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- The Modern Style Of Chinese Traditional Cuisine (part I)
The Modern Style Of Chinese Traditional Cuisine (part I)
Chinese metaphors Su and Zhe cuisine as the delicate south beauty, Lu and Wan cuisine as the simple north man, Yue and Min cuisine as stylish gentlemen, and Chuan and Xiang cuisine as knowledgeable intellectuals. Modern Chinese cuisine carries on the character of these eight traditional images and renovates its style to adapt the trend.
The most significant Chinese cuisine would be Lu cuisine. The classic Lu cuisine is based upon Ji Nan, Jiao Dong and Confucius styles. According to the Zhou Dynasty “The book of Songs”, gurnard and carp fishes were the most popular dishes. The soup of Lu cuisine is light and tasty, often of a very particular cream-color. Jiao Dong style specializes in sea food cooking as its original chefs lived on the sea coast.
Recommended restaurant: The Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Shanghai, Tel: 21 68867886
As the sister restaurant of Tang Court, a 2-star Michelin restaurant in Hong Kong, the Tang Court in Langham Yangtze Boutique Shanghai brings the exquisite and original Yue cuisine to Shanghai. The chef here is called Tang Court’s father. He has more than 20 years of experience in this field which would explain the exquisite taste of each dish, some have even gained famous awards.
Rich salty chicken is one of the most famous and popular dishes. Its skin is smooth yet crispy, tasty and far from greasy. Inspired by Beijing’s roast-duck, this chicken is soft but chewy. Any additional condiment would be unnecessary as you will feel the proper balanced salty flavour inside your mouth.
The specificity of Yue cuisine is its skilful handling of fresh ingredients from a variety of locations. Although it contains many different styles within its cuisine, it always lies close to its traditional concept. Yue cuisine also has delightful snacks such as shrimp dumpling, rice dumpling, sticky rice chicken, vegetable dumpling, pork bun, cream cake, crab bun, fried taro, fried rice noodle, seafood rice noodle, congee, radish cake, fried pork, chicken feet, etc. The Osmanthus restaurant in Pudong Shangrila Hotel blends the traditional cooking with a creative twist. They present 58 different snacks not only with the Yue style but equally with the Shanghai, Si Chuan and Huai Yang styles.
Recommended restaurants:
Tang Court: 2/F Langham Yangtze Boutique Hotel, 740 Han Kou Road Shanghai. Tel: 21 60800800
Osmanthus Restaurant: 1/F Pudong Shangrila Hotel, 33 Fu Chen Road Shanghai Tel: 21 6882 8888
Lei Garden: 3/F World Financial Center, 8 Century Boulevard Shanghai, Tel: 51061688
Zen: No. 2 Building Xin Tian Di South Block, Lane 123 Xing Ye Road, Shanghai Tel: 63856385
Noble Cellar Restaurant: 4/F Merchant Building, 161 Lu Jia Zui Road East, Shanghai Tel: 58793088
Tang Palace: 2/F Galaxy Hotel, 888 Zhong Shan Road West, Shanghai Tel: 62198898
Hui cuisine is originally from An Hui province. It has very much been influenced by local culture. People in An Hui like to drink tea all year long, which would explain why Hui cuisine is quite oily and generally cooked with a huge fire.
The main stream of Hui cuisine is the Wan Nan style. The representative dishes are steamed horseshoe turtle, Huang mountain steamed pigeon, salty mandarin fish, black source civet cat, Hui zhou bean cured, peach blossom sauce pork, etc.
Shanghai Hui Club is famous for its Huang mountain smelly mandarin fish. The fish is a typical local fish called Peach Blossom Mandarin Fish. Each year, when the peach tree begins to blossom, the mandarin fish swirling in the spring water is ready to be cooked. Salted with pork sauce through the traditional cooking method, this dish will indulge you with an exceptionally fine smell. Based on the legendary story of “The King bidding farewell to his wife”, the creative turtle steamed with chicken makes people think about the legend whilst enjoying this unique dish.
Shanghai Hui Club: 2266 Hong Qiao Road Shanghai, tel: 21 62420298
Jiang Su cuisine combines styles from different places in Jiang Su province. Apart from the daily dishes, it has some interesting ways to define its style. Boat style includes the regions of Lake Tai, Slim Xi Hu, Qing Huai River whilst House style belongs to Zhenjiang Jin mountains, Jiaoshan, Suzhou Lin yan and Yangzhou Daming Temple. Complete style is a banquet dish exclusively containing fish, duck and crab.
According to its flavour, Jiang Su cuisine is divided into light Huangyang style, balanced Jinlin style, savoury Suzhou and Wuxi style and enticing Xuhai style.
Mr. Wang Shoushan was the Executive Chef of Shanghai Broadway Mansion Hotel. He was a famous Chef for Huai Yang cuisine in Shanghai. He had served in famous families, and therefore understood the well-being of celebrities. Now his fellows in Shanghai Broadway Mansion Hotel want to remodel the best of his dishes in order to let more people enjoy the elegant and ambrosial tradition. They have created “Celebrity Banquet” and have combined Huaiyang cuisine with northern Family Tan cuisine. It uses simple products and cooks them with such a superb style it would impress even the most selective guests.
Shanghai Broadway Mansion Hotel: 20 North Suzhou Road Shanghai, tel: 63246260
