Adventure, an inventive restaurant in China’s coastal city of Xiamen, blends Fujian and Sichuan flavors into a global voice – one that deserves wider notice.
Founder and chef Esther Hou, 30, is a Chengdu native whose path began in France. After high school, she trained in classical French cuisine, spending a decade in fine dining before refining his craft at Denmark’s three Michelin-starred institutions such as Geranium and Alchemist.
Love brought Hou to the Fujian province – a region that settles between mountains and sea. She reimagines Fujian’s mountain-to-sea terroir with the quintessential Sichuan accents, executed with fine-dining precision that makes every dish feel fresh and intentional.
Adventure’s finesse extends to its thoughtful tea pairing. Tea sommelier Rita Ye aligns with Hou’s whimsical minds, selecting teas that sharpen, soften, or amplify each plate.
Sustainability is practiced as a daily discipline. Raised on Gulangyu Island, Rita integrates environmental care into every detail, including the used tea leaves that are re-extracted for warm pre-meal tea towels, recycled tea grounds and milk cartons being transformed into paper menus, shrimps from satay sauce which are used for feeding stray cats, and the kitchen operates at near zero waste.
For the team, sustainability is built through small, consistent acts – less single-use plastic, mindful water use, day after day.