Seasonal inspiration fuels chef’s creativity
Print Edition
JACQUELINE Qiu is a trail blazer in the local food and beverage industry. She is the only female executive chef at an international five-star hotel in Shanghai.
Working at Hai Pai restaurant in Andaz Xintiandi, Shanghai, a concept by Hyatt, Qiu serves up an interesting take on Shanghainese cuisine.
“We hope all our guests will enjoy a culinary journey that is inspired by the Shanghai spirit with a few inspiring international touches,” she says. “This is what we call the hai pai experience.”
Qiu is proud of her newly released summer menu, which includes Shanghainese cold noodles and Steamed razor clam with mushrooms, okra and red pepper.
She says these dishes will make locals think of their childhood and all the great food mom cooked.
Another menu highlight is the stewed baby hairy crab with yellow eel, mushrooms, dried bean curd and vegetables.
It shows Qiu’s passion for seasonal ingredients and providing highly nutritious dishes that taste great.
Qiu says she hopes her future menus can be based around the 24 Chinese solar terms because “eating the right thing at the right time is best for health.”
She has served as the hotel’s executive chef since it opened in October 2011 and her culinary career began in 1985.
She has more than 25 years of work experience in five-star hotels and upscale restaurants, including Jean Georges at Three on the Bund and Park Hyatt Shanghai.
When asked whether there was ever a difficult period in her career, Qiu says, “Never. I feel I am such a lucky person that I joined this industry at the best time — during its golden age.”
She refers to the end of the 1980s, when she just graduated and joined a hotel to learn cooking.
International luxury hotels were just starting to open in the city and the aspiring chef says it was the best time for beginners like her to learn as much as possible.
She still recalls her first joband supervisor.
“I learned so much — cooking skills, creativity, responsibility and caring about all the details,” she says.
Her attention to detail remains to this day and she emphasizes this to her team of nearly 80 people.
“I am very direct,” she insists. “Maybe some young chefs think I am too picky, but it is good for them, for the whole team, for the operation of the hotel. They will benefit from this one day in future.”
Qiu works 12 to 13 hours every day, but a supportive husband and her 12-year-old son make it possible.
“I spend time with my son when I have a vacation. He is also proud of my work and the responsibility I have at the hotel,” Qiu says.
The dedicated chef even grows vegetables at home.
“I learned from our ayi, who used to be a farmer,” Qiu says, adding this has helped her learn more about what is in season and often inspires her menus.
Sometimes the vegetables she grows at home become the ingredients when she is working on a new dish for Hai Pai.
She admits there is more pressure in the industry now compared to when she first started.
“The world has changed. Compared with 10 years ago, the competition among hotels is more fierce in this city,” Qiu says. “The key to success is to create something exceptional to entice customers back, like maybe cold noodles, or a scoop of ice cream.”
In her spare time, she visits flower markets, reads design books and enjoys photography.
“I like learning more,” she says, “so I can do beautiful dish presentations.”
Afternoon tea relaunched
Andaz’s afternoon tea set has long been one of Xintiandi’s classiest affairs, a stylish daily option that draws some of the city’s most fashionable to the hotel.
And now, with the help of the new pastry chef Jeff Zhu, the hotel just relaunched its afternoon tea sets with some exciting new additions. Each set now features 10 fine hand-crafted treats, including a rotating seasonal selection of cakes, mini quiches, finger sandwiches, its signature mini eclairs and — a rarity in Shanghai — scones with real clotted cream.
Price: 158 yuan for one; 288 yuan for two (subject to 15 percent service charge)
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