Bingsheng Taste 炳胜品味 @ Shenzhen

The reverent Bingsheng opened in the nouveau riche city of Shenzhen. It was supposed to be so good that even Michelin gave it a star. Can it live up to its standard here in Shenzhen?

Guangzhou is the culinary capital of China, and the cuisine it created is called Cantonese cuisine, one of the four main cuisines of China. And in a city where only the best restaurants can survive, Bingsheng stands out like a nail waiting to be hammered in by its competitors.

Braised pork knuckles in secret sauce 秘制黄金猪手

The flesh slid off the bones without effort. The skin was fork tender and the red sauce was fantastic with steamed rice. Even the bones were not spared, I sucked the marrow out of them. Sticky and full of collagen from the slow cooking of the pork knuckles. The best dish for the afternoon.

Grouper in ginger and black bean sauce 姜豉汁珊瑚鱼

At first glance, we thought it was coral fish, but then the manager told us it’s an elegant reference to the wild caught grouper. When it was served, I knew it was farmed grouper. The flesh has that tough texture that can only be farmed in a tight condition. While the flavour of the casserole was fantastic, it could do with a better fish. And I don’t like fish that has been cut sideways, it is difficult to eat that way.

Braised homemade bean curd with fresh crab meat 生拆蟹肉煮豆腐

Instead of the hairy crab meat, Bingsheng used the meatier and bigger mud crabs. It is the right season and these crabs are fatten with roe. So you get this really rich sauce with the bean curd.

Salt and pepper wild caught Bombay duck 椒盐捕捞九肚鱼

The Bombay duck (called 九肚鱼 or nine stomach fish) is a common species found along the coast of Maharashtra and was given the funny name by the British. This soft bone fish can also be found along the South China Sea, and my mom likes to cook it simply by boiling it with tung hoon (mung been vermicelli) to create a really sweet, umami laden soup. The Cantonese, however, like to batter it and deep fry the fish to form a Chinese style tempura.

Assortment of BBQ Roasts 炳胜烧味三拼

They are so proud of their charsiu that they refused let us takeaway this course. The assortment of BBQ roasts included their signature black charsiu 秘制黑叉烧, unique roast goose with sauce infusion 首创灌汤烧鹅 and the crispy charsiu 酥皮叉烧.

The black charsiu was what is referred to in Hong Kong as 肥叉 or fatty charsiu. The roast goose was delicious but I had better. The crispy charsiu was completely different from the typical BBQ pork because it had a thin crispy deep fried outer layer covering each piece of meat. It’s like biting into a fatty piece of lard with a sweet crust. You can only have one or two pieces and you would felt too much. And it is almost impossible to eat when it turned cold.

Despite the fame around Bingsheng, I prefer the local boy Victory Restaurant better. While Bingsheng has more innovative Cantonese dishes, Victory has better flavours. But if you need to entertain an important customer, Bingsheng has a much better environment and superior service. So there’s something still that would bring me back to Bingsheng.

Bingsheng Taste 炳胜品味(卓悦中心店)
福田区深南大道2005号One Avenue卓悦中心东区L2层L244
Tel : 0755-8273 8819

Date Visited : Nov 2020