Wu Xinhua works on the final touch of a dish at Dan Cha Fan restaurant in Wuzhen. The helmsman of the popular eatery creates dishes with inspiration from different styles of cuisine. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

Wuzhen has gained international acclaim as the host of an annual theater festival and the World Internet Conference since 2014.

President Xi Jinping invited Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for dinner at Dan Cha Fan during the 2015 conference.

Wu believes food quality is more important than location.

"I don't want to just run a restaurant that's celebrated as Wuzhen's best," Wu says.

"I also want my food to linger on the palates and in the memories of the sophisticated Shanghai or Beijing guests, who've been to some of the most famous fine-dining restaurants in their own cities, if not the world."

The Hangzhou native moved to the idyllic town to enjoy a slower pace of life five years ago. He'd previously apprenticed and worked at a constellation of high-end restaurants and five-star hotels, serving spicy Sichuan, delicate Cantonese and refined Huaiyang cuisines in Zhejiang's capital.

These experiences not only explain Wu's ambition to compete with the best restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing from a small town but also make it possible for him to do so.