Roast chicken is an ingenious combination of traditional Chinese roasting and Western hamburger method. [Photo by Yang Feiyue/China Daily]

Thee, he would study local recipes and learn related cooking methods, and then make certain adaptations.

On our visit to the restaurant, we opted for the braised weever, a dish Hu introduced from Jiangxi province. The light sweetness of the fish was brought out perfectly by the slightly salty sauce.

"When I had it, I knew I had to serve it," Hu says.

Originally, the dish came in the form of hotpot, a build-it-yourself soup over a burning flame. To adapt it to local tastes, Hu uses Hangzhou's wild Mandarin fish or weever, braised in brown sauce.

Now, the dish is among the restaurant's most popular, Hu says.

The roast chicken is another example of Hu's ingenuity.

The dish was inspired by both the traditional Chinese roasting method and Western hamburgers. Sliced roasted chicken skin, Hami melon, toasted bread and lettuce are neatly piled together with salad sauce. The greasy skin is balanced off nicely with the fresh fruit and vegetable.

In addition to his innovations, Hu ensures that certain classic local dishes maintain their original flavor.

The chicken platter with fish sauce sticks to the letter of a traditional Xiaoshan recipe. Boiled chicken and pork are steeped in fish sauce that is brewed with Shaoxing rice wine, salt and local spices for hours. The seafood smell then merges with the meat.