West Lake on a plate in conjurings of classic Hangzhou dishes

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Pork braised in brown sauce is a common homemade dish that may remind Hangzhou residents of their mom or grandma.

Yu has his own method to make guests mouth-watering of the layers of pork skin, lean meat and fat. The result is fatty but not greasy, soon melting in one's month.

"If there is no oil in the dish, it will not be tasty," Yu says.

His secret to balance the flavor is to choose the best streaky pork. He only uses one small part of the pork belly with the perfect ratio of lean meat and fat.

The livestock is from an organic farm on a mountain nearby the city. One whole pig only offers enough meat of the right quality for 10 plates of this dish.

He then stews it for several hours with slow fire, so the lard will soak into the lean meat.

He uses quail eggs instead of chicken eggs because it's easy for the quail eggs to absorb the flavors and the food plating will look more delicate.