Best things to eat in Chaoshan, China, a food paradise in Guangdong province

This necessity gave birth to the classic Chaoshan dish yu fan (literally “fish rice”), which typically comprises whole fish served in shallow bamboo baskets, accompanied only by soybean paste.

“Despite its name, yu fan contains no rice,” Huang says. “This speciality embodies the wisdom of fishermen. With no refrigeration at sea, they would cook their catch in seawater. This was fish, but also their ‘rice’ [their staple food source].”

But the road to success was not easy. Huang lost his father early in life, which prompted him to leave school – even though he was a good student – and build his future in Guangdong’s capital, Guangzhou. He was only 16 when he became an apprentice at Guangzhou’s Tian He Bin Guan hotel, and had become a restaurant executive chef by the time he was 20.