using the available local foodstuffs to get the taste and flavor as close as it can be.

He stewed cow hips and tendons together with chicken and duck for soup stock, trying dozens of variations to get just the right balance between meats and water.

He and his colleagues from Hong Kong managed to make a paste with butter rather than lard, while maximizing the softness and the taste of paste layers.

He also attempted to find the best replacements for pork, matching the options closest to the original smell, texture and visual appeal when roasting and steaming traditional Canton dishes.

His debut on the opening eve of the hotel, anticipated by locals eager to sample the quality of an international hotel for years, turned out to be "encouraging".

"I used to be uncertain about how they would react to modified Cantonese dishes - would they find the replacements peculiar? But they liked them. And I stopped wavering and just did it."

Four years of challenges also have helped the chef as he learned about local specialties and culture.

People in Guangdong and Hong Kong like negotiating business while eating delicate dim sum in a restaurant for breakfast. In contrast, people in Northwest China's Ningxia like to dine together in the evening, with large servings of lamb - a different and indulging experience that Wong has come to appreciate.

"I learned the best way to stir-fry sliced potato in Shanxi, and I brought that to Ningxia. When I leave Ningxia, I will bring the simply boiled lamb I learned here to prepare for people in other places," he says.

"Cooking is all about innovation, mixing cultures and absorbing the best in the world for your next presentation."