Chinese restaurateur breaks Japanese cuisine stereotypes

Hecai Japanese Cuisine is a buffet where people can order as many of what they want of whatever they want.

"This buffet style is usually seen in Japanese hotpot, where people can order as many raw meats as they want to eat," Wang says.

"But it's rare in Japanese fine dining."

He aspires to counter the notion that Japanese dishes are only served in small portions.

"Japanese food isn't a competition of ingredients or a visual feast," he says.

"I want to create delicate dishes and allow people to eat as much as they'd like."

He presents New Zealand crayfish, Canadian spotted prawn, shrimp from Russia and Mozambique, Norwegian salmon and tuna from the Indian Ocean to create a sashimi platter featuring seafood from around the world.

Each sashimi slice is 1-centimeter thick and served with homemade wasabi and Japanese soy sauce.

His Japanese-style boiled abalone is fresh but served without soy sauce.

Wang's secret is to cook the abalone from Dalian, Liaoning province, with smoked bonito soup, mirin and saki, before marinating the abalone in the soup for two days.

"The freshness can go deep into the abalone, and the soup brings out its flavor," he explains.