Big or small, the tastes and flavors of the fish shipped in from the fresh waters of Hubei province are delighting diners at Qingshuiting, a newly-opened regional eatery in the capital, Li Yingxue reports.

Culter alburuns is a grumpy and panicky fish-but an extremely delicious one too. They are also picky about the quality of water they inhabit and they rarely survive outside of the waters of the Danjiang River Reservoir in Danjiangkou, Hubei province.

It's also rare for Hubei natives to catch a glimpse of the fish alive, let alone on a plate, so it's a privilege for diners at Qingshuiting, a newlyopened Hubei eatery in the capital, to see their fish before it's steamed and served up at their table within the space of just 13 minutes.

The live fish are transported from the reservoir to the capital by water truck-a 1,200-kilometer journey that takes nearly 20 hours.

"The fish is so fresh that it takes less time to steam than others," says head chef Liu Guanghu.

Liu has a few tricks to tell whether a fish is still alive before it's cooked. One clue is that their eyes tend to pop out rather than cave in when they are steamed alive. Another is that the flesh of the fresh fish spreads out like it's flying when it's steamed, rather than remain flat and listless.

Bighead carps and a kind of small shrimp are also shipped live from the Danjiang River Reservoir-they are tender and fresh due to the clear waters that lend them their unique flavor.

The water quality at Danjiang River is also crucial since it's the origin of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which was developed to irrigate the arid regions of the country.

More than 300,000 people were relocated as part of the project and the dam was raised and reinforced before the reservoir started to pump water northward in 2014.

Liu's family was among them-they had lived next to the Danjiang River for generations, but were forced to move to higher ground three times over the past 50 years.

"My great-grandfather moved the first time. And when I was born in 1982, our family moved for the second time. In 2011, we moved for a third time," Liu recalls.

Liu grew up near the river. He remembers catching small fish and shrimp in the nearby waters and having his mother make them into a beautiful dish for him.

He began to learn how to cook Hubei cuisine in 1999 and only moved to Beijing in April to prepare for the opening of Qingshuiting. He not only brings with him the flavors of his hometown but also a mastery of the skills to create them.

"On one hand, Hubei cuisine is heavy on seasoning and relies on ingredients like salt, shallots, ginger and garlic. On the other hand, the seasoning is only used to stimulate the original flavors of the main ingredients, whether it's fish or lotus roots," he says.

Opening two months ago at the China World Mall, Qingshuiting's interior decor features eight scenes of Junzhou, the former name of Danjiangkou-the town that now lies at the bottom of the Danjiang River Reservoir.

One of Liu's signature dishes is big fish head with camellia oil, where each fish head weighs around 2.5 to 3 kilograms and is more than 3 years old.

According to Liu, the low temperatures of the Danjiang River mean that the fish grows slowly, and their heads become bigger than their bodies over time.

He fries the fish heads in camellia oil at a temperature between 60 C to 80 C before stewing them for an hour in a spicy sauce-which is prepared separately-with boiling vegetables and fish bones.

"The correct order to enjoy the dish is to eat the fish lips first, then the cheeks, then suck the fish head,"Liu says.

At the end of the meal, diners usually dip baked bread made with fermented glutinous rice into the sauce, which makes for a tasty finish as it absorbs all essence of the flavor.

For the shrimp, which are usually deep-fried, Liu coats them in a sweet and spicy sauce so they turn crisp and retain more flavor.

Lotus roots grown in the Danjiang River area have a different flavor to any other kind. As well as the usual crunchy taste, they are also very glutinous-which makes a bowl of boiled lotus roots an ideal dish for a cold autumn night in the capital.

Qingshuiting's handmade sweet potato vermicelli is another must-try and features vegetables sourced from local farmers.

"It's extremely hard work to make sweet potato vermicelli by hand, as it can only be made once a year-the coldest time of the year-so that the vermicelli remains al dente," Liu explains.

In Hubei, the vermicelli is cooked with pork belly. Liu has updated this homemade delicacy by mincing the pork into a gravy sauce and stewing it along with the vermicelli to ensure that it's fully covered by the sauce and it absorbs the flavor of the meat.

Bamboo shoots from the Wudang Mountains are another key ingredient to Liu's cooking. The small, wild bamboo shoots can only be handpicked in spring, and Liu stores them carefully so he can use them throughout the year.

Other than the fish, 70 percent of the ingredients Liu uses in his kitchen are shipped in directly from Hubei, including the vegetables and pork. His aim is to offer his customers in Beijing the authentic flavors of his hometown, mixed in with a few memories of his childhood spent next to the river.