Culinary voyage upstream

Qingshuiting's handmade sweet potato vermicelli is another must-try and features vegetables sourced from local farmers.

"It's extremely hard work to make sweet potato vermicelli by hand, as it can only be made once a year-the coldest time of the year-so that the vermicelli remains al dente," Liu explains.

In Hubei, the vermicelli is cooked with pork belly. Liu has updated this homemade delicacy by mincing the pork into a gravy sauce and stewing it along with the vermicelli to ensure that it's fully covered by the sauce and it absorbs the flavor of the meat.

Bamboo shoots from the Wudang Mountains are another key ingredient to Liu's cooking. The small, wild bamboo shoots can only be handpicked in spring, and Liu stores them carefully so he can use them throughout the year.

Other than the fish, 70 percent of the ingredients Liu uses in his kitchen are shipped in directly from Hubei, including the vegetables and pork. His aim is to offer his customers in Beijing the authentic flavors of his hometown, mixed in with a few memories of his childhood spent next to the river.