Into the melting pot

One of his signature dishes is the crab meat and crab roe clay pot rice. The rice is topped with a thick layer of fried crab meat and roe covered in lard, huangjiu (yellow spirit) and minced ginger.

It takes about 8 kilograms of hairy crab to make 1 kg of the crab meat and roe, and a skillful chef needs at least three minutes to remove the meat and roe from each whole crab.

The mixture of crab meat and roe with rice is a pleasant delicacy in itself, let alone when you add a crispy layer of steamed rice into the proceedings.

"Once we add the crab meat and roe, the cover of the pot will only be removed once before it's served so that none of the aromas go to waste, so the cooking time really depends on the experience of the chef," says Kong.

The wagyu beef and mushroom clay pot rice is another signature dish-Kong has experimented with many types of beef from different price ranges and different countries of origin before finally finding the most suitable one to accompany the mushrooms and rice.

Besides the traditional sausage clay pot rice, Kong also makes the dish using fermented soybean flavored white eel, free-range chicken and mushroom topping, and one made from matsutake and other mushrooms for vegetarians.