Yuan Yuan and Tan Yue are two extremely famous Shanghainese restaurants in Shanghai. There aren’t that many iconic varieties of Shanghai cuisine, but mastering even these few home-style dishes is no easy feat. Among them, Braised Pork Belly is a key dish for judging the quality of Shanghainese cooking, so we ordered it at both restaurants~~~ Braised Pork Belly requires a long cooking time; if cooked too briefly, the texture suffers and it becomes greasy, while too high a heat makes the meat tough. However, restaurants face pressure regarding serving speed, so it comes down to how each establishment balances speed with quality. Much like stewed dishes in Northeastern cuisine, small shops struggle to get it right because they can’t guarantee the necessary cooking time, whereas large restaurants with high sales volume can keep a dish simmering continuously.
Let’s start with Yuan Yuan. It has numerous branches, and this time we visited the Jing’an Temple location on the 2nd floor of the Swissôtel Hong An. The hotel itself is quite old, but Yuan Yuan has been newly renovated, so the ambiance is pretty nice. Most seating consists of semi-circular booth sofas. The service was rather average, feeling completely unworthy of being located inside a hotel.
Red Dates with Glutinous Rice, one of their signature dishes, is a super traditional old Shanghai dish. It’s prepared exceptionally well; the combination of sweet red dates and the chewy texture of glutinous rice balls is truly distinctive—you just can’t stop eating them one after another~~
Braised Pork Belly with Egg is their signature dish, touted as the most delicious braised pork in Shanghai. However, issue number one is that it’s too sweet, and issue number two is that the texture is mediocre. The pork belly used has too much fat, and the portion size is a bit large; after just two pieces, you’re pretty much full… As for the flavor issues, I’m not sure if it’s specific to this branch or if other locations might be better.
Gold Medal Shredded Tofu in Soup is a signature dish. We originally wanted to order Steamed Three Shreds, but it was unavailable, so we opted for this instead. The soup is incredibly savory, the tofu shreds are cut very finely, and both the taste and texture are excellent.
Finally, the Signature Fried Rice. The flavor is fine, but unfortunately, the rice was too hard…
In summary, the ambiance at this restaurant is decent. As for the food, it’s a mixed bag, so ordering the right dishes is crucial. Issues like overly hard fried rice might be isolated incidents, but the Braised Pork Belly really falls short of its reputation. If every branch tastes exactly the same, honestly, I feel like you’d be better off going to Xiao Nan Guo or Su Zhe Hui…
Tan Yue is a new location in Hongqiao Nanfeng City. Hongqiao Nanfeng City sits on the site of the former Hongqiao Shanghai City, and the adjacent Parkson is also gone now. The new Nanfeng City has attracted some excellent dining and retail tenants, and with the upscale L’Avenue next door adding a touch of luxury, this more down-to-earth Nanfeng City is quickly gaining popularity~~~ Even though this Tan Yue is a new branch, both the service and the food quality are reliably high. As for the environment, the main hall is actually a bit cramped. With round tables for four and such large platters for each dish, once four people are seated, there isn’t much room left for plates. When we visited, it wasn’t fully occupied, so it felt okay, but it would probably feel a bit crowded when full.
The pre-meal fruit consisted of lychees and grapes, both of excellent quality.
Drunken Chicken: The chicken has a firm texture, and both the mouthfeel and flavor are excellent.
Braised Pork Belly can be ordered per person, which is a very thoughtful touch—one piece per person is just right. The pork belly selected has a perfect balance of fat and lean meat with distinct layers, and both the taste and texture are spot-on. Highly recommended.
Eel Paste with Hot Oil is a classic Suzhou-style dish. By the time I took the photo, it had already been tossed. There’s nothing wrong with the ingredients or the flavor; it’s a great dish to go with rice—in fact, if you don’t order a staple starch, this dish is almost impossible to eat on its own.
Stir-Fried Hand-Peeled River Shrimp features tiny river shrimp, and peeling them by hand must have been quite a task. This dish falls somewhere between plain stir-fried shrimp and oil-exploded shrimp. The slight issue lies with the shells: unlike oil-exploded shrimp where the shells are fried crispy enough to eat whole, nor like plain stir-fried shrimp which come completely peeled, eating this requires spitting out shells, which feels a bit awkward… But then again, locals here have always had a special fondness for river shrimp, whereas people from other regions probably prefer sea shrimp~~~~
Ham with Baby Peas: Peas themselves don’t yield much volume, so getting a full plate is quite an achievement—they must have used a massive amount of peas. The ham is almost negligible, but the entire dish is very light and carries a fresh pea fragrance; the taste is excellent.
Home-Style Braised Tongue Sole Fish: It’s a sizable fish, and the flesh around the belly area is exceptionally tender~~~
Steamed Three Shreds became wildly popular thanks to ‘A Bite of China.’ Not everyone possesses the knife skills showcased on TV, which has led many small restaurants to drop the dish entirely. As for the version here, the knife skills are definitely lacking. Traditionally made with shredded chicken breast, ham, and bamboo shoots, the problem here was the chicken breast—it was incredibly tough, so tough it was unchewable. It tasted like chicken that had been boiled multiple times for soup stock before being repurposed for this dish… Completely inedible, so we had to send it back…
Pork Skin Soup: The soup is very savory, the egg dumplings are delicious, and although the meatballs are slightly salty, overall it’s quite good.
Finally, complimentary birthday noodles served as the staple:
Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant; whether it’s the flavors, ingredients, or service, everything is top-notch. That said, compared to Yuan Yuan, it’s clearly in a higher price bracket—but given that it’s superior to Yuan Yuan, that’s only fair~~~
Photos in this post taken with SONY A5100 + 35mm f1.8, post-processed in Lightroom.
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