Xin Hua Cheng, or New Flower City, is a fancy Cantonese hot pot place, where the entitled dip abalone, garoupa, lobster, and other expensive kinds of seafood into mild broths. Lots of businessmen here.
I don’t know why in Shanghai, the really good hotpot restaurants always start with a serving of fruits. I really like the house brewed sugarcane water.
The ingredients used for the hotpot are really class. Even the stock base is made from expensive ingredients.
Assorted handmade meat balls, included pork, beef, cuttlefish, prawn and egg dumplings.
Alive and kicking, it was really cruel to stick the skewers into the live tiger prawns.
Instead of cooking with the hotpot, they recommended the stewed Dalian abalone. Already braised with lots of flavour and ready to eat, it was nice appetiser while we waited for the stock to boil.
Maling brand luncheon meat has been my childhood favourite. Satisfying and salty, it is perfect between bread or with your fried rice or instant noodle. Then, I realised it can also be dipped in hotpot.
A bit of history of Maling. It was founded by a group of patriotic chefs in Shanghai back in July of 1930. These chefs lamented on the in flux of foreign canned food and there was none manufactured in China. They pooled together some money and started the first Maling cannery in 石库门 Shikumen. There are several versions today – the export version (featured here in the restaurant), and local version that is rather mushy.
The chicken is marinated using huadiao to enhance the flavour.
The piece de resistance for the evening was the red grouper. An expensive delicacy prized for its sweetness and firm flesh when cooked, it was perfect here because the waitress that helped us blanched the fish cooked it perfectly.
The finale, the seafood porridge made from the red grouper bones and added lobster and prawns.
To round up the dinner, a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You may think it as an anti-climax, but the quality of the ice cream was unbelievable.
The shop is frequented by film stars and famous people. The price is expensive and the service is haughty. I am not sure why it’s so popular except the ingredients are really fresh.
XinHuaCheng Hotpot 新花城火鍋
58 Donghu Rd, Xuhui, Shanghai, China 徐汇区东湖路58号(近淮海中路)
Tel : +86 21 5467 0336
Date Visited : Sep 2019
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