Wisca is famous for its quick-fire clay pot, with seasoned ingredients heated on a very hot fire until the pot cracks. Provided to China Daily

Papaya with sugar in clay pot at Wisca has a pleasing caramelized flavor. Ye Jun / China Daily

A popular food documentary on CCTV is the talk of the land, and Ye Jun finds it easy to enjoy many featured foods on restaurant plates in Beijing.

The second season of the CCTV documentary A Bite of China has been broadcast recently. Although there has been some controversy about it, I've just enjoyed the tempting images of good Chinese foods.

The show's video crew is said to have gone to 150 places to shoot more than 300 kinds of food. But hungry viewers don't have to go to all those places to taste some of the best Chinese foods.

Wisca Restaurant was founded in 1992 on Guangzhou's Longjin Xilu, but the restaurant also has a branch in Beijing, with the same delicious foods. Wisca is famous for one delicacy: juejue bao, or quick-fire clay pot. Dishes with seasoned ingredients are put in a clay pot, which is heated on a very hot fire until the pot cracks.

Then a waiter will run to present the dish at the customers' table. By the time it arrives and the lid is opened, the food inside is cooked to perfection, sizzling with a great smell.

Wisca's Guangzhou branch is pictured in one scene of A Bite of China II. The most famous clay pot dish at the restaurant is tender-tasting eel. But it also offers oysters, fish head, and Beijing-style lamb slices with coriander in the pot.

For vegetables, Wisca prepares a spring cabbage and also a broccoli in pot. Both are cooked until very tender, yet they remain fresh because of the quick preparation.

Wisca soup in pot is also pictured in the CCTV documentary. Other signatures are steamed rice in clay pot and traditional sweet soups.

A must-try that's not on the show: the eatery's dessert, an unexpected papaya in clay pot with sugar. The preparation gives the fruit a pleasing caramelized flavor.

Another segment of A Bite of China II pictures a father in East China's Zhejiang province, who captures mudskippers for his daughter with a fishhook from 10 meters away. Mudskippers move very rapidly on tidal-flat area, "walking" with strong pectoral fins. They are small but really tender and tasty.

The fish are available at the Beijing branch of Xin Rong Ji, based in Zhejiang's coastal city Taizhou. The restaurant tops the fish with a layer of preserved vegetables, adding a lot of flavor.

Another sea delicacy, wangchao, a tiny octopus living in shallow seas, is also available here.

With its headquarters conveniently located in a coastal city, Xin Rong Ji has plenty of fresh seafoods to offer. Big mantis shrimp, jelly fish and whelk are served on a platter paved with ice as an appetizer. Deep-fried fresh hairtail and small yellow croaker comprise another nice cold dish.

The small yellow croaker has a tender steamed version that is also very worth trying. Steamed razor clam is surprising for its size and freshness.

For a staple food at Xin Rong Ji, try steamed black rice with sausage; for a nice dessert, ask for coconut and milk served in a fresh coconut shell.

In a seafood segment on A Bite of China II that's particularly touching, a young man returns from the city to inherit traditional oyster omelette-making from his father.

According to Tian Jing, general manager of Imperial Palace Restaurant in Beijing, the oyster omelette is a typical dish in Guangdong's Chaozhou and Shantou, known as gourmet capitals in the province. She says the dish is rich in amino acids - and helps to balance the liver and the yang factor in the body.

Tian says her restaurant provides many examples of the regional food style, which is known for dishes that are both delicious and nutritious.

Cold-spotted crab is one example. A fresh, full crab is boiled, and then immediately put into a refrigerator to seal its freshness before being served. Another recommended seafood option: braised sea cucumber with wild rice.

Imperial Palace offers many dishes made with natural produce. Some of the tastiest are Wutai Mountain's mushroom with potato slices, oil-braised fresh bamboo shoot from Tianmu Mountain, and a healthy morel with the "noble dendrobium", a nutritious herb believed to be good for the liver and kidneys.

Two typical Chaozhou and Shantou desserts are taro and sweet potato slices topped with syrup, and mashed taro with gingko nuts.

Founded in 1999, Imperial Palace is a middle- and high-end restaurant in Beijing known for providing consistent quality food and service.

Tian says the restaurant has inherited the region's gourmet traditions, just like the young man pictured in A Bite of China.

Contact the writer at yejun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/29/2014 page8)