Why does oyster brine replace soy sauce in Zhanjiang-style wok-fried beef?

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Oyster brine is used to give the dish a cleaner, brinier flavour that highlights Zhanjiang’s oysters.

Chef Justin Tan said he uses in-house oyster brine instead of soy sauce for the wok-fried beef because it delivers a “pure, savoury, briny flavour.” The brine is reduced from oysters and sits one step before becoming oyster sauce, so it carries a more direct seafood taste than a standard soy-based seasoning.
The flavour goal is tied to Zhanjiang’s coastal identity.
Zhanjiang is a small coastal city in Guangdong, and Tan’s cooking keeps bringing that hometown character onto the plate. In this dish, the oyster brine is meant to showcase the city’s famous oysters rather than mask them with a darker, more general seasoning profile.
The brine is made in-house and reduced from oysters.
Tan explained that the oyster brine is prepared in-house and reduced until it is one step away from oyster sauce. That process concentrates the oyster flavour and gives the beef a savoury, briny finish.
The result is a different seasoning profile from soy sauce.
Soy sauce usually brings saltiness, fermented depth, and a darker colour, while oyster-based seasoning leans more toward seafood sweetness and brine. In this wok-fried beef, that difference is what makes the dish taste distinct and closely linked to Zhanjiang’s coastal ingredients.
The dish is part of a broader hometown-led menu.
At The House of Dynasties in Rosewood Beijing, Tan’s Zhanjiang background appears across the menu, including Anpu-style poached chicken and Zhanjiang-style fried lobster. The wok-fried beef is the simplest example, but it is also the clearest one of how his hometown flavours shape the restaurant’s Cantonese cooking.

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Why does oyster brine replace soy sauce in Zhanjiang-style wok-fried beef?

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