Xiao Shaoxing 小绍兴 @ Shanghai

One of the most recognised brands of Shanghai restaurants, they have been around since 1940s. Xiao Shaoxing is famous for one dish – white cut “three-yellow” chicken, or poached chicken.

Perhaps the best way to describe Xiao Shaoxing is utterly chaotic. This restaurant, the name of which literally means ‘little Shaoxing’, has been present in Shanghai since the 1940s, when founder Mr Zhang arrived in Shanghai from the eponymous Zhejiang city, birthplace of Lu Xun. At first, Zhang etched out a living for himself selling snacks, but as time went on, his tender boiled chicken grew in popularity and it is now the restaurant’s signature dish.

1/ 白切鸡 poached chicken

The chicken is cooked to perfection, every piece is tender and full of the chicken flavour. The jelly of the fats formed between the skin and meat is the highlight of this signature dish of the restaurant. Exactly the same thing as what they served downstairs, smaller portion, higher price.

2/ 牛肉丝炒面 beef fried noodles

They did not have a single portion of scallion noodles, so I ordered the next best thing – Shanghai fried noodles with beef.

3/ 北虫草炖宴球 mushroom and fungus soup

Nice clear soup. But you can taste the ajinomoto. I wanted to order with pig blood pudding soup, but they don’t serve a single portion here in the restaurant.

4/ 松仁万年青 Shanghai greens with pine nuts

Stir-fry green, just like how my mom will do it.

All washed down with a glass of chrysanthemum tea.

The food was so so, except the chicken. Many of the food you can get as a single serve downstairs are available in the restaurant as standard serve for 3-4 persons.Service was good for a national institution, perhaps they were curious about a foreigner ordering so much for one person, they got worried that I may not be able to finish it.

For a more authentic experience, you may want to head downstairs to the dining hall – Xiao Shaoxing is a great little place to chow down on affordable, tasty Chinese food, not to mention brush up on your Shanghainese with some locals.

Xiao Shao Xing 小绍兴 (云南南路店)
云南南路69-75号(近宁海东路)
Tel : 021-63260845 021-63203562

Date Visited : Jan 2016