No. One Cantonese Cuisine: Xinya(Sunya) Cantonese Restaurant
粤菜翘楚·新雅粤菜馆

One of China's top class restaurants, Sunya(Xin Ya) is also a prominent specialty restaurant in Shanghai's food and beverage industry, serving Cantonese cuisine.

The restaurant's former self was known as the "Sunya Teahouse". In August 1926, its founder Cai Jianqing, a native of Hainan Region, Guangdong Province, opened a teahouse in the Cantonese neighborhood on North Sichuan Road in Hongkou District. At the time, the establishment only occupied a small unit of a two-storey building. The ground level was a retail space to sell canned foods, dim sums and beverages, and upstairs was served as a small private seating area with only a few tables. However, in contrast to the traditional teahouses in Shanghai, Sunya Teahouse brought a tranquil ambience and the elegant western style dinning setting to the tea drinkers. With their top quality dim sums, friendly service and strict sanitary regulations, the teahouse not only won praises from their patrons, but also attracted many Chinese cultural celebrities such as Lu Xun, Chen Wangdao, Bo Tonghua, Yuan Muzhi and Lang Jingsan. The group often gathered in the teahouse, transforming it into an arts and culture salon of that time.

Legend has it that it was Lin Weiyin who first introduced Sunya in her work "A Midnight Stroll-A Sketch of the Eastern Hall of Old Sunya Restaurant". Ling depicted a vivid picture of the life in the Teahouse and boosted its popularity among authors. Along with Lin Weiyin, translation expert Li Qingya, poets Dai Wangshu, Ye Lingfeng, Shi Zhecun and other Chinese cultural icons frequently joined the salon gatherings too. Interestingly, the Teahouse passed on some much-old tales of Chinese arts and literary society. It is the place where modern literary master Ba Jin first met his wife Xiao Shan, and also the place where Yu Dafu and Wang Yuxia first exchanged love gifts.

At that time, in view of the fact that the core of Shanghai business area had moved toward Nanjing Road and that Hongkou District was a bit far north, Sunya Teahouse had no room for expansion at its original location. In 1931, Cai Jianqing raised 150,000 Silvor yuan to acquire a piece of land in Nanjing Road grocery market from real estate tycoon Hardoon. His eldest son designed the new Sunya Cantonese restaurant which became the number one restaurant in the industry. From the spotless and elegant dinning hall to the spacious and bright kitchen; and from the brilliant dinnerware to the splendid teak floor, surely Sunya was the best-equipped, most stylish and biggest state-of-the-art Cantonese restaurant in Shanghai at that time. To ensure food quality, Cai traveled to Guangdong Province several times in person to hunt for top gourmet chefs, who created a menu of culinary innovations which included "Beef in Oyster Sauce", "Fried Chicken and Scallions", "Smoked Pomfret", "Sweet and Sour Pork", etc. Business boomed as the delightful creations soared in popularity and drew crowds of customers, Sunya restaurant gradually became the top-ranking cuisine in the restaurant industry. The "Grand Food World" published that year called Sunya "a restaurant that leads the culinary trend of Cantonese food and is definitely worth recommending…"

During that period, Shanghai's socialites dined frequently at the new Sunya Cantonese Restaurant. Some of the famous names were Ba Jin, Zhou Xinfang, Bai Yang and Zhao Dan. Especially after the Anti-Japanese War, high ranking government officials, American diplomats and businessmen all became Sunya's regular patrons. Madame Song Qingling once invited the Soviet Embassy officials to Sunya Restaurant. In February 1949, Acting President Li Zongren of the Nationalist Government hosted a grand feast of 50 tables here to entertain celebrities and public figures in Shanghai. After liberation in 1949, Sunya was designated to serve international guests. Since then it has entertained foreign dignitaries from over 130 countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and received unanimous praises.

Proclaimed to be "the King of Cantonese food", Sunya boasts its own brand of Red Bean Paste Bun, BBQ Bun, Rum Cake, Moon Cake, Smoked Pomfret with Salad and other products, which were all rated "High Quality Products" by the former Department of Commerce of China in the 1985 New Food Product Review. In October 1988, Grand Master Chef Lu Yaoqi and Grand Master Pastry Chef Fang Yuzhi represented Sunya Restaurant to compete in the Food Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany, won a gold and a silver medal respectively.

In 1996, Sunya underwent a substantial renovation and expansion project. A ten-storey high modern building is now home to the newly redeveloped Sunya restaurant, in which six floors are for the public: The first floor is called the "Sunya Celebrity Dining Hall", the ground floor is the "Sunya Cake House", the second floor is the "Sunya Cantonese Cuisine Dining Hall", the third floor is the "Sunya Specialty Dining Hall", and the fifth and the sixth floors are for private rooms. With luxurious decoration in a refined atmosphere, Sunya offers an evening of sophisticated dining pleasure. At the mean time, the management also revamped the menu. They kept only ten beloved classics, which includes Shrimp Saute, Smoked Pomfret, Rice-flavored Galantine in Preserved Bean Curd Sauce, etc, and discontinued over eighty old-fashioned dishes. And over two hundred snacks, one hundred and twenty seafood dishes and over fifty Cantonese Dim Sums were added to the menu.

At the beginning of 2005, Sunya Food Base was officially established and went into operation. Adopting the traditional methods coupled with modern food processing technology, Sunya Food Base delivers impeccable food products to the market, including Sunya Moon Cake, Western-style pastry, gourmet cooked foods, preserved foods, semi-processed foods, Chinese dim sums, leisure snacks and other specialties of the Sunya product series so that the extraordinary foods of Sunya can be enjoyed at home.

Sunya Tender Shrimp

新雅滑虾仁

Sunya Tender Shrimp 新雅滑虾仁

Claimed to be number one dish in the Far East, this Sunya's classic is prepared with river shrimp from Jianhu Lake in Jiangsu Province. The shrimps are only in season around Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival, and only the shrimps of size that weigh 100 per kilogram are used. The shrimps are peeled and then stored carefully to ensure freshness year-round. This dish was first invented in 1926 by the first celebrity brother chefs Jiang Qing and Jiang Nu, and over the years with continuous improvements, this classic dish has demonstrated a long-lasting success reaching more than 300 orders per day. The dish is neither watery, nor oily or starchy. Pale pink in colour, translucent and glossy in appearance, it has a smooth texture, refreshing taste and rich aroma, truly a legacy good to the last bite.

Smoked Pomfret

沙律烟鲳鱼

Smoked Pomfret 沙律烟鲳鱼

First invented in 1930s, this dish was prepared using the western cooking technique of smoking. Fresh Pomfret is scored into diamond patterns, marinated in a sauce made from soy sauce, sugar, ginger, scallion, onion and celery. Then fish is baked and served with dressing. This dish has a deliciously rich flavor and marvelous aroma.

Beef with Oyster Sauce

蚝油牛肉

Beef with Oyster Sauce 蚝油牛肉

This is Sunya's flagship culinary master piece since 1930s. Good quality beef is used here. First slice and mix the beef flank with a thick paste, sauté in a wok over medium heat and then cooked again in a sauce made by wine, broth, oyster sauce, etc. Finally the beef is coated with a cornstarch glaze and served on a plate. This dish features smooth texture, tender beef and savory flavor. It is a special gourmet creation with a distinct charm.

Honey BBQ Pork

蜜汁叉烧

Honey BBQ Pork 蜜汁叉烧

Chinese barbeque is very common in Guangzhou(Canton), especially in autumn, winter and during the spring festival. The dish has been served in Sunya from the very beginning. Since the restaurant moved to the new location on Nangjing Road in 1932, a take-out window was opened to sell BBQ meat and ham that was air shipped from Yunnan Province. The most loved was the Honey Barbequed Pork, made with pork neck meat. The pork is marinated in a special sauce for about ten hours before being roasted. The delicious golden red BBQ pork is a treat of aromatic tenderness.

Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple 菠萝咕噜肉

Sweet and Sour Pork is a famous traditional Cantonese dish. Since Sunya's relocation to Nanjing Road in 1932, this pork dish has shown an everlasting popularity. It is made from pork neck meat, pineapples and other ingredients. The dish displays an attractive golden color. Delicious and aromatic, the pork is crispy outside and tender inside, and served in the mouth-watering sauce. Today, it still remains as one of Sunya's classics.

Assorted BBQ and Salty Meat Platter 卤味烧烤拼

The platter is a combination of Cantonese barbeque and Caozhou style salty meat. It has been Sunya's specialty since the 1940s. Its main ingredients are salty honeycomb tripe, salty goose feet, salty tofu, barbeque goose and pork. This dish gives vibrant color and pungent aroma, and the deep rich flavor and tender bites are very satisfying.

Creamy Pudding 奶油布丁

Since the 1950s, Sunya has been serving the Creamy Pudding. It's another fusion style dish, Sunya's creation. Its main ingredients are bread, egg, sugar, evaporated milk, lard, jelly powder, yeast and Sunya red bean paste. The pudding has light yellow color, silky smooth taste and creamy flavor. It has always been loved.

Seven-Star Gourd Duck 七星葫芦鸭

Created in the 1950s, Gourd Duck was a famous Sunya's specialty. The duck is boned and stuffed with 7 very precious ingredients like abalone. After many steps, the duck is finally garnished with deep fried spinach and Chinese broccoli. The appearance of this gourmet creation is golden yellow and resembles the shape of a gourd. It smells wonderful and tastes smooth and tender. The dish has been enjoyed by Chinese and foreign visitors.

Mini Assorted Sea food Casserole 迷你炖八珍

First created in the 1990s, Sunya's Mini Assorted Sea Food Casserole is made with Sharks fin, abalone, sea cucumber, bamboo shoot, fish maw, fish lips, ham, dried scallop and broth. With the fine quality ingredients, this delicious dish has the soft tender bite in sweet savory soup.

BBQ Pork in Baked Flaky Pastry 金牌“叉烧”酥

The combination of the unique innovation of Sunya's Puff Pastry and Sunya's famous specialty BBQ pork produces one of the best acclaimed dim sums ever made by Sunya. The ingredients are comprised of cake flour, bread flour, lard, margarine, BBQ pork filling and eggs. The finished product is a golden flaky pastry, so tender that melts in your mouth. The puffy pastry is stuffed with delicious fillings which gives a perfectly balanced flavor of sweetness and saltiness.

Address: 718 East Nanjing Road

Telephone: 021-63224393

Hours of Operation: 7:00-16:00