How Cantonese became mainland China’s regional cuisine of choice

The southern cuisine has long enjoyed an unmatched level of popularity and prestige, both globally and at home

In a restored siheyuan courtyard residence, nestled amid 600-year-old hutong alleyways in Beijing’s Caochang neighbourhood, diners dip porcelain spoons into steaming bowls of double-boiled black Silkie chicken, conpoy and bamboo-pith soup. Overseen by celebrity culinarian Huang Jinghui, better known as chef Fei, Yan Garden also serves sweet red-bean soup lifted by aged tangerine peel, succulent char siu and deep-fried pigeon, its paper-thin skin glossy and taut.

Set amid the sea of softly curved, ash-grey rooftops and maze of walls of the Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing, Yan Garden may be thousands of kilometres from the homeland of the cuisines in which it specialises, but the scents, flavours and textures of its dishes evoke the lushness and humidity of southern China.

Few people would be surprised to find classic Cantonese fare in the centuries-old streets of northern China – the cuisine is, surely, almost everywhere. Look through the Michelin and Black Pearl Restaurant guides and it is striking how the gastronomy of the old coastal province of Canton – today’s Guangdong – dominates. In Beijing, seven of 32 Michelin-star restaurants focus on Cantonese cuisine. In Shanghai, 15 of 50.