Top restaurants serve up fresh seasonal dishes
Print Edition
FROM crisp bamboo shoots to tender broad beans, the fleeting season of spring offers a once-a-year opportunity to enjoy some of nature’s tastiest gifts. Chinese cuisine emphasizes using seasonal ingredients at the right time of year, and local chefs strive to create dishes that reflect the flavors of each season. With March now upon us, the top Chinese kitchens in Shanghai are launching new menus to make the most of the spring ingredients.
Yong Yi Ting, Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai
Spring is the favorite time of year for many food lovers. Celebrity chef Tony Lu, who is a consultant chef at the one-Michelin-starred restaurant Yong Yi Ting at Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai, has crafted a new menu for the season.
Unique amongst Shanghai hotel restaurants, Yong Yi Ting showcases cuisine from regions south of the Yangtze River.
A creative dim sum dish is steamed dumplings filled with minced vegetable, egg yolk, morel mushroom and minced ham, which carries out the color of spring.
Foodies can also sample the newly created main dishes such as pan-fried chicken patty with minced leek, braised diced channel fish with scallion sauce, sauteed king prawn with water chestnut and cherry in spicy sour sauce and stewed sea bass ball with minced shepherd’s purse sauce. Chef Lu specializes in highlighting delicate seasonal flavors while incorporating his own ideas inspired by modern gastronomy.
Yong Yi Ting’s elegant design is inspired by imperial Chinese culture. The restaurant also features a chef’s table with a show kitchen for special meals and cooking demonstrations, plus a wine cellar with an extensive global selection of fine wines as well as a private tasting table. Guests can also enjoy an array of premium Chinese teas.
Address: LG level, Mandarin Oriental Pudong, 111 Pudong Rd S.
Tel: 2082-9978
Email: mopud-yongyiting@mohg.com
Hai Pai, Andaz Xintiandi, Shanghai
Amid the blossoms of springtime, the acclaimed Shanghainese restaurant Hai Pai at Andaz Xintiandi is offering new seasonal dishes filled with refreshing tastes and the colors of spring.
For appetizers, bean curd roll with ma lan tou (kalimeris, a wild vegetable in spring) and bean curd in Chinese toon paste are two dishes that can revive the taste buds with the flavors of spring. Another seasonal appetizer is roasted duck breast with sun-dried vegetables and peanuts.
Spring is the best season for bamboo shoots, thanks to their natural and delicate flavor. Hai Pai has created a braised eel, salted pork and fresh bamboo shoots dish that combines umami flavors from the ingredients.
Other main dishes for the spring season include steamed yellow wine marinated cod fish and morel, traditional double-boiled salted pork with egg dumpling and dried bean curd in pottage, as well as the deep-fried pork rib with secret recipe and homemade prime sauce.
Address: 88 Songshan Rd
Tel: 2310-1700
Xindalu–China Kitchen, Hyatt on the Bund
Xindalu–China Kitchen prides itself on offering authentic Chinese regional cuisine, which is complemented by a fine selection of Chinese and international wines and teas. The restaurant’s spring menu is an ode to seasonal Chinese ingredients and flavors.
Highlights of the menu include wok-fried spring bamboo shoots with pea sprouts, shrimp roe, golden-fried king prawns served with egg yolk and garlic, and homemade Chinese gnocci with lobster in a superior broth.
Featuring an open kitchen with four live cooking stations, the culinary action at Xindalu is visible to all guests, adding a flair of entertainment to the restaurant with chic and modern ambience. The restaurant’s signature dishes include Peking duck roasted in the wood-fired oven, delicious beggar’s chicken and the pyramid braised pork.
Address: Level 1, East Tower, Hyatt on the Bund, 199 Huangpu Rd
Tel: 6393-1234 ext.6318
Dragon Phoenix Restaurant, Fairmont Peace Hotel
Native Shanghainese Chef Ma Haocheng will offer his special spring dishes at Fairmont Peace Hotel’s Dragon Phoenix Restaurant from March 31 to May 30.
As Shanghainese dishes are famous for their spring freshness, new creations such as deep-fried shrimp with soy sauce and minced garlic, steamed coilia fish with premier soy sauce, and Shanghai-style hot pot soup with salty pork belly, tofu and spring bamboo can bring back the vim and vigor of diners after winter’s slumber. Dragon Phoenix Restaurant is dedicated to presenting both classic Chinese dishes and contemporary creations. It also offers a magnificent view of the Bund, Huangpu River and the Pudong skyline.
Address: 20 Nanjing Rd E.
Tel: 6138-6880
Gui Hua Lou, Pudong Shangri-La, East Shanghai
In a culinary tribute to spring and its bounty, Chinese Executive Chef Gao Xiaosheng at Gui Hua Lou takes diners on a gastronomic journey along the Yangtze River, one brimming with surprises of fresh river seafood.
Originally from Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, Gao has 30 years of culinary experience specializing in Huaiyang cuisine, which is characterized by meticulous knife skills, fresh ingredients and light flavors.
This spring, he is focusing on the saury, also known as the knife fish, one of the four delicacies of Yangtze River. The fish’s delicate flavor has a hint of sweetness, and is best enjoyed this time of year. The scarcity of saury fish also makes it one of the most expensive fishes in the country.
Guests can choose from steamed saury (298 yuan, US$43.3), braised saury in brown sauce (298 yuan) and saury dumplings in a nourishing broth (168 yuan/3 pieces).
Other seasonal offerings include sautéed river shrimps which are lightly flash-fried to preserve their sweetness, steamed or sautéed river prawns, sautéed river clams with preserved port, as well as sautéed river clams with pork stomach and river fish soup.
The spring menu is available from now till April 30.
Address: 33 Fucheng Rd
Tel: 6882-8888 ext. 6888
Email: fbreservation.slpu@shangri-la.com
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