American Piper Stremmel collects recipes from chefs in Shanghai, where she lived for more than two years, to come up with the book Shanghai Chefs: A Cookbook. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Stremmel, 30, initially feared she'd be lucky to pry any recipes from chefs, a famously secretive breed－especially Chinese chefs, who don't promote themselves as much as Western chefs might.

She was pleasantly surprised.

"Some top chefs, especially Scott Melvin at The Commune Social, were excited about the project right away," she says, "and because they were on board, that opened a lot of doors". She believes many chefs share her sense that Shanghai is under-appreciated as a food city, which made them more eager to be part of the book.

The result is a visual feast of mouth-watering photographs, including Taiwan-style deep-fried duck legs from Jian Guo, wild boar ravioli from Table No 1, piquillo peppers stuffed with cod from Elefante, and Mount Ka-la grilled pork from Lost Heaven.

Then there are the mole tacos from Hai.

"I'm a huge fan of Brad Turley and his restaurants Hai and Goga," she says, noting that Turley is a California native like herself. ("Goga" is his shortening of Golden Gate, San Fransisco's famous bridge.) "He's a larger-than-life character who comes out and greets diners after every meal. The Goga kitchen is open and it's easy for customers to interact with the kitchen crew, and Brad's California fusion dishes also reminded me of home."