A culinary page-turner

Black-gold egg custard buns.[Photo by Mike Peters/China Daily]

The restaurant opened in 2015 as the lastest "concept" restaurant from the VOL Group (Ultraviolet, Mr & Mrs Bund, Bar Rouge) and Leung, the bon vivant chef, author and winemaker who may be best known in Shanghai for his involvement in the Whampoa Club at Three on the Bund.

The dining room's contemporary chic largely hides the rough-and-tumble origins of the site, a converted warehouse on the wharf now shared by a host of other chic eateries collectively known as The Cool Docks at the Wharf 1846 complex.

Leung's dishes are celebrations of original form and simplicity. He is not the sort of chef who reduces his ingredients to powders and pastes to make paintings on his plates. His dishes are artful, but they are elegant still-lifes, not abstractions.

Pu Ben, the Chinese name of the restaurant, is inspired by a quotation from the Taoist master Zhuang Zi: "Nothing is more beautiful than simplicity." Pu means "uncarved jade", while ben alludes to the notebook that Leung always carries with him to record cooking techniques and recipe ideas.

"From his culinary discoveries he has perfected a unique style inspired by all the cuisine of China," the menu exudes in Chinese. "Some say he keeps his secrets and all details of his technique in a mysterious cookbook that he has been carrying with him for years.'