guangzhou
“ it ’ s a recipe they don ’ t like to share . this is 1 4 8 years of tradition in a plate ”
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send our chef to Beijing for a few months to learn how to carve the duck correctly.” The end result is something to behold. Despite using something akin to a cleaver, the chef is deft and quick with his work, crisp flesh blistering and spitting hot duck fat as his razor-sharp blade slices through it. It’s a mouthwatering process leading to a hunger sated only by trying one of the delicate folded pancakes packed with the right ratio of meat, skin, sauce, cucumber and shallots. Dip a slice of skin in sugar, though, and you’re in a whole new food utopia of sugary, fatty, ducky deliciousness. “Not even in Hong Kong can you get duck like this,” explains Yeung. Hong Kong is actually a handy comparison for Yeung’s city. For a long time, the former British colony was seen as almost a segue between China and the western world, but in Guangzhou, once the start of the maritime Silk Road, we now have a true gateway to China. While it may have once disappeared from the travellers’ map, it has now made quite the return. Welcome back, Guangzhou. ◆ This page jianguo’s legendary peking duck and, left, beautiful seafood at the Mandarin oriental’s ebony restaurant