Beautifully done wonderful recipes stunning presentation a pleasure to read and to cook from.#netgalley #murdochbooks

Hmmm… I didn't know whether this book would feature the seriously real, echt Chinese cuisine, or a nice bundle of fake-away recipes. It proved to be a bit of both, and with the introduction asking a load of restaurant workers what Chinese cooking meant to them, it certainly proves it comes with an eye to advertising an established eatery. Said place is in Paris, where the author grew up, but this really doesn't seem to be fusion cooking at all, rather some traditional, regional Chinese dishes. Oh, and an egg tart that won't seem a million miles away from Lisbon.

In the finish I ended up snapping quite a few of these recipes for potential later dinners, from a novel potato salad to cumin beef to lion's heads. But it took some time to get there – not, as I predicted, from all the waffle about the creator's "journey" and inspirational visits to blind yogi halfway up a mountain, sharing their culinary knowledge as they only had a half share in a goat to talk to otherwise. No, I was kept on hold because a lot of the early matter was defining the ingredients for us (perhaps useful for those that can only be bought in a Chinese store), and then the bulk of recipes were things I lacked interest in, such as making my own bao buns. I know the clue is in the title, but with eight regions to highlight I thought we'd get a greater spread of mains.

What we did get is enough, however, to take us through the day, from fried egg and rice as a breakfast to even starchier things for later on. (Apparently the Chinese don't drink, or only tea.) What will rankle with some, as it did with me, is the layout. Each dish gets a full-page photo (except the complex beef soup that took a whole spread of text, and so had a full spread of image) – this in itself is no bad thing, perhaps, but might be thought wasteful. The thing was, the ingredients come – with very little flannel indeed – at the top of the page, with the technique and recipe coming at the end of the page, sort of bottom justified. So when you get a dish with about three things in it there is enough 'arty' room to drive a bus between the ingredients list and our instructions. It looks daft, over-pompous, and on the high-falutin' side.

Mind you, every spread of that ingredient guide I mentioned above came with its own double-paged image, and there are random photo gallery inserts here, there and everywhere, to show some kind of prestige. All of this means I could well get a lot out of this, and so could many a cook dipping their toes into Chinese cooking. But for a value for money, exhaustive bank of Chinese recipes, I would suggest looking elsewhere. There is none of the charged, spicy take-away spirit here, none of the earthy wok hai, and not even a spoonful of MSG. It feels a more staid affair, all told – so perhaps it has fused with some Parisians after all. Three and a half star anise.

Wow, what a fantastic book. Such amazing recipes all laid out in an attractive format. The food looks delicious and a good mix of easy to harder recipes that really capture the cuisine. Some well known favourites and some new flavours too.

Thank you for the ARC of this beautiful book!

I absolutely love Asian food and often find replicating recipes rather difficult, but the lay out, images and creativity here is superb!

Its got to be visually one of the nicest cookbooks I have read in a couple of years!!

100% recommend!!

I really like the story of the Chinese and Paris fusion. The cookbook would be an encyclopaedic view for those looking for classical Chinese cooking. There are so many unique dishes that you won't see on your local takeaway menu but all sound delicious. Great explanations of ingredients and how to cook so you could feel confident cooking something adventurous!

This books is as stunning as it is delicious. Not only the style and design of the book is modern and fun, but the recipes are straightforward, easy to follow and delicious. Very informative and done with care, I can't wait to keep trying these recipes.
Thank you to NetGalley and Murdoch Books for providing me with an e-ARC.