Much like a Chinese restaurant can be found in pretty much every major city around the world, there’s usually an Irish pub in these same places. Such is the power of Irish soft culture.

Known for their “gift of the gab,” Irish people are often pleasant and humorous. Pubs are a gathering place serving a great selection of alcoholic beverages and hearty meals that provide comfort to Westerners away from home.

Irish cuisine has much more to offer than stews and potatoes. The island offers gourmands a great selection of fresh seafood, lamb and vegetables that are often grown on organic farms.

Irish food and world famous beverages like Guinness, Baileys Irish Cream and various whiskeys play a role in promoting the island’s culture and lifestyle in Shanghai.

Graeme Allen and Brendon Brophy, both Irish natives, are veterans in the Shanghai hospitality industry.

Shanghai has several Irish pubs and with a bit of luck and good timing, you’ll meet a native from the Emerald Isle who regales you with some of the best stories you’ve ever heard.

Brendan Brophy

Brendan Brophy, 48, is an Irish chef and entrepreneur. He owns the Camel, a sports pub with two locations, and is co-founder of both Blarney Stone Sports Pub and the DOC Italian Restaurant. He has won more than 150 international culinary awards.

Brophy also organizes the Saint Patrick’s Day Ball, the most popular black-tie ball among Irish expats in town. This year’s ball will be held on next Saturday, March 21. The ball attracts up to 800 people every year.

Brophy came to Shanghai in 1998 as a chef at an Irish bar and is married to a Chinese woman. Many Irish people call him “Mr. Shanghai” since he “knows well” about the city. He talks to Shanghai Daily and shares his home recipe.

Q: Could you choose one food and one drink that represent an authentic Irish lifestyle?

A: I think for sure it’s Guinness (an Irish black beer), the most famous black beer in the world. It is unique in texture. Compared with other popular beers in Shanghai, Guinness features less bubbles and a smoother taste. A small amount of Guinness is good for pregnant women because it contains much iron.

For Irish food, Shepherd’s pie is very typical. It is a dish consisting of minced lamb covered with a layer of mashed potato. The dish, invented by farmers in Ireland, is easily made. Irish stew is also representative. Traditionally, mother starts stewing in the morning and leaves it cooking all day long to let all the ingredients release their flavors. When dinner time comes, the stew is done.

Q: What makes Irish cuisine distinctive?

A: As for ingredients, I suppose the food most eaten is potato. Irish people eat them at least once a day, like rice in China. Meat is also quite popular, especially lamb, beef and pork. Plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and green grass in Ireland give our beef and lamb a concentrated taste. Ireland is also an island country producing quality seafood, especially lobster and salmon, which tastes nice thanks to the cool sea climate.

Irish culinary style is influenced by different European cultures. For instance, some traditional Irish foods are more like German food, using a lot of pork and potatoes.

We insist on simple cooking without using too much seasoning and fragrance. There is no need doing too much to really good meat or fish, which would cover the original flavor. I do believe that the more natural the better. But there is an exception, the black pudding. The recipe is slightly different from that in British breakfast. We tend to use more spices and barley.

Q: Where can people source Irish produce in Shanghai?

A: We source Irish produce from Carrefour, Metro, City Shop and Times Grocery.

Q: What are the highlights of Irish drinks?

A: We are No. 1 for drinking tea, usually black tea. Irish people usually drink more tea than Chinese people. We also drink coffee. Irish coffee is authentic in Shanghai. What you taste here is just what you can get in Ireland.

Further, Irish whiskey is special not just because Irish people invented whiskey but because it is distilled three times.

American whiskey is only distilled one time while Scottish whiskey is distilled two times.

Graeme Allen

Graeme Allen has lived and worked in China since 1994 — starting with Starwood and Shangri-La hotels — and settled down in Shanghai five years later with his wife Zhang Lee.

They now own the Flying Fox Gastro Pub in Jinqiao, Pudong New Area. The pub serves everything from traditional black pudding and stews, along with the latest dishes from Ireland that have been influenced by other cultures.

The 72-year-old has previously worked for the Irish tourism board and has devoted himself to promoting Irish culture in China.

He has also written the book, “Is That Fat Foreigner Rich?,” detailing his adventures in China.

The pub’s name comes from Jing Yong’s kongfu novel “Flying Fox in Snow Mountain.”

“I think it’s easy for Chinese to understand,” Allen says.

Allen has chosen Jinqiao simply because he lives in the area and there is a large expatriate community since a British international school is nearby.

Flying Fox was originally a sports pub, but Allen says he decided to turn it into a gastro pub to compete with other bars in the area. His wife even went back to Ireland to study cooking at Ballymaloe Cookery School, which is owned by Allen’s cousin.

Lee says she wants to represent modern Irish dining with her cooking.

“Irish food is not just potatoes and stews, there is a strong expression of freshness,” Lee says.

But Allen insists that some traditional dishes remain on the menu. They share their story with Shanghai Daily.

A (Graeme Allen) L (Zhang Lee)

Q: What’s your definition of an Irish pub?

A: It’s necessary to know its origin if you want to completely understand Irish pub culture. The word pub comes from “public houses,” showing its original function. They acted as social and community centers particularly for our rural communities.

Q: How do you identify an Irish pub?

A: Relaxed and not too noisy ambience and of course without any commercial TV screen. Irish pubs provide some of the world’s most famous drinks, represented by Murphy’s (a dry Irish stout featuring a smooth and creamy taste), Guinness stout (featuring a burnt flavor coming from roasted unmalted barley), Jameson and Bushmill’s whiskeys and Baileys Irish Cream, which we usually drink with ice.

Generally, there are three kinds of Irish pubs: sports, music and gastro.

Q: What makes Flying Fox distinctive?

A: It strongly expresses its Irish genes. The decor is highlighted by my antique collection, showing the three most important elements of Irish culture — writing, music and outdoor activities.

There’s a wall with portraits of famous writers such as James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Brendan Behan, whom all wrote stories centered on the pub.

There’re also some old musical instruments such as a fiddle on the wall to show respect to Irish music pubs, where musicians get together for a ‘session’ as we call it, which are usually spontaneous. They are not paid, but the pub owner usually buys them a few rounds of drinks, as do some of the patrons who come to listen to the music.

Some old postcards demonstrate Irish football while others are old maps of Ireland dating back to 1600, filled with mountains suitable for hiking.

I add some personal touches, including my family crest and an old postcard printing the landscape of Clifden, a village in Galway, my hometown.

Q: Please explain Irish gastronomy?

A: Irish cuisine is based on fresh vegetables, seafood, beef, pork, lamb, traditional soda bread, the wide range of cheeses that are now being made across the country and of course the potato, introduced into Ireland in 1589. Traditional dishes such as Irish stew, coddle and black pudding have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity.

Q: What is Flying Fox’s signature dishes?

L: Firstly I think the popularity of Irish pubs globally make many people misunderstand the food, considering it simply stew and potatoes. After studying at Ballymaloe Cookery School, I found that it’s not true. Irish chefs make top quality salads, terrine and pastas. Although they absorb diverse culinary ideas from other countries they haven’t lost their Irish desire for quality and fresh ingredients like seafood since it is surrounded by the sea and vegetables from organic farms.

I practice the Irish food philosophy in my restaurant, pursuing fresh as much as possible and shortening the shelf life of ingredients. I don’t choose imported seafood but prefer local produce to avoid losing freshness that is destroyed in transit.

Except Irish stew, which needs to be prepared one day in advance, all the dishes here are daily fresh. We don’t use any frozen or pre-prepared food. All the bread, pasta, even the pesto and chutney are freshly made.

I write a blackboard menu everyday, listing some off-the-menu dishes freshly made according to daily ingredients.

In terms of dishes on the menu, I recommend black pudding with apple and a poached egg and veal kidneys on homemade brown bread. There’s also a mixed green salad with goat cheese and parma ham, which I think tastes very sexy, with all the flavors making a perfect balance.

Q: How do you celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in Shanghai?

A: I make a cup of Irish coffee, my secret recipe.

Steak and Guinness Stew

Ingredients:

Red wine one bottle; Guinness black beer one pint; salt 40g; diced onion 2kg; diced carrot 1kg; celery 500g; tomato paste 80g; rosemary 10g; flour a little; thyme 10g; beef (rump) 4kg; beef broth 3kg; ground pepper 10g

Steps:

1. Remove beef tendon first. Chop the beef into small pieces and soak them in black beer for one day.

2. Coat beef with flour and pan fry it until the color turns golden. Set aside.

3. Put diced carrots, celery and onion in a pan and stir-fry. Add red wine into it and braise slowly until sauce is thickened. Add rosemary, thyme and tomato paste until you smell the fragrance.

4. Put cooked beef and beef broth into a pot and stew for around 3 hours.

5. Season with pepper and salt.

Irish coffee

Ingredients:

Freshly made coffee; brown sugar (3 teaspoons); Irish whiskey (1 shot); cream a little

Steps:

1. Use wine glass (not too narrow).

2. Heat the glass with very hot water.

3. Fill the glass with coffee and leave some space on the top for cream.

4. Allow the cream to etch the glass in depth of 3/4 of an inch.