Yu Jin Tian
Yu Jin Tian is located on the 3rd floor of No. 6 The Bund. It’s been open for over five years now, so it has some history. The decor isn’t exactly new, and the space feels a bit cramped. There are only three tables in the main hall with window views of the river, so advance reservations are essential. The four-person tables are quite small—especially for Chinese dining; once four place settings are laid out, there’s barely any room left to serve dishes.
Lunch prices are quite reasonable, with a 32% discount across the menu and group set meals available. The food is pretty good—not spectacular, but better than expected.
Among the cold appetizers, the jellyfish and foie gras portions are generous, though the quality is just average.
Stir-fried hand-peeled river shrimp—the shrimp are hand-peeled and extremely fresh.
Braised sea cucumber with scallions, served with crispy pancakes. Wrapped in the pancake, both texture and flavor are excellent.
Boiled fish in chili oil—it looks loaded with chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, but the fish itself isn’t overly spicy and tastes quite good.
Fried rice with dried radish—the rice grains are perfectly separate, and the addition of crunchy dried radish makes it delicious.
The fish head soup comes in a huge portion, incredibly flavorful, and packed with tender meat.
The other dishes are also solid—no real disappointments—but the original prices are indeed a bit outrageous.
Service is excellent—attentive and responsive. Staff proactively refill water and change plates, and there’s ample staffing, making the overall service experience very satisfying.
Yu Bao Xuan
This restaurant has been open for nearly ten years. Back when it first earned two Michelin stars, it was incredibly popular—reservations had to be made a month in advance. Things have calmed down since then. Located on the 4th floor of Rockbund, the entrance is right as you step out of the elevator. The venue is spacious, with numerous private rooms and a large main dining hall. Despite its age, the facilities still feel upscale. Although we were seated by the window, the view overlooks The Peninsula Hotel rather than the river. We arrived early when it was quiet, but it gradually filled up, and the main hall eventually became fully occupied.
For the BBQ trio platter, we chose roast pork, char siu, and soy sauce chicken. The roast pork was decent, though lacking in layered texture and caramelized aroma. The char siu was disappointing—the cuts were all too tough to chew. After giving feedback, they replaced it with a much better portion, though it was still a bit salty. The soy sauce chicken, however, was delicious and fragrant.
Seafood tofu clay pot—the seafood inside is of good quality: large, plump, and springy. However, the seasoning is just mediocre—a bit too salty…
Crispy shrimp rice noodle roll wrapped in golden netting—this was easily the best dish. The shrimp were very fresh, plump, and had an excellent texture.
The custard buns were bigger than expected, but tasted no different from those at other restaurants… The blanched Chinese kale was just okay…
Overall, it was somewhat disappointing—the flavors offered no surprises and were even a bit salty. I’m not sure which dishes impressed the judges…
Service was fairly average. While staff did help pour water, their timing was off—they often overfilled glasses. That said, there were enough servers on duty.
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