A mix of cultures for the price of one

"Few people do fusion well," Ji says, adding that "each ingredient on the plate should serve its purpose".

"It's all about understanding the cuisines, the cultures and mindsets you are dealing with way before you start trying to do fusion food.

"Some tend to copy and combine various bits of different cuisines, but have few of their own ideas. It's like drawing a tiger using a cat as a model", he says, quoting a Chinese proverb that means to copy a model more or less correctly but fail to capture its spirit.

Ji says he started doing fusion cuisine in 2004 when few people in Europe realized that it would become fashionable, even if, strictly speaking, the broad definition of fusion food dates back centuries, to periods and places in which cultures merged.

Ji boasts of his olfactory prowess, something he largely attributes to his mother having been a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner.