Signature dishes

Yangzhou Pavilion

Crab roe buns

This steamed dish is delicately prepared. It's soupy. But you cannot take a big bite because it is hot. Yet you should not let the soup seep away. So it should be just as delicately consumed.

Stewed meatball with minced crabmeat

The meat has to contain 70 percent fat. Other ingredients include minced crabmeat and roe. It almost melts in your mouth.

Casablanca

Casablanca royal cous cous

Cous cous is a staple throughout the Maghreb, and it is also popular in West Africa and some European countries. With semolina, vegetables, chicken, lamb - including lamb sausage and lamb kofta - and chickpeas, it is made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating it with finely ground wheat flour. The grain dish was a favorite with nomads and is now loved by many more.

Mekong Riverside

Scallop and pomelo salad

Add fresh olive oil and black pepper powder to Australian scallops and golden pomelos, mix them with honey and fish sauce, the traditional Vietnamese condiment, and you've got a classic cold dish.

Pho

This Vietnamese staple is a beef noodle soup served with basil, lime, bean sprouts and peppers, which you can add as much or as little as you like. The soup is boiled for eight hours.

Penglai Pavilion

Sea cucumbers stewed with scallions

Considered extremely nutritious, it is also quite delicious.

Bird's nest in clear soup

Another traditional Chinese dish of high pedigree, it is mentioned often in ancient literature.

Japanese restaurants

Wagyu beef

It often makes its appearance at Japan's state banquets. As per popular legend, the cattle are fed beer and receive such royal treatments as massages, and that is the secret of their deliciousness.

Tempura assortment

This fried dish originated in Portugal. Portuguese missionaries brought it to Japan in the 16th century, where they now dip everything, including vegetables, and fry it, turning it into an integral part of Japanese cuisine.

Repulse Bay

Wonton noodle soup

Cantonese wonton is a variant of the kind in northern China. Unlike many wontons or noodles in China, the Cantonese way does not separate them into two dishes. And the fillings for the wonton often include shrimp.

Guanghua steak

This steak is cooked the Cantonese way, nothing like a Texas steak but involves a lot of processing.

Pipa tofu

Now this looks like meat patties, but they actually contain eggs, chicken, shrimp and tofu, steamed and take on a fake grilled look.

Westside Cafe

Westside hamburger

Half-pound beef patty of top quality and freshly baked buns are accompanied by onion, lettuce, pickles and mayonnaise. A no-brainer choice for a quick snack while waiting to watch the World Cup.

(China Daily 06/15/2010 page10)