Best Food In China

Location

It is impossible to talk about Heng Yuen Xuan without raving about its setting. It’s perfectly positioned on the edge of Xujiahui Park – an oasis of calm in an area which is, even by Shanghai standards, frantically busy. The building – two triangular wooden chalets joined by a central, transparent reception area – has been designed to take full advantage of its surroundings. Two sides of each building face the park and on every level are balconies and areas of decking which would be perfect places to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon. Entering through the glass front door takes you straight into the central reception area and in front are ceiling-to-floor glass panels giving a full view of the park, complete with a stream in the foreground.

Although the design and overall aesthetic of the building is rather contemporary, the service has all the traditional elegance of a high-end Chinese restaurant. Reception ladies dressed in entrancing cheongsams guide guests to lavishly furnished private dining rooms each served by their own dedicated waitress. Every new round of delicacies appears from behind a little door in the wall and is brought noiselessly to the table.
Heng Yuen Xuan specializes in Cantonese haute cuisine. We started, as usual, with a round of cold dishes, which included “wo sun” and jellyfish. “Wo Sun”, which is the stem of the Chinese lettuce, is wonderfully crisp, yet moist and is nice to keep on the table as it keeps the mouth feeling refreshed throughout. Jellyfish’s consistency is as you might imagine it, but, having been soaked in sweet vinegar and delicately seasoned with various spices, it is full of flavour and I found myself constantly going back to it for more. There was also a cold plate of the famous Hakka (“Ke Jia”)-style of chicken, which is baked in a mountain of salt and then boiled in fresh water.

Soups are a speciality here and time is taken in their preparation. We tried one made from fish stomach, pork and exotic mushrooms, which we were told had been gently simmering for over 12 hours before it came to the table. The pork and fish really had permeated the soup and it felt wonderfully wholesome and comforting as the best soups should. Lobster, unobtrusively flavoured with pepper and salt, was also delicious, as was the pan fried chicken. Everything here is done with painstaking care but the overall guiding principle is to allow ingredients’ natural flavours to come through. There is no attempt to dazzle with rich “sweet and sour” or “hong shao” type sauces or overpower with strong flavours like chilli or ginger. Everything is delicately flavoured but delicious.

No one should leave Heng Yuen Xuan without sampling their pastries. The fillings - such as mince from sweet honey-soaked baked pork (“char siu”) – are absolutely delicious and the pastry itself is amazing. Although it’s a clichéd phrase, it really does “melt in the mouth.” We were also served some wonderful fried rice gently flavoured with tiny pieces of wind-dried scallops.

This is not a place for a quick bite or when you’re desperately waiting for pay day, but is a wonderful place to entertain business guests or take friends or family visiting Shanghai. I would also recommend it for lunch, when the surroundings can be properly appreciated.

-- by David Symington

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