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Rustic restaurants make comeback by cooking the old-fashioned way
By Xu Wenwen |
January 19, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DELICACIES served on exquisite plates are so familiar to people nowadays that old-style cooking often intrigues epicureans.
Before gas cookers and microwaves were invented, Chinese people stacked firewood under large metal caldrons that were placed in a brick oven.
These large pots were great for cooking gravy, porridge and stewing meat because the long cooking time ensured the flavors mixed well.
Even today, some elderly people, especially those living in the suburbs, insist on cooking like this even though it is more time consuming than turning on a gas cooker.
People in cities may have forgotten this way of cooking but they can still try the results at restaurants offering food prepared in traditional ways.
This style of cuisine is called tucai, meaning rustic dish. Shanghai Daily tours around Hangzhou and finds some popular tucai restaurants.
Da Zhai Yuan Restaurant
This restaurant is decorated just like an old villa. It features a large traditional wooden gate with a large garden.
At the end of the garden there are a dozen large caldrons with various foods stewing. Most of them are hongshao dishes, meaning they are braised in soy sauce, such as pork braised with bamboo shoots, hongshao lamb, and hongshao ox hoof. Customers are encouraged to order food right there rather than reading a menu.
Surely ordering something from the big pot is a must, and get some mantou (Chinese steamed buns) to dip in the gravy of hongshao dishes.
Mantou, made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents, is common in China, but the reason that almost every customer orders it here is that the restaurant doesn't add any additives, thus they taste the way they did decades ago.
The restaurant also cooks fish and crab in traditional ways by steaming it with meigancai, a type of dry pickled Chinese mustard.
Recommended dishes: hongshao pork, hongshao ox hoof, Wangci fish steamed with meigancai, barbecued shrimp, mantou
Address: 589 Xixi Rd
Tel: (0571) 8512-3318
Nanshan Household Restaurant
At the base of Yuhuang Mountain, Nanshan Household is a high-end tucai restaurant with vintage chairs that feature 2-meter-tall backs and quaintly carved wooden tables.
It used to be a tradition that every household prepared preserved food in advance for the Lunar New Year. Customers here can order jiangya (duck preserved in soy sauce) and xianzhuti (pig feet preserved in salt) hanging in the corridor to air-dry.
The first floor of the restaurant has dozens of large pots with all kinds of meat boiling inside. Most are hongshao dishes.
Pork braised with tofu, pork braised with salted fish and hongshao pig's feet are all highly recommended.
They also have one specialty for bold diners. Xidan is a fertilized duck embryo boiled alive and eaten in the shell. Many Chinese are squeamish to try it. Xidan is considered an aphrodisiac by many and a high-protein, hearty snack.
The steamed dishes sell fast too despite higher prices. For example, the steamed weever, which costs over 100 yuan per 500 grams, is tender, but not too soft.
Interestingly, rice is also a must order in the restaurant as they steam it in a stainless lunch-box to ensure the best flavor.
Recommended dishes: hongshao pig's feet, steamed sausage,steamed weever, steamed corn and potato, rice
Address: No. 52, Kuo Shi Ban (near the China Silk Museum)
Tel: (0571) 8756-6008
Zao Feng Nian Jian Restaurant
By looking at the gate, people can see it is a rustic-style restaurant because of the khaki plaster wall, the crooked wooden window frames and the tall pots used as decoration out front.
In Chinese cuisine, most soups are simmered for a long time to condense the flavors, and crockery pots are believed to make nutritional and tasty soup.
Because these pots are chemically inert, meaning they do not introduce any chemicals or agents into the water even at high temperatures, the broth remains pure - quite an advantage that metal cookware does not have.
At this restaurant they serve kelp and pork rib soup, duck and pig tripe soup, cuttle and pork rib soup, mushroom and water chestnut soup, and chicken soup.
All soups are prepared in the morning and left simmering during the day so diners don't have to worry about long waiting time.
Some large caldrons contain long-simmered chicken feet and pig legs braised in soy sauce that can be served to customers anytime. Both are very gelatinous and tasty.
Also, Grandma's Sweet Niangao is a must order for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year. Niangao is made from glutinous rice and was prepared for the Spring Festival in old times. This version is light fried with sugar.
Recommended dishes: all soups, shrimp in a bucket, God's Chicken, chicken feet, Grandma's Sweet Niangao
Address: 126 Ding'an Rd
Tel: (0571) 8708-0755
Address: 51-1 Xia Manjuelong
Tel: (0571) 8577-9898
Before gas cookers and microwaves were invented, Chinese people stacked firewood under large metal caldrons that were placed in a brick oven.
These large pots were great for cooking gravy, porridge and stewing meat because the long cooking time ensured the flavors mixed well.
Even today, some elderly people, especially those living in the suburbs, insist on cooking like this even though it is more time consuming than turning on a gas cooker.
People in cities may have forgotten this way of cooking but they can still try the results at restaurants offering food prepared in traditional ways.
This style of cuisine is called tucai, meaning rustic dish. Shanghai Daily tours around Hangzhou and finds some popular tucai restaurants.
Da Zhai Yuan Restaurant
This restaurant is decorated just like an old villa. It features a large traditional wooden gate with a large garden.
At the end of the garden there are a dozen large caldrons with various foods stewing. Most of them are hongshao dishes, meaning they are braised in soy sauce, such as pork braised with bamboo shoots, hongshao lamb, and hongshao ox hoof. Customers are encouraged to order food right there rather than reading a menu.
Surely ordering something from the big pot is a must, and get some mantou (Chinese steamed buns) to dip in the gravy of hongshao dishes.
Mantou, made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents, is common in China, but the reason that almost every customer orders it here is that the restaurant doesn't add any additives, thus they taste the way they did decades ago.
The restaurant also cooks fish and crab in traditional ways by steaming it with meigancai, a type of dry pickled Chinese mustard.
Recommended dishes: hongshao pork, hongshao ox hoof, Wangci fish steamed with meigancai, barbecued shrimp, mantou
Address: 589 Xixi Rd
Tel: (0571) 8512-3318
Nanshan Household Restaurant
At the base of Yuhuang Mountain, Nanshan Household is a high-end tucai restaurant with vintage chairs that feature 2-meter-tall backs and quaintly carved wooden tables.
It used to be a tradition that every household prepared preserved food in advance for the Lunar New Year. Customers here can order jiangya (duck preserved in soy sauce) and xianzhuti (pig feet preserved in salt) hanging in the corridor to air-dry.
The first floor of the restaurant has dozens of large pots with all kinds of meat boiling inside. Most are hongshao dishes.
Pork braised with tofu, pork braised with salted fish and hongshao pig's feet are all highly recommended.
They also have one specialty for bold diners. Xidan is a fertilized duck embryo boiled alive and eaten in the shell. Many Chinese are squeamish to try it. Xidan is considered an aphrodisiac by many and a high-protein, hearty snack.
The steamed dishes sell fast too despite higher prices. For example, the steamed weever, which costs over 100 yuan per 500 grams, is tender, but not too soft.
Interestingly, rice is also a must order in the restaurant as they steam it in a stainless lunch-box to ensure the best flavor.
Recommended dishes: hongshao pig's feet, steamed sausage,steamed weever, steamed corn and potato, rice
Address: No. 52, Kuo Shi Ban (near the China Silk Museum)
Tel: (0571) 8756-6008
Zao Feng Nian Jian Restaurant
By looking at the gate, people can see it is a rustic-style restaurant because of the khaki plaster wall, the crooked wooden window frames and the tall pots used as decoration out front.
In Chinese cuisine, most soups are simmered for a long time to condense the flavors, and crockery pots are believed to make nutritional and tasty soup.
Because these pots are chemically inert, meaning they do not introduce any chemicals or agents into the water even at high temperatures, the broth remains pure - quite an advantage that metal cookware does not have.
At this restaurant they serve kelp and pork rib soup, duck and pig tripe soup, cuttle and pork rib soup, mushroom and water chestnut soup, and chicken soup.
All soups are prepared in the morning and left simmering during the day so diners don't have to worry about long waiting time.
Some large caldrons contain long-simmered chicken feet and pig legs braised in soy sauce that can be served to customers anytime. Both are very gelatinous and tasty.
Also, Grandma's Sweet Niangao is a must order for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year. Niangao is made from glutinous rice and was prepared for the Spring Festival in old times. This version is light fried with sugar.
Recommended dishes: all soups, shrimp in a bucket, God's Chicken, chicken feet, Grandma's Sweet Niangao
Address: 126 Ding'an Rd
Tel: (0571) 8708-0755
Address: 51-1 Xia Manjuelong
Tel: (0571) 8577-9898
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