When it comes to Chinese food, I judge restaurants by their fried rice. If a kitchen can’t turn out a good fried rice, the rest of the food will be pretty lousy too.

Different people have different ways of judging a restaurant. Some Europeans will tell you that the true test of a kitchen is the quality of the stock. If that’s no good, then nothing – the soups, the sauces, the flavours etc. – will taste right. Read more