I didn’t thought I would get a table, but due to last minute cancellation, I got lucky to have an excellent meal before I left Guangzhou.
Located on Tianhe Road in the city of Guangzhou, Jiang By Chef Fei is a Michelin two-star restaurant, which says a lot about the standard in the Cantonese cuisine capital of the world. This contemporary-style restaurant is set in the modern Mandarin Oriental hotel.
This elegant and relaxing décor shows a harmonious confluence of the East and West. Its classic Cantonese fare also strikes a fine balance between traditions and creativity, with an element of surprise and a touch of Japanese and Western influences.
Chef Huang Jinghui 黄景辉, better known as his moniker Chef Fei, is one of China’s most renowned chefs, whose cuisine earned Jiang by Chef Fei Michelin 2 Stars in the Guangzhou Michelin Guide. He started his career at the age of 16. By the age of just 20, had become an executive chef.
“Cooking is not only about skills, but being attentive,” said Chef Fei. “A delicious course is the result of devoting a chef’s mind to the cuisine.”
Today, with more than three decades of culinary experience, he is most well-known for his creative Cantonese cuisine that crafts innovative dishes from simple but first-class seasonal ingredients.
Jiang by Chef Fei’s menu is classic Cantonese in essence, but with a contemporary twist in terms of style and presentation.
Our Lunch Menu
Three small cups of pre-meal appetisers came after we placed our orders. From right, a pickled radish with spicy chilli, followed by pickled baby cucumber with a hint of plum, and my favourite, the dried anchovies in XO sauce style.
薏仁竹笙炖鹧鸪汤 Double Boiled Partridge Broth, Barley, Bamboo Fungus
Cantonese are famous for their double boiled soup. And I cannot pass up a specialty soup like this partridge soup with barley and bamboo fungus. The soup is a cooling soup (in terms of the balancing my internal ying and yang), which worked well for all the late nights I was having.
潮州卤水三拼（鹅掌/粉肝/鹅肾）Chaozhou-style Braised Goose Feet, Goose Liver and Goose Kidney
This was one of the most expensive braised goose parts that I had. With only four slices each of goose liver, goose feet and goose kidney, they were all skilfully stewed in the old Teochew braise and presented in an easy-to-eat manner. Nope, you don’t have to work through the bones on the goose feet, and I wondered how they kept the kidney so flat.
白切葵香鸡 Poached Sunflower Chicken
The humble chicken is not just chicken in Guangdong. There are so many kinds of chicken varieties, like Zhenjiang chicken 湛江鸡、Huizhou chicken 惠州胡须鸡、Biqing chicken 肇庆杏花鸡、Xingyi chicken 信宜怀乡鸡 and Qingyuan chicken 清远鸡, each varying in terms of texture and taste. And now there’s a new chook in town called the Sunflower chicken 葵花鸡.
Sunflower chicken was raised with a diet of all things sunflower, from seeds to water infused with sunflower. Hence the chicken was supposedly much more tender and juicy with a hint of sunflower. Not so sure about the sunflower, but the poached chicken here was so much better than any of our Hainanese poached chicken.
玫瑰油醋汁和乐蟹蒸手打肉饼 Steamed Hele Crab with Minced Pork
Next up, Chef Fei’s signature dish that got him the attention of Michelin. Steamed hele crab with minced pork with rose vinegar uses crab produced in the seaside region around Hele Town in Hainan. Hele crab 和乐蟹 has rich, meaty flesh rarely found in other species. It is particularly special for its golden yellow fat, which is the same colour as the yolk of a salted duck egg
The crab has a very strong taste that was balanced with the vinegar in the broth. The pork patty had a good mix of fats and lean meat with bits of water chestnuts, and was steamed to perfection. I wondered how they balanced the steaming time for the crab and pork, a very difficult task indeed.
上汤豆苗 Pea Shoots in Superior Stock
If there’s one department that the restaurant was disappointing was the vegetable selection. I was hoping for something more exciting than pea shoots in superior stock.
公主蚝皇叉烧包 Steamed BBQ Pork Buns
During lunch, they serve yumcha and the typical choices of Cantonese dim sums. I had to order their charsiu pau, my yardstick for a dimsum restaurant. They did not disappoint. I wanted to keep a couple for the road, but I ended up eating everything.
瑶柱糯米鸡 Steamed Sticky Rice With Chicken, Egg Yolk And Dried Scallop
They used to make these lormaigai using leftovers. Not anymore, thank goodness! These pillowy bundles were filled with dried scallops, mushrooms and flavourful chicken thighs.
It would be perfect if they had put a whole salted egg yolk in each bundle.
The lormaigai was a bit bland so I asked for some spicy condiments, like XO sauce or chilli sauce. They came back with both, all house made. The XO sauce was good, but it was the fermented bean chilli sauce 豆瓣辣酱 that really hit the spot.
Arguably the city’s finest Cantonese restaurant, Jiang by Chef Fei offers a truly memorable dining experience. The service was really attentive, and they tried their best to make you feel welcome.
Jiang by Chef Fei 江- 由辉师傅主理
3F, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 389 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, China
广东省 广州市 天河区 天河路389号文华东方酒店3层
Tel : +86 20 3808 8885
Visited Mar 2024
Michelin Guangzhou Guide 2 Stars 2018-2023
@feihuangjinghui @mo_guangzhou
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