The first thing you notice at Suiyi Garden restaurant isn’t the food. It’s the ornate traditional garden. There’s certainly no hint that this restaurant feeds more than 2,000 guests a day. And we are talking fine dining.
While the entrance reminds you of a bygone era, there is no real sign of the theatre happening inside the kitchen. And even though you can sense the pressure of so many mouths to feed, the scene inside is not one of chaos, In fact everything feels choreographed. Chefs stand in a row. Woks move in rhythm, plates pass hand to hand, every station does exactly one thing, exceptionally well. Standing in the middle of this hive of activity is Master Chef Tan Guohui, the conductor of this food symphony. And I was to sit next to him at dinner along with my fellow foodie journalists, many like me, experiencing authentic Chinese cuisine for the first time.
Meet Master Chef Tan Guohui
Master Chef Tan Guohui is a chef renowned not only across China but on the world stage — and dining at his table in Foshan stands as one of the most memorable food experiences of my life. As a journalist, I’ve enjoyed countless remarkable meals throughout my career, but few have stayed with me the way this food memory has.
The city where Cantonese cuisine was born
Foshan sits just southwest of Guangzhou in China’s Pearl River Delta, and among food lovers it needs no introduction: this is widely regarded as the cradle of Cantonese cooking, the region that gave the world the cuisine so many of us grew up thinking we knew from our local Chinese restaurant.
Spoiler: we didn’t. Not even close. In October, 2024, I travelled to Foshan as a guest of Lee Kum Kee — the family company behind the accidental invention of oyster sauce in 1888 — as part of the very first group of Australian journalists the brand had brought to China. We were able to experience authentic Chinese cuisine at the source, and to step inside Lee Kum Kee’s vast production base in Xinhui. It was an extraordinary trip, and one that has bonded the group. Two years on, if we ever cross paths we reminisce about how incredible it was. For me the revelation was that at Suiyi Garden, we experienced how different China’s finest cuisine is to what we have come to know at home. Unfortunately, we only experience a fraction of the depth and precision at work in a masterful Cantonese kitchen like this.
A feast built on balance
Chef Tan is a culinary force in Foshan and is famous in mainland China. What struck us about his cooking mastery was not just the taste but the dedication to every dish being perfectly plated. His cuisine reflected skill, and a deep respect for tradition and local ingredients.
We savoured lacquered duck with skin like burnished mahogany, seafood so fresh it barely needed adornment, and delicacies lifted by Lee Kum Kee sauces that have been perfected over generations. Nothing was drowned in sauce or heat. Every plate was an exercise in restraint which, I came to understand, is precisely the point.
Chef Tan’s philosophy rests on three principles: balance, freshness and subtlety. They’re the same principles that have made Cantonese cuisine celebrated the world over, and at his table you taste why. The flavour of the ingredient always comes first; the chef’s job is to reveal it, not rewrite it.
Behind the pass: a masterclass in discipline
The most special moment was prior to our meal when Chef Tan invited us into his kitchen — and our group of food journalists watched the master in action with awe.
It’s one thing to be told a chef is revered in China and celebrated globally; it’s another to stand a few feet away and to dine alongside him to understand why. There is an authority he harnesses in his kitchen, and everyone knows who is the king, but away from there I discovered a man with an easy laugh and a cheeky grin.
Feeding 2,000 guests a day without a single drop in consistency, flavour or presentation is a logistical feat most restaurateurs would consider impossible. Watching Chef Tan and his team at work was mesmerising. The discipline, the teamwork and the artistry; drilled into every movement. Each cook knew their role. Each dish left the pass looking identical to the one before it. It was a rare glimpse behind the curtain of authentic Cantonese dining at scale.
Why foodies should visit Suiyi Garden, Foshan
If you love food, Foshan deserves a place on your itinerary — not as a day trip afterthought from Guangzhou or Hong Kong, but as a destination in its own right. The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge has made the Greater Bay Area remarkably easy to explore, and the reward for venturing beyond the familiar is a version of Cantonese cuisine you simply cannot get anywhere else.
By the end of my meal at Suiyi Garden, one thing was clear: I’ll never look at “Chinese food” the same way again. Some meals feed you; a rare few change you. This was one of them — and that, for me, represents the joy of travel.
Robyn Foyster travelled to Hong Kong and Foshan as a guest of Lee Kum Kee, as part of the first group of Australian journalists hosted by the brand in China. Read her full travel diary, A Week of Food Adventures From Hong Kong to Foshan, on The Carousel.