Photo provided to China Daily

Of course, looks alone do not make a successful restaurant. To helm its kitchen, the hotel enlisted the expertise of Chaozhou-born Wang Kingfei, known as Chef Fei. His resume includes a stint as chef at Daye and as the executive director and chef for the Jiangshan Group.

The chef is a traditionalist, insisting on handpicking fish and seafood directly from Guangzhou's Huangsha Seafood Market in the morning so that his dishes are as fresh as possible. I was a little surprised to see sashimi on the menu, though, and can only surmise that it is a popular dish with locals.

To ward off the slightly chilly day, I scanned the double-boiled soup selections and settled on Royal Kung Fu with wild chicken, cordyceps and abalone to start.

The soup was artfully served from a clay teapot into tiny clay teacups. Its rich and hearty broth infused with the delicate flavors of the land and sea was nourishing yummy, and it was easily my favorite dish of the day.

We ordered a round of the usual suspects, with standouts being the har gau, seafood dumplings with asparagus, chicken feet with homemade sauce and pan-fried goose and radish puffs.