Another year of Covid has claimed a few more casualties in Raffles Changning. But in their places are brand new eateries that are better in many ways. Today, we went to this new place which featured the Peking duck and other Peking cuisine.

A new brand under the New Century Youth Group 新青年饮食集团 that started in Dec 2021 in Beijing, they finally arrived in Shanghai with their first store in Raffles City Changning.

Youth Star Chef 青年星厨 is a mid to high-end brand that specialises in Peking duck and creative fusion dishes. Exquisite dining environment, creative dishes, high-quality service, all these to create an unique dining experience with visual that match the taste.

Our Lunch selection included these:

1. Cold Dish 凉菜
2. Star Chef Roast Duck 星厨烤鸭
3. Old Beijing Offal Stew 老北京炖吊子
4. Beijing Style Beef Tripes 京味爆肚
5. Scorched Lamb 灸子烤羊肉
6. Kung Pao Chicken with Cashew Nuts 宫保腰果鸡丁
7. Sautéed Seasonal Vegetable 清炒时蔬
8. Signature Fried Rice with Mushroom and Roast Duck 星厨鸭菌香炒饭
9. Sugar Pancake 糖油饼

Cold Dish 凉菜

We ordered some cold dishes as appetisers, and they were the classic Peking appetisers that you would associate with the ancient capital.

• Beijing-style braised duck parts 京卤鸭三件
  Gizzards, tongue and wings (R-L) of the duck stewed in a sweet-savoury braising sauce, nice.
• Spinach with yellow mustard and sesame sauce 麻酱菠菜芥末墩
  Very well plated, but pricey for that plate.
• Red osmanthus flower with lily bulb 红桂花鲜百合
  Fresh lily bulbs dressed with a sweet osmanthus syrup.
• Mustard duck feet 芥末鸭掌
  I was amazed at how they could deboned the web feet of the duck.
• Pea shoots with walnut and vinaigrette dressing 香樁苗拌核桃仁
  We can skip this.

Star Chef Roast Duck 星厨烤鸭

Their signature dish is the Star Chef Roast Duck 星厨烤鸭. It was developed from their best-selling osmanthus-flavoured roast duck 桂花烤鸭 and had the same sprinkling osmanthus as garnish.

The process of getting the perfect roast duck starts from selecting the right sized duck. Then it is subjected to over 30 (secret) processes that seasoned and dry-aged the duck. After skilfully roasted for over 80 minutes, you get a duck which skin is crispy and the meat is fragrant and tender. It is then sliced in front of you, and served with a variety of condiments and popiah skin for wrapping the sliced duck.

Just like in Beijing, the condiments included strips of cucumbers and leeks, with a sweet-savoury bean paste 甜面酱, raw sugar and their special mala 麻辣酱 that tasted like 老干妈 spicy sauce.

The salt and pepper duck rack 鸭架 came out so quickly that I wondered if it was our duck or somebody else’s? Hardly any meat left on the carcass so it was a waste of time and money.

Old Beijing Offal Stew 老北京炖吊子

This is the smaller “brother” of Beijing-style braised offals 卤煮火烧. The original braised offals was derived from a Royal Court dish called Suzhou-style braised pork 苏造肉. Because the dish called for use of pork belly, which was an expensive ingredient back in the Qing dynasty, the commoners would used offals instead. Hence, the luzhu 卤煮 was born. Dundiaozi 炖吊子 is the household version, where a claypot was used to braised the offals instead of a large steel vat – both are “brothers” from the same “mother”.

I loved this dish because I love offals. But it could get very bad if the offals were not cleaned properly. The dundiaozi was done properly, but for health reason I decided not to indulge.

Beijing Style Beef Tripes 京味爆肚

This is a classic Beijing street food that epitomises the type of cuisine Peking is – influence from Mongolian and Manchurian, with Halal elements.

The fresh beef tripe is cut into strips, and blanched a la minute in boiling water. It is then mixed with cooking oil, sesame sauce, vinegar, chilli oil, fermented tofu sauce, chopped coriander, chopped scallions and chopped Chinese celery for flavours.

Scorched Lamb 灸子烤羊肉

This dish originated from the Mongolians and became popular in Beijing with Manchurians when they conquered China and set up capital in Beijing. Scorched Lamb 灸子烤羊肉 was first mentioned in the 25th year of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty. The scorching refers to the griddled cast iron plate that was heated and used for roasting. The excess fat of the lamb flowed along the grooves of the griddle, leaving behind a well-caramelised meat.

Their version was not cooked on the griddle – the griddle was solely for plating purpose – so the wokhei associated with cast iron cooking was missing.

Kung Pao Chicken with Cashew Nuts 宫保腰果鸡丁

This is Kung Pao in the Lu cuisine style, which is less spicy and more vinegary.

Sautéed Seasonal Vegetable 清炒时蔬

The seasonal vegetable was pea shoots.

Signature Fried Rice with Mushroom and Roast Duck 星厨鸭菌香炒饭

I was surprised that they would charge for this fried rice as you get a braised noodle or fried rice as part of the Peking duck in Singapore. I find the fried rice too dry and al dente, almost like eating glutinous rice.

Sugar Pancake 糖油饼

This was considered a dessert as well as a main course in the North. The fluffy dough was pan fried and had the texture of doughnut. Then icing sugar was added with a drizzling of caramelised sugar. A good end to the meal.

Afterthoughts

Youth Star Chef is exactly what’s going on with dining in China – youthful, vibrant and reinventing itself constantly. It’s only about 50 years since the opening of the economy to capitalist money, the dining culture has been totally transformed. Street food like luzhu or baodu are reinvented and presented on the dining table in an appetising manner.

And gone are the days of sloppy service and poor dining experience. The restaurant is designer-grade and everything was thought through thoroughly. Not too expensive as it caters to the office crowd, and can be quite crowded during lunch. The dinner crowd should more manageable.

Youth Star Chef (Raffles City Changning) 青年星厨 (长宁来福士广场店)
长宁路1139号长宁来福士广场F6
Tel : +86 (021) 6277 7275

Visited Feb 2023

#PekingDuck #ShanghaiEats #青年星厨 #RafflesChangning #长宁莱佛士