Seafood in eight-hour golden broth.[Photo by Mike Peters/China Daily]

Leung's menu notes reflect his sense that keeping things natural and original is the way to reflect their true nature, and this is his ideal in cooking, too.

"Even though people have tried all kinds of cuisine with strong tastes and beautiful colors," Leung says on the menu, "the most memorable cuisine that will linger in your heart, your spirit and your mind is the simplest and easiest."

This is thought-provoking as we nibble the crispy beef: an aberration perhaps, or is the dish more fundamental than we think?

Then there is the gorgeous iron bowl of three-cup chicken, which we initially suspected might disappoint natives of Taiwan, where the dish was born, because it doesn't quite have the succulent richness we're used to in what is one of our favorite dishes. But it's more likely that Leung has unearthed an original simplicity in three-cup chicken, an elemental nature that gets oversauced as the dish gets farther away from its place of origin.

So is the exquisite crispy beef an aberration, a flight of fancy? Or is it simpler than we think? (That's a pretty thought, but I doubt we're going to try this one at home.)

Reviewers are divided. That's Shanghai magazine says Leung is "taking traditional dishes and splicing them with Western/non-Chinese ingredients like cherry tomatoes, olive paste, rose petals, wasabi and what have you. It's a traditionalist's worst nightmare, but for the open minded, the menu has more than a few enticing options."