Last year, the preparations for the new restaurant officially began, presenting him with the opportunity to manage a brand-new restaurant.
After consulting with Wang, Zeng chose to dedicate the new restaurant to Ningbo (Zhejiang province) cuisine. With extensive experience in broader Jiangsu province and Zhejiang styles, he narrowed his focus and deepened his expertise by exploring Ningbo's distinctive flavors and ingredient-driven approach.
Ningbo cuisine is renowned for highlighting the natural tastes of high-quality seafood and local produce, giving the dishes a subtle balance between simplicity and sophistication, according to Zeng.
Standing in Song's unfinished kitchen in May last year, his mindset had evolved from when he first walked into the still-under-renovation Jin Sha kitchen 14 years earlier. He felt a greater sense of responsibility. "I thought, this might be my battlefield from now on," he recalls.
