Shanghai Casserole Restaurant 上海砂锅饭店 @ Shanghai

People hated the service, but they still packed the restaurant because of its authentic Shanghainese cuisines that generations grew up with.

This 80+ years old state-owned restaurant has accompanied generations of Shanghainese with its great food and perky service. Formerly known as Daqing Restaurant 大庆饭店, it was renamed Shanghai Casserole Restaurant in 1984 when they changed the menu to include many casserole dishes. There are currently more than 40 casserole dishes on the menu.

The restaurant used to be at Jianguo East Road and steadfastly served the residents around the area, offering a whole banquet for less than ¥20 in the early 70s. Dishes are still between ¥20-50 this present day. Due to city redevelopment, the restaurant moved to the current location in Mar 2023, but the patrons moved along with them. Thankfully the standard of the cooking did not drop with the move.

While there an open dining area on the first floor that offered value-for-money dishes, on the upper floor are private rooms which a minimum charge depending on the size of the room. We dined in one of the private room, and as my host knows the executive chef, there were some dishes that surprised us.

生腌血蚶蛏子 Raw Marinated Cockles and Clams

The opening dish already amazed me. After the Hep-A epidemic in Shanghai in the 90s, raw marinated shellfish was pretty much banned. Most would serve a variation of cooked shellfish, but I was surprised that they had this raw version. Perhaps because of the popularity of a recent TV series 《繁花》set in 80s Shanghai which the protagonists ate this dish, it became sought after again.

The cockles were really huge (like the ones I had in Thailand), but they were properly processed (not dirt whatsoever). Every one of the shellfish was nicely marinated in the soy and yellow wine sauce. Delicious.

白切鸡 Poached Chicken

The chicken was served cold (which I liked) and poached to the right doneness with the fats forming jelly between the skin and flesh. Delicious.

苔条豆瓣 Seaweed Broad Bean

This is a snack that can be found on every Shanghainese gathering, crunchy and full of umami.

花雕小龙虾 Drunken Crawfish

Surprisingly this trip to Shanghai, this version of the summer favourite (crawfish) was featured in a lot of the dinners I want to. Boiled, chilled and then soaked in Huadiao yellow wine, they were good eats while we conversed.

砂锅海鲜煲 Seafood Casserole

They are famous for their casserole, especially their fish head casserole; it comes in two version – white soup 白汤 and red soup 红汤. The milky white soup stock is the result of hours of boiling pork and chicken bones. This version is an upgrade of the fish head version with seafood like shrimps, clams and crabs, and also chopped pieces of fish head.

The soup was full of depth and umami, with a sticky mouthfeel from all the melted collagen in the soup. I can still remember the taste of soup as I looked at the photo, that was how good it tasted.

椒盐大王蛇 Deep Fried Snake

Yep, you read it correctly, this next dish is snake. This is the only thing in the whole culinary world that I would not even try. The thought of it sent shivers down my spine. I was surprised that it was still served after the general ban after the pandemic.

Nothing goes to waste when it comes to cooking a snake. The skin can be blanched and julienned, and served as an appetiser (crunchy like fish skin); the blood (not seen here) can be mixed with baijiu; the gall is prized as a tonic.

红烧肉 Stewed Pork Belly

A classic, the fats of the pork belly had rendered sufficiently that it melted in the mouth. Typical of the Shanghai-style, it was really sweet and savoury at the same time.

冬笋草菇大肠煲 Winter Bamboo Shoots Straw Mushroom Large Intestine Casserole

The next dish was made up of simple ingredients in a savoury, sweet brown sauce in a casserole. The large intestine was cleaned properly and there was no weird taste, making the fatty offal the highlight of the dish.

清炒鸡毛菜 Sautéed Bokchoy Sprouts

鸡毛菜 (“chicken feather vegetable”) was the first vegetable I was introduced to in Shanghai when I moved there at the turn of the millennia. I had been trying to find out what it was as it weighs nothing, cost very little, and withered very quickly, so one cannot leave it in the fridge. Now I know that it’s actually just buds of the common bokchoy, I appreciate it even more.

咸肉菜饭 Savoury Meat and Vegetable Mixed Rice

This is not fried rice, it was a mixed rice of pork lard, chopped bokchoy, ham, salted meat and steamed rice. Simple goodness in every mouthful.

餐后水果 After-dinner Fruits

The agriculture techniques in China have improved by leaps and bounds, as evident in the quality of the fruits that has been presented to us.

Shanghai’s culture is full of rivers. Just like this casserole restaurant, while its mainstay is Shanghainese cuisine, it has also absorbed the characteristics of Suzhou, Wuxi, Ningbo, and even Anhui cuisine, and integrates them into the menu. Whenever we recall our favourite food, we often recall the taste in our hearts. This is an emotion, a fond memory. And this restaurant is full of them.

Shanghai Casserole Restaurant 上海砂锅饭店
上海市黄浦区马当路355号
Tel : +86 (021) 5306 8351

Visited Jun 2024