Fragrant Huaiyang Cuisine Nanling Restaurant
淮扬菜香·南伶酒家

Inside the garden house of the former Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe on Yueyang Road is concealed a Huaiyang specialty restaurant named Nanling Restaurant, a place which has won much praise.

Despite its obscure location and low profile, Nanling Restaurant often receives guests from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

It is said that at the opening of Nanling Restaurant, Huaiyang cuisine master Mo Youcai was the head chef. Mo and his offsprings prepared the "Cuisine of Family Mo" dishes.

"Cuisine of Family Mo" was brought to Shanghai by Mo Yougeng in the 1940s. Mo's family has been Yangzhou cuisine chefs for generations. For this reason he was invited to the Bank of China as a chef. Mo Yougeng found that most of the staff favored dishes with a light flavor and little oil, so he made changes to the traditional Yangzhou "heavily flavored cuisine". After certain reforms, the heavy taste was lessened and the oil was reduced. Take Braised Shredded Chicken with Ham and Dried Tofu as an example. The original thick soup was replaced with chicken soup and hence the oil was not so abundant. Mo Yougeng also made improvements in the selection of ingredients. He substituted "Shangfang" for "Zhongfang" in cooking Braised Ham with Honey Sauce because "Shangfang" was leaner. It turned out that his innovations were very well received.

At the beginning of the 1950s, Mo Yougeng and his brothers Mo Youcai and Mo Youyuan opened a "Mo Youcai Kitchen" at the intersection of Middle Jiangxi Road and Ningbo Road. At that time, businessmen in the textile industry often gathered there for dinners. The dishes were all cooked by the three brothers. Gradually, the "Mo Youcai Kitchen" became a place for the elite in the business world and artistic circles to hold dinner parties and feasts. From then on, the "Mo Youcai Kitchen" with its different twist on Yangzhou cuisine won more and more acclaim and was finally formed into the unique "Cuisine of Family Mo". "Cuisine of Family Mo" has the following characteristics: its carving techniques are delicate; the main ingredient is clearly prominent; the flavor is light and refreshing; the taste is good and strong. Although the cuisine has a strong taste, it is not greasy; it is soft but not messy, and leaves a lasting aftertaste in your mouth. Mei Lanfang, Yu Zhenfei and Zhou Xinfang were all frequenters of "Mo Youcai Kitchen".

During the past decades, the Mo brothers have created a wide range of cuisine, including cold dishes, hot dishes, main dishes, desserts, and soups. The number of frequently-cooked dishes has exceeded 200. At the beginning of 1987, Mo Youcai and another 6 famous chefs including Chef Li Yueyun were invited to Singapore Goodwood Park Hotel. They put on a performance of "Cuisine of Family Mo" and caused a great sensation in the Lion City. A local radio station interviewed Mo Youcai to introduce the "Cuisine of Family Mo". Since Mo Youcai joined Nanling Restaurant as head chef, many celebrities have eaten there, including writers Wang Meng, Zhao Lihong, Bai Hua, Sha Yexin, Wang Xiaoying, Cheng Naishan, Lu Xing'er, movie stars Yan Xiang, Song Jia, Zhao Jing, Chen Qi, Peking Opera artists Li Bingshu, Tang Chunxia, Zhang Junqiu, Li Changchun, singers Wang Kun, Zhang Mingmin, editor Feng Yingzi and TV compere Cao Kefan. It is safe to say that Nanling Restaurant has received celebrities from all circles.

Nanling Restaurant's charm lies in its exquisite cooking skills, its hospitable service, and its comfortable and elegant environment. Cold dishes are the window of a banquet and they reveal to a great extent a chef's cooking skill. In Nanling Restaurant, even the most common soy sauce preserved carrot or vegetarian ham becomes tempting with meticulous cooking and processing: the carrot looks agate in color and pendant-like in shape, and tastes sweet and crisp. The vegetarian ham is carved into slices as thin as paper, resembling brown silk fabrics, and leaving a heavy and lasting savory taste in your mouth.

Sautéed Fish Cubes with Pine Nuts 松仁鱼米

Sautéed Fish Cubes with Pine Nuts is a legendary masterpiece developed based on an idea of a gourmand who was addicted to pine nuts while in jail. Chinese stir-fried meat dishes are usually made with chicken, duck and preserved meat. The gourmand thought that was boring, and came up the idea of using fish meat and adding pine nuts to compliment the fish. After being released from prison, the connoisseur was acquainted with Mr. Mo Youcai and disclosed his idea. Mo tried this new recipe immediately and the new dish was an instant success. After serving at the restaurant, the dish soared in popularity and eventually was recognized as a dish in Haiyang regional cuisine. As good news travels fast, big restaurants all over Shanghai started to imitate this wonderful culinary creation. Since then, dishes such as Pork with Pine Nuts and Chicken with Pine Nuts have been developed subsequently. Mo's Sauteed Fish Cubes with Pine Nuts even traveled overseas, it is served at the restaurants in Chinatowns in North America, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.

This dish is made with pine nuts, and mandarin fish, a prized freshwater fish. The filet of mandarin fish is cut into tiny peasize cubes and sautéed with pine nuts. The cooking time is strictly controlled. The chef needs to keep the fresh tender texture of the fish, and also make sure the pine nuts are soft. Furthermore, the visual presentation needs to be colorful and appealing, but not ordinary. The pearly white and crystalline fish is perfectly complemented with the golden pine nuts, and the chopped red and green peppers makes a beautiful garnish for this dish.

Honey Ham 蜜汁火方

Dry-cured ham was introduced to Chinese cuisine since the Song Dynasty and became very popular in Qing Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, Honey Ham had earned great compliments from Yuan Mei, a renowned food connoisseur at that time, who described the ham to have an extraordinary sweet-and-savory taste with the most intense aroma that would attract neighbors. Mr. Mo Youcai inherited the traditional ham-curing technique by soaking an entire 3-kilo dried and salted pork leg in water for two days until the meat turns soft and tender. The process helps keep the natural flavor intact while decreases the saltiness of the meat. After soaking, the ham is divided into three large chunks and dipped in boiling water. The skins and fat are removed, and the meat from the top of the leg is cut into a square cube and boiled in water until medium well done. The bones are removed and the ham is compressed and then chilled in a refrigerator for one hour. Any remaining fat on the surface is carefully cut off and the top of the ham is scored with a knife in a crisscross pattern. Then the ham is flipped over and the lean side is partially cut to form a 1-inch deep slit to separate the fat from the lean meat, but it should not break apart. The ham is simmered in a chicken stock to further reduce the saltiness. Once the excess salt is removed, it is simmered in water with Chinese rock sugar until the sauce thickens. The delicious ham is extremely tender but not mushy and offers a mellow sweet taste.

Aromatic Eight-Treasure Gourd Duck 香酥八宝葫芦鸭

To prepare the Eight-Treasure Gourd Duck, a duck is first de-boned and then prepared according to the three-step Wei-Yang style duck-stuffing method. The stuffing is made with peeled shrimp, lotus seeds, diced cooked ham, Chinese mushroom, bamboo shoots, ground pork, diced duck gizzard, barley, sweet rice and fox nut. After the filling is stuffed into a duck and the opening is sealed, a string is tightly wrapped around the waist to make the duck into the shape of a gourd. This technique is influenced by the Shanghai style gourdduck making process. The last step involves steaming and deep frying, which is adapted from the cooking method of Sichuan Style Aromatic Duck. This dish is prepared using the different culinary techniques from three distinct regions. The golden duck not only has a magnificent visual presentation, it also offers a rich, flavorful taste. The extremely aromatic duck has crispy skin and tender meat with a long lasting aftertaste.

Crab Meat Lion's Head 蟹粉狮子头

This dish was created after Emperor Suiyang traveled to Yanzhou. He was so thrilled by the beautiful landscape, such as Shisong Mountain, Jin Qian Dun and Kui Huai Gang. After returning to his Palace, he ordered the chefs to create dishes to match the inspiring beauty of Yangzhou. "Ground Pork with Kui Hua" was one of the dishes. In the Tang Dynasty, a court official named Wei Zhi entertained his guests with this dish, which was large meat balls that looked like lion's head. The guests lauded Wei's accomplishment by saying that Wei had achieved so much victory in battle and deserved to have the army general's Lion's Head Seal. Wei happily agreed with the guests and changed the name of the dish to "Lion's Head". Due to the continuing improvement and enhancement made by the chefs in history, the ingredients, seasoning and cooking methods of Lion's Head have been modified to enrich the taste. The ground pork is prepared by grinding the pork belly meat, which is then mixed with crabmeat to give the extra savory flavor. At Nanling Restaurant, Lion's Head is made according to this standard. The ground pork is shaped into round balls, deep fried in hot oil and finally simmered in a chicken stock until the meat is tender. The soup has a delicious rich flavor and the pork is so tender that it melts in the mouth.

Address: 168 Yueyan Road

Telephone 021-64677381

021-64330897

Hours of operation: 11:30-14:00

17:30-22:00