Category: Region: China

Heritage by Madison: The legacy of a legendary Shanghai restaurateur

I was writing this review when I came across the news of the sudden death of Austin Hu, the Chinese-American chef behind this restaurant and many other culinary enterprises in town. I did not know him. I think I never met him. Still it is a shocking news as I have enjoyed the cuisine of Heritage by Madison for several months. Let this review be an homage to his work

The visit

I began visiting the restaurant back in June 2020 in the post Covid-19 Shanghai.

It is located at the Bund Finance Center, along with the Fosun Foundation building, a designer’s mall (in the basement of the plaza) and more. Recently a Baker and Spice location opened nearby. They usually have weekend markets and the exhibitions at the Fosun Foundation, when not overly commercial, may be interesting.

The interior is slick and modern. On a nice day there is a lot of competition to secure the outdoor seats.

What I immediately liked was a streamlined menu and straightforward dishes mixing Western and Chinese elements. Austin Hu’s hallmark. I have tried almost half of the items on the menu, here’s some of my favorites.

Among the appetizers, the assorted pickles including kimchi are a nice nibble.

Even better, the fried cauliflowers are crispy and tasty.

But my absolute favorite is the crispy pork belly. The crispiness of the skin and the juiciness of the meat are hardly encountered together at this level.

Once I tried, off-the-menu, their famous pastrami sandwich. If you like sour and spicy flavors this is a great sandwich.

Their duck ragout pasta was also very good (I did not entirely liked the shredded vegetables on top).

The check

The dishes described came from two visits, costing 271 and 256 RMB respectively (38-40 USD). That’s what you may expect to pay for a couple of dishes and a drink.

During weekdays they have an economical lunch set for just 10 USD.

At weekends they do not serve the standard menu, rather they have a brunch deal. You can choose three dishes from the brunch menu for 188 RMB.

Where in Shanghai:
1/F, 600 Zhongshan Dong Er Lu, near Longtan Lu.
In Chinese: 中山东二路600号1楼, 近龙潭路.
Easy bookings via Chope.

Shipu Seafood Restaurant in Ningbo

After reviewing Ning Hai and Ji Mao Dui Tang, this review is about a third remarkable seafood restaurant in Ningbo. The main location of Shipu Restaurant is in the central district of Haishu (60 Yanyue St.). For this review I visited the branch in Wanda Plaza (Yinzhou district) along with other six people.

The visit

The restaurant is articulated into three levels (2nd, 3th, 4th floor). We headed to the 4th floor for a private room.

As usual for this kind of restaurants, we went to the “seafood room” where we placed our orders picking the fish and shellfish from what was on display.

We ordered a combination of appetizers and seafood dishes. One appetizer was these hot buns with sweet and sour pork for the filling.

A fried fish.

A type of pancakes.

An interesting dish: squid filled with pork meat.

Some rice pancakes with soy sauce.

More cuttlefish.

Scallops with cheese. Too much cheese.

A delicious local dish served braised.

Vegetables.

The check

The total check with a little discount was 880 RMB (125 USD, or less than 18 USD per person). The quality of the food was excellent and the final check made this meal a great value for money.

Where in Ningbo:
999 Middle Siming Road (inside Wanda Plaza, with the entrance from the street side, not inside the mall).

You can show this card to a taxi driver.

Seafood feast at Ning Hai Shi Fu in Ningbo

Ning Hai Shi Fu is another of the big names of seafood in Ningbo. Originally from another city called Ning Hai, it has several locations in Ningbo that are usually very busy. I visited their Yinzhou branch with two friends on a weekday and it was jam-packed.

The visit

The restaurant in Yinzhou district I visited boasted a cabinet full of prized Moutai wine, with a lot of bottles from rare years selling for over 1,000 USD each.

My party was given a table in a room with other two small groups.

As usual we went to the room where all kind of seafood and dishes were on display and we placed our orders. All labels were translated into English and prices were clearly indicated. Having a Chinese speaking friend helped a lot, but I think one could manage an order even with no Chinese (if you are not picky about the details of the preparations).

Some watermelon was offered free of charge.

And so were some hot bread filled with sesame paste.

One of the appetizers we chose was preserved cold meat sprinkled with Moutai. I promise you that there was no trace of the prized wine.

Seasonal vegetables.

One of our mains was a tail of a large fish called “rhubarb” that came with purple potato noodles. It looked like a large seabass.

The result was a braised fish in a delicious sauce with noodles. Luckily there was a lot of meat and not many bones.

I insisted on ordering the geoduck (the clam with an overgrown body pictured above on the right).

It came as a sashimi. A large part of the clam was its stomach, which we did not eat.

The stomach was used to give flavor to a soup with rice that we got at the end of the meal.

A very nice dish was rice cakes with squid ink. The rice cakes were soft, like mochi.

We had the restaurant’s home made shrimp cakes that were excellent, with pieces of shrimps discernible in the paste.

We also tried their local abalone (a bit chewy but affordable) in two styles: braised and steamed with a garlic sauce.

The check

The final check was 738 RMB (105 USD or 35 USD per person). We did not pick any super expensive seafood such as king crabs or yellow croaker, but we had more than enough for three people and the final bill was incredibly reasonable. It is another winner if you wish to feast on seafood in Ningbo.

Where in Ningbo:
613 Siming Zhong, Yinzhou.
(There are several locations with slightly different menus, this is where we went.)
Tip: write “Ninghai Restsaurant” in Didi and double check the resulting address.

Dinner in a private room in one of the top seafood restaurants in Ningbo, Ji Mao Dui Tang

Ningbo, a port city in Zheijang province, boasts its own breed of Chinese cuisine and is famous for fresh seafood. There are many great seafood restaurants and the most the famous ones have several branches.

Ji Mao Dui Tang has only two locations and boasts some of the highest quality seafood I have seen in Ningbo and in China generally.

The visit

We were a group of six people and we got a private room without any extra charge. It is pretty normal in Chinese restaurants. I believe there was a minimum spending, but it was so low that it was not even a remote problem.

Like in similar restaurants, in a room there was all the seafood and sample dishes on display. All were clearly priced and an assistant would input our order in a device as I and my friends walked through this room.

There was a lot of prized seafood, including the famous yellow croaker and pomfrets, two of the most sought-after types of fish from the East Chinese Sea.

Peanuts with peppers were complimentary (in Chinese restaurants it is pretty common to be offered a snack free of charge).

We had several appetizers. One was a plate of marinated bamboo shoots.

The restaurant also had a few meat dishes like these sweet and sour spare ribs.

The cuttlefish, soaked in its own ink, was certainly a highlight.

On the vegetables sides, we also had a plate with dried bean curd with black fungus.

Another appetizer was a dish with asparagus and small prawns.

The braised beef was another highlight. It was extremely tender. I believe it was cheek.

Garlic chives with eel was another interesting dish.


The most anticipated main was a pomfret grilled (this kind of fish is caught wild and has a very distinct flavor and the meat is firm).

The tiger prawns with garlic came nicely arranged.

Since it was hairy crab season we had three crabs. I must say that it was a disappointing choice, there is really so little to eat from these crabs.

A type of razor clams came in a nice casserole.

There was a nice roll with read bean paste.

Another revelation was the battered tofu fish. It was extremely soft and delicate and the frying did not kill the flavor.

The mussels were just spectacular, super meaty!

We got some fruit at the end of the meal that was also complimentary.

The check

We spent 2,713 RMB (386 USD or around 64 USD per person). It was a big check, but there was a lot of quality seafood. The two big ticket items were the pomfret (around 100 USD) and the prawns (83 USD per six big prawns). The three crabs cost around 50 USD. The other dishes were quite inexpensive.

I have been back also other times. The place seems to be always busy, even at lunch time. For two people it is possible to dine, for a single diner it may be more challenging to find the right dishes, as they are mostly designed for sharing.

Where in Ningbo:
Bai Zhang Dong Lu 909, Nong 1-3 Hao.

A popular dim sum place in Sheung Wan: Dim Sum Square

Warning: “popular” used in the title does not necessarily mean good. It just means that this is a place that is usually crowded. There are even people queuing on weekends, but I personally do not get it. I ended up at Dim Sum Square a couple of times mostly because I did not have much time before going to the airport.

The visit

Contrary to what you may find on some websites, the entrance is not on Hiller Street (perhaps the official address), but on Jervois street.

Even on a weekend during the protests of 2019, the place was pretty crowded. But no line. I could see a lot of tourists in the crowd.

Ordering was pretty easy thanks to a bilingual menu.

I had their siu mai with crab roe. It was just ok. It did not taste particularly fresh even if it was supposed to be steamed on order (and do not get me wrong, I am sure it was, just the result was not remarkable).

The rice rolls with mixed vegetables were ok.

I tried something different, a osmanthus flower coconut milk cake. It was basically a jelly cake. It was interesting.

The “lava buns” with creamy custard were difficult to eat, with the filling that was too hot.

The check

I spent 100 HKD (12.75 USD). Tea, as usual, was included, but there was a small cover charge (4 HKD). For what I got, it was actually not cheap.

The dishes were not bad, but just regular. I think a random cafeteria could do the same. I really do not understand all the rave reviews, unless they are coming from clueless tourists. I do not know, maybe I was put off by the touristy environment. but I found this place just average.

Places like Sun Hing or Three Minus One Restaurant are way better and less expensive. No reason for me to go back.

Where in Hong Kong:
G/F, 88 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan.

Sun Hing, classic Hong Kong dim sum

Dim Sum in Hong Kong can range from modern refined luxurious venues with waiters in white gloves and where people speak softly for no apparent reason to noisy diners where you will most likely end up sharing the table with strangers and where you will need to compete with other guests to grab the latest dishes flying out from the kitchen. Sun Hing falls into the latter category. An authentic experience that was recommended to me by a local friend.

The visit

Sun Hing is located in the Western district. It is the store with the pinkish sign in the photo above. It is a couple of blocks down Kennedy Town metro station and further down do not miss the view of the harbor. As most of these traditional dim sum joints, it is open from the early morning to just after lunch time (in this case, to be precise, from 3am to 4pm). At peak lunch time (noon to one) a queue is quite normal.

I arrived before noon and I did not have to wait long. I was seated in a table near the entrance that I would soon share with two unrelated senior citizens. The staff helped me to wash the bowl and cutlery with hot tea, a tradition in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

They have a bilingual menu, but only on the wall… it can be a good idea to take a picture and use it to point what you want to order, just in case your Cantonese is rusty.

Honestly I am not sure how I got my dishes… it was mix of pointing, nodding, and smiling. The best is to just look at what is coming out from the kitchen and go for the freshest dishes available. A number of dim sum baskets are always available in a corner of the cramped and lively dining room.

My first dish was a selection of their fried dim sum. They were delicious. The best was the fried milk dim sum, absolutely sensational.

I had to have a second one.

The classic suo mai was solid.

The other classic, the shrimp dumplings (har gar) were rich and almost transparent, which is a good sign.

The big dumplings with minced meat were one of the signature dim sum dishes of the store. If not mistaken I had one with pork meat.

The check

It is just a pity that I could not taste more dishes. But what I had was filling, fresh, and tasty. I did not mind the noisy surrounding. The staff was friendly and compassionate with the only foreigner in the shop. A very nice experience.

The mysterious check indicated just around 10 USD. A steal.

For a more relaxed experience you can also consider my other favorite old school dim sum in Hong Kong, Three Minus One Restaurant. However Sun Hing should not be missed.

Where in Hong Kong:
Shop C, G/F, 8 Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town, Western District.

Hong Kong’s own luxury izakaya: Ronin

From the same founder of Yardbird, Ronin brings a high-end izakaya experience to Hong Kong with researched and innovative dishes based on Japanese ingredients.

I have been a couple of times and I liked the atmosphere. Here’s a write-up of my most recent visit in September 2019.

The visit

Ronin is located behind an unmarked black door in a non-descript building in Soho. It might be a bit difficult to find for first-timers. It is a long and narrow dining venue (similar to Okra Kitchen).

I had a reservation made on their website for the first turn and I showed up right at the opening at 6pm. There were already a few customers waiting outside. By the time I left the place was full (see picture above).

The best seats are at the counter and once again I was assigned seat number 1 at the end of the counter. As usual staff was friendly and very keen to discuss the dishes and make recommendations. The menu is divided in three parts: raw (sashimi), smaller (kind of appetizers), and bigger (dishes suitable for sharing among two people). While the menu is one-pager, there is enough choice to keep you pondering. I initially ordered one item from each category and then added an additional dish from the “smaller” dishes (the crabs).

I was offered a small appetizer with wakame (a type of edible seaweed) and dashi stock before starting with my dishes.

My first dish was two portions of sashimi. aji and kanpachi. The kanpachi came with a very nice sauce made out of Japanese long onion (negi). In general, all of their sashimi was carefully paired with sauces and dressings.

Then I tried their monaka burger. Monaka (a kind of Japanese wafer) is very popular in high-end restaurants nowadays, but this was the first time I saw it used as a burger bun. Meat was from Kagoshima.

My main dish was their quail deep-fried with sansho pepper and orange. This was an exquisite piece of meat.

Finally I tried their Sawagami crabs. This is a small freshwater crab from Japan, quite rare outside their homeland. Their were deep fried, but I expected them to be more tender. They were crunchy, but also very hard. The dish was less pleasant than expected.

The check

The check was 790 HKD, exactly 100 USD and a few dimes. Overall it was a pleasant experience, service was good and the ingredients top-shelf. There were some touches of creativity that made the menu unique (like the monaka burger).

As I mentioned for Okra, unfortunately the value proposition of these luxury restaurants in Hong Kong is problematic, even if I have to admit that it has its own original vibe.

Where in Hong Kong:
8 on Wo Lane (the black door!).
Website: https://roninhk.com/.

Late night dinner at Okra, Hong Kong

I ended up at Okra because I needed a kitchen open till late that could feed me after participating to an event. Okra staff answered my inquiry on their Facebook page and reassured me that the kitchen would be open until 11pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. That was a good beginning.

Okra Kitchen is a modern izakaya offering Japanese food with innovative elements. The Hong Kong restaurant I visited is a spin-off of Okra 1949 in Beijing and is headed by an American chef. They also have a room for omakase upstairs operating under called Okra Bar (but I rarely consider sushi omakase outside Japan).

The visit

I arrived at around 10pm and I was seated at the counter. The chair was reasonably comfortable. They have a delicious menu, a one-pager with few items, but more than simple snack food. There was more than enough for a good late dinner. They also had an impressive sake menu, but not something I am into.

My first dish was the eel and foie gras. On the plate the house made fresh water eel, honey miso duck liver and sanbaizu vinegar were all nicely arranged. It was nice, but also a very small portion.

Then I had their yellowtail sashimi with tofu skin (yuba), garlic oil and ponzu. I appreciated the pairing between sashimi and tofu.

Then I had their “pollo loco”. Wow, this was an incredibly good sandwich. It included a whole marinated thigh and leg (boneless) on Okinawan purple sweet potato toast with fresh cabbage & Crystal sauce. It was just perfect. A great homage to the art of the Japanese sandwich (sando).

Finally I had their Koji rice pudding with aged tangerine peel condensed hon mirin and seasonal fruit. Honestly I did not like this dessert.

The check

The check was 646 HKD (82.5 USD). That was expensive, especially considered that only one dish really stood out. Unfortunately the price point of this kind of restaurants in Hong Kong is problematic. It is natural to compare these izakaya with Ronin, they seem to cater to the same public, in the same area of Hong Kong, and in a fairly similar venue. I liked the service at Ronin more; at the cost of sounding a jerk I will mention that one of the staff members at Okra was almost oppressive, asking me if everything was good several times. Ronin perhaps has a bit more choices and is more focused on seafood, but the two venues are comparable.

Where in Hong Kong:
110 Queen’s Road West, G/f.
Website: http://www.okra.kitchen/.

The Kitchen Studios (Andaz) Sunday brunch in Shanghai

Online you find references to the Westin and more recently to The Regis hotel as the best weekend buffets in Shanghai. Bullshit. These are very noisy, crowded, and the food is so so. (The Westin is a nice place to see expats getting drunken if it is your fetish, though).

The Kitchen Studios’ restaurant of the Andaz Hotel in Xintiandi does an excellent job in putting together a well-managed Sunday buffet (only on Sundays from noon) with quality food and at a reasonable price point.

I have been a big fun for a long time. I still remember a couple of years ago when they were launching their weekend brunch and I was among the few diners taking advantage of their promotion at the time. Now the news is out and it is almost sold out, but still, in my latest visit in November 2019, I did not feel the pressure of the crowd and there were no shortages of food. It remains a pleasant experience.

The visit

Let me take you around the buffet.

There are two spacious dining rooms around the buffet area, with both sofas and normal chairs. The decor is modern. Even if the rooms got pretty soon almost full, I did not overwhelmed.

One of the main attraction is the sushi and sashimi boat. They have tuna, salmon, and amberjack.

More seafood: lobster claws and…

… and imported prawns and crab legs.

It was hairy crab season and they were available (not a fan here).

There was an oyster station.

They would provide three oysters per order (brought to your table). I usually have at least 6, so I kept ordering, no problem.

There were various dishes that could be ordered as many times as you wish. The foie gras quite good.

Every diner could order one lobster dish.

I had the egg benedict with lobster and caviar. Nothing special, but a nice way to get my Sunday eggs. The half lobster with cheese was preferred by my friends, but had too much dish in my opinion.

Since it was almost Thanksgiving, a big turkey was available at the roast meat station along with beef.

They also had Chinese food. I tried the lobster wonton soup. Again, nothing exceptional, but I appreciated the effort.

Another dish made on demand was the Shanghai pancakes. I would not recommend it as it is super-filling and you can have it around town for 2 USD or so. But again, I appreciate the effort to have some local food.

Some dim sum dishes were available.

Many more dishes I am not posting were available, including lamb meat, pork, and vegetables. I could not try them all!

The dessert station included many treats including freshly made waffles and ice cream.

They paid homage to the local milk candy called White Rabbit with a cake made from the same milk. (White Rabbit company was on a diversification spree at the time of this posting… perhaps it was a marketing initiative.)

Soft drinks and some wine were also included and freely available.

The check

The check was picked up by a friend so I do not have a picture to post. The price per person was 446 RMB (63 USD), way less than similar buffets on the Bund. I was extremely pleased by the efficiency of the operations (even during the first hectic half an hour after opening the service was pretty good and fast) and the quality of the food.

PS: for a luxury semi-buffet, my favorite remains the Cathay Room.

Where in Shanghai:
2F of Andaz Hotel 88 Songshan Lu.
In Chinese: 嵩山路88号.

Ministry of Crab experience in Shanghai

Ministry of Crab, the famous Colombo’s restaurant, has started an international expansion and opened a branch in Shanghai in 2019. I visited it twice.

The visit(s)

Ministry of Crab set shop in the ground floor of Barbarossa, a Middle-Eastern themed lounge/restaurant located inside People’s Park. Getting to the restaurant may be a small adventure. Tip: enter the park from the entrance near the Shanghai History Museum to maximize your chances to find it quickly.

The restaurant is finely appointed and seating is comfortable. The menu, called “Amendments” to their “Constitution” showcases crabs and prawns imported from Sri Lanka (shipped live twice a week).

In my first visit my main dish was one of their large prawns (the largest available at the time of my visit, around 400 grams). You can choose the sauce: pepper (my choice), chili, curry, garlic chili.

I also had their clams.

And a prawn skewer (the prawns came already de-shelled, which was nice).

In my second visit I went for one of their famous crabs. I opted for the “large” one (around 900 grams). They have bigger ones. They showed me the crab that was really not happy about the situation and tried to escape…

I was provided (and I used) the branded apron.

The crab came in its garlic chili sauce and was already cut in six parts. There was a substantial amount of meat, I think two people could have shared it. The sauce, that is a special creation of one of the founders of the restaurant, was really delicious.

Appropriately, I had a reserve of “cube” bread that was very useful to scoop up the sauce.

My second dish was the pot with prawns and curry. The great thing about this dish was that the prawns were already cleaned from the shell. The curry was perhaps too sweet, but still a great dish.

The check(s)

The first check was 563 RMB (80 USD). The big prawn accounted for around 50 USD.

The second check was 994 RMB (140 USD), the large crab was around 90 USD. I believe that this second menu could have been split by two (not excessively hungry) diners.

The seafood was expensive, but it was also really good. I think the checks were proportioned to the quality and it makes a great experiences for a seafood lover.

Where in Shanghai:
Inside People’s Park, 1/F, 231 Nanjing Xi Lu.
In Chinese: 南京西路231号1楼.
Website: https://www.ministryofcrab.com/