New taste of old Canton

The seafood branch of Tang Palace in Beijing offers a combination of classic Cantonese with inspirations from other culinary traditions－plus Canadian lobsters. [Photo provided to China Daily]

I liked the cold lobster best. It's an innovation on cold lobster salad in Western cuisine that still feels very Chinese with the sauce－a secret recipe with a mixed kick of sweet, sour and mildly spicy.

Chief chef Huang Jianjun tells us the lobsters have firm texture because they swim in the North Atlantic's deep, cold water. They're low in fat and carbohydrates, and rich in protein and unsaturated fatty acids, he says.

Another cold dish we had, the cold pig knuckle with dried ginger, was awe-inspiring.

In Guangdong province, there grows a special kind of ginger called shajiang, or "sand ginger", which has a more pungent aroma than other gingers. It's a Guangdong tradition to use it to cook pigs' feet－or, more precisely, pork knuckles－served to guests because shajiang is said to have warming properties and help digestion.