Shanghai and Beijing Restaraunts

[nathanm]

I will be spending a few days in Beijing and Shanghai this fall, and would like some restaurant recommendations.

I am interested in high end cuisine - both traditional and "modernist" food. If there are Chinese chefs experimenting the way Heston Blumenthal or Ferran Adria do then I would like to find them.

I am interested in Chinese food however, not a purely western restaurant.

In Beijiing I have been told that Made in China has the best Peking Duck (despite being in a western hotel). South Silk Road, and a place called Tianda Yia Jia have also been recommended.

I have no recommendatinos for Shanghai yet.

[Ruth]

Nathan, while in Shanghai you should definitely go to the Whampoa Club on the Bund (I think it's number 3. The same building houses Jean-Georges - definitely not recommended). The Whampoa club has high-end ,very modern, Cantonese food. My husband and I had two very special meals there when we were last in Shanghai.

Ruth

[Peter Green]

Nathan,

Me again.

For high end, Shanghai is an excellent stop.

1. Pail Pairet's place,Jade on 36 at the Shangrila in Pudong. My friends in Shanghai had all voted this (last year) the chef to try. Given your parameters, if you do one place, do this.

2. T88 is also worth a visit. I had issues with the "nose in the air" attitude of the serving staff, but if you sit at the bar to the kitchen, you can ignore them and have an excellent time with the chefs.

3. I also give a hearty recommendation to M On The Bund. It's not cutting edge, by any means, but the service is excellent, the food is solid, and they've got a line on a very nice Chinese sourced caviar similar to an oscetra out of the West somewhere.

4. And, at the end of the night, you can do Absinthe on the Bund

I'll leave the other recs to the board.

If you go to only one place, do Jade On 36....for the roots of the city (and Shanghai was very much a European city) this place feels just about right to me.

But that's just me.

[Fengyi]

3. I also give a hearty recommendation to M On The Bund.  It's not cutting edge, by any means, but the service is excellent, the food is solid, and they've got a line on a very nice Chinese sourced caviar similar to an oscetra out of the West somewhere. 

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Hi! Aria in China World Beijing also has Heilongjiang caviare. :-) but I've not had it (yet).

Recently, I've been helping a magazine with an article in Food and Wine matching. We went to the Whampoa Club BJ and the Chinese restaurant in the new Chaoyang Westin.

Both were very good - but totally different styles. The Whampoa Club BJ is very interesting in its take on Beijing classic dishes - it's very innovative with a cuisine that's never really been pushed like that before. Downsides is that it's very expensive for what it is - but if price is not an issue, you can enjoy a very good high-end dinner there that is quite exciting.

We also went to Zen5es (MUCH better wine list than the Whampoa!) in the Chaoyang Westin. It is very very high end Cantonese. The samples we tasted were all delicious - very deftly executed by the chef Mr. Ho.

s'silk road is good - but it won't really blow you away with innovation. I usually regard it as a safe place to bring guests from abroad. It's not what I would call high end though.

I don't like Made in China myself - very badly done wine list and the duck is OK but not totally amazing. I much prefer Da Dong for innovative dishes (they do a lovley foiegras and aspic appetizer) and their duck.

Tiandi Yijia is supposed to be good (If you're not paying for it yourself!). It comes highly recommended by friends who work in the food and wine magazines here in BJ. I've never managed to swing an invite and it's not the sort of place I can afford.

If you're out by the Summer Palace - the newest Quanjude at Tsinghua Science park is surprisingly good with some very interesting dishes.

Meli Melo is a new fusion place where I've gone for business lunches - pretty good and interesting food.

Dingdingxiang is a MUST - very upmarket hotpot. Amazing foiegras and wagyu beef hotpot with great sauces.

A new development you should try and visit is 1949 The Hidden City. It's got quite a few restaurants in the complex with Duck de Chine praised.

Have a great visit.

[FDE]

I am interested in high end cuisine - both traditional and "modernist" food.  If there are Chinese chefs experimenting the way Heston Blumenthal or Ferran Adria do then I would like to find them.

I am interested in Chinese food however, not a purely western restaurant.

I have no recommendatinos for Shanghai yet.

←

Just got back from China, mainly Shanghai and Beijing for the Olympics. I did lots of research on high-end places. Click here for full details, but below is a quick summary:

I couldn’t find anything like Fat Duck nor El Bulli, but South Beauty, a Sichuan cuisine (i.e. spicy!), is a leader in the modern Chinese culinary culture. It now branched out all over China. Hot sauce is served on the side for most dishes, so it is suitable for people who can't take spice.

They have “tofu - 6 types of sauce” and a culinary interpretation of the “Four Treasures of Chinese Scholar”: Paper, Brush, Inkstick, and Inkstone

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One place you must visit in Beijing is Laoshe’s Teahouse.

It’s a museum, art gallery, tea house, theatre for performing art, restaurant for traditional Beijing dishes, and a luxurious restaurant upstairs. We went to the tea house / restaurant on ground floor. They have a large selection of tea-based dishes and authentic atmosphere of the old Beijing days.

We then went upstairs for a full 2-hour entertaining performance (booked 2-wks in advance) including comedians, singers, musicians, magicians, acrobats and opera performers and the famous "face-changing". Traditional Beijing tea snack was served to accompany the show.

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“Climb Great Wall and eat Peking Duck!”

Of course you will go to Made in China. There are few famous places for duck, but after talking to many local friends, seems like this is “the place”. We had the Peking Duck and the Beggar’s Chicken. Two of us can finish both - it’s really not that big.

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But it turns out that Bai Family Courtyard is the most memorable dining experience of the trip, if not in our life! Once you walk in, it’s a dream world! It took us back in time to experience the Qing Dynasty. It was the actual palace for Prince Li few hundred years ago.

Every palace girl passed by stopped and bowed with words "Nin Ji Xiang" meaning "Good Luck to You" - a proper greeting in the Qing Palace as if we were the Emperor and Empress. A team of 200+ palace girls divided into 7 levels, distinguished by their uniforms based on similar structure in the Forbidden City in Qing dynasty. We booked a private room for two with 3 girls standing by. They accompanied us for the whole evening. Trust me, the service here is impeccable… she removed all bones for us from our steamed whole fish. They would probably spoon-feed us if we requested!

We ordered one of the 10 Famous Chinese Tea served in an Emperor cup – “Tie Guan Yin” from “Ai Xi FuJian” for ¥80/cup. If you are careful enough, you can come out from this place with ¥400 for two. But it can easily be ¥4000+.

With the architecture, garden, music, painting, calligraphy, food, culture... this place is like a living movie!!

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Now Shanghai,

We visited both the legendary Family Li cuisine in Beijing and Shanghai. Long story short, math professor Li attracted enormous attention after winning a culinary competition among 2800 candidates using his secret recipes retrieved from Forbidden City by his grandfather. Strongly suggested by many supporters, they cleaned up their dining room and started serving one table each night. Initially, diners had to bring their own chopsticks and napkins.

With visitors like Bill Gates, Mohammed Ali, Jackie Chan, and many ambassadors, Li was able to expand from his house in Beijing.

The Beijing version is basically Mr. Li’s house. But they charged the same price for this odd location, no décor, unacceptable lavatory, and pretty much no service at all! If you really want to visit his Beijing home, just go for the cheapest menu and save the ¥2000 for a marvellous royal treatment at the Shanghai branch.

MORE PHOTOS / PRICE / RESTAURANT INFO OF ALL ABOVE MEALS HERE

Edited September 2, 2008 by FDE (log)

[rmillman]

My wife is from Shanghai and we travel their twice a year from Boston. We also love cutting edge food and were at El Bulli the same night as you last year.

I second Jade. Chef Pairet is really creative, uses xanthum and the like but with restraint. When you reserve, mention you are a food lover and ask for a window table.

Also Whompoa is a very impressive spin on Shanghainese food. JG is great and up to JG standards world wide but nothing you would not find elsewhere. We had only an ok meal at t8 but if you have an extra night it is worth a try since the chef is really trying (get a reservation for the tasting). We have been unerwhellmed by the other places on the bund (m, laris and sens and bund) and tend to end up in one of several cantonese "its alive" restaurants where you pick everything from tanks and cages so you know it is as fresh as it gets.

Other musts are:

xiao long bao

http://shanghaiist.com/2005/09/02/eat_me_yangs_fr.php

Crayfish, steamed fresh and a beer:

http://shanghaiist.com/2006/06/28/map_to_crayfish.php

Shanghai has a large open fish market (Tongjuan road) in Puxi where you can find row after row of amazing things and have them cooked onb the spot. It is in an area most Shanghainese do not go to but worth a trip for at least crabs and razor clams. It is in the process of being relocate and the new area (or even the old) may be checking out.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2008-08/...ent_6972360.htm

[Fengyi]

I couldn’t find anything like Fat Duck nor El Bulli, but South Beauty, a Sichuan cuisine (i.e. spicy!), is a leader in the modern Chinese culinary culture.  It now branched out all over China.  Hot sauce is served on the side for most dishes, so it is suitable for people who can't take spice.

They have “tofu - 6 types of sauce” and a culinary interpretation of  the “Four Treasures of Chinese Scholar”: Paper, Brush, Inkstick, and Inkstone   

I think that going to South Beauty should be treated with caution - like Quanjude, it's franchised and very variable. Some are good - some (like the one in Oriental Plaza at Wangfujing) are pretty bad. It's not actually only Sichuan - it's Cantonese as well. So there are plenty of dishes to chose from.

I don't rate it highly unless the particular branch has good chefs in. It's OK. It's the sort of place I go when I have coupons for half-price menu in my pocket. My local branch is quite reliable....and just about worth it for 1/2 price specials.

Chuanban knocks it for six....

Laoshe's Teahouse is VERY touristy! But if you like that kind of thing, it's fun enough (though the food is pretty average).

I haven't been to Baijia Cai for eleven years! I guess it must have got cleaner and more up-market! It looks a lot like a cleaner, better version of Fangshan - which has gone more and more downhill - maybe being owned by the Quanjude group doesn't help?!?!

BTW, went to Sadler's in the legation quarter for drinks - very pretty balcony on which to sip a glass or two of wine. But the word on the grapevine is that the food isn't very impressive for the money... someone I know spent 1000+RMB for lunch for three....

and I can get a killer jiamorou and a BIG bowl of noodles that taste great for 11RMB in my neighbourhood.... THAT'S value for money

Edited September 19, 2008 by Fengyi (log)