... China Max?

Hua Hui Huang got his first cooking lessons from his mother when he was about eight years old and began helping her in the kitchen. As he told Food, "Mother's home-style food was very good." Twenty years later, he can still be found in the kitchen, but this time it's at China Max restaurant in Orchid Village Plaza along Barbican Road, St Andrew.

Specialising in Cantonese and working seven days a week, it's hard for Huang to get much time to cook at home. But with his free time he likes to go out and try different foods. Living in Jamaica for eight years, he loves oxtail and has added it to the wide range of dishes he has mastered.

Another such dish is butterfly chicken. A new addition to tastebuds in his homeland China, it will make its Jamaican debut during The Gleaner-sponsored Restaurant Week November 13-21. The chicken wings are de-boned, then stuffed with shrimp. It is then steamed, pan fried and smothered in a special honey-based sauce. With 15 ingredients, the sauce for this dish is very important. It is served with your choice of rice and vegetables. Give it a try and wake up your tastebuds with something new this year during Restaurant Week.

-Nashauna Drummond