Home Town 荷唐韻 @ Shanghai (2024)

Lunch with old colleagues, we decided to go to a place that served value-for-money set lunches opened by my fellow Singaporean.

The lunch set comes with multiple choice questions, several choice for each category – appetiser, main, meat and vegetable. The number of choices and size of the portions are determined by the number of people eating lunch. he Peking duck and soup are included for party of 4 or more.

捞汁绣球菌 Cauliflower Fungus in Vinaigrette

The first appetiser was a not-so-common cauliflower fungus, poached and dressed with a Chinese style vinaigrette (vinegar, oil and soy sauce mix). Very refreshing and tasty.

海南白切鸡 Hainanese Poached Chicken

海南鸡饭 Hainanese chicken rice reminded me of home, my go to comfort food when I am alone in Shanghai. This is as close as it gets, with really good, authentic sauce to accompany the chicken. The only fault was the chicken they used was a leaner local chicken 三黄鸡 from local farmers. Today’s set menu, this was served as an appetiser without the rice. I couldn’t help but asked for a bowl.

海胆海鲜鲜笋豆腐 Sea Urchin Seafood Bamboo Shoot Tofu

At first glance it looked like Mapo Tofu. But this braised soft Japanese tofu was cooked with bits of seafood and shredded bamboo shoot, and finished with sea urchin for that distinctive umami. Delicious and went well with the complimentary steamed rice.

葱油大黄鱼 Steamed Yellow Croaker with Scallion Oil

This is a fine fish that is commonly used in banquets in Shanghai cooked in the Cantonese style. But do very careful of the fine bones, although it was worth the effort for the sweet taste and fine texture of the yellow croaker.

黄椒酱花生芽 Peanut Sprouts with Yellow Pepper

Very interesting appetiser, which julienned yellow lantern pepper was sautéed with humongous peanut sprouts. Crunchy and delicious, really simple dish that you can make at home.

淮山药煨牛腩 Stewed Beef Brisket with Mountain Yam

Chef Aw Yong used his French techniques to create Chinese dish that got its inspiration from beef bourguignon. Instead of red wine, a savoury Chinese brown sauce was used with mountain yam replace the tubers. The beef brisket had been cooked to a tender texture with all flavours of the spices and sauce absorbed into the briskets.

笋干菜烧黑猪脆排骨 Kurobuta Pork Ribs with Dried Bamboo Shoots

北京经典“酥不腻”烤鸭 “Crispy not greasy” Peking duck

Home Town special lunch set billboards the classic “crispy not greasy” Peking duck which have really crispy skin but not greasy because of the selection of duck. The surprise was the popiah skin (the traditional wrap for Peking duck in Singapore) used for the wrapping the duck. They were separated by layer of paper to avoid them sticking together. Very delicious.

Ducks used are around 35 days old. The “cherry duck” feeds on small fish, small insects and soybeans. The average adult duck is 2.3-2.5 kg and only about 800 g can be served from the duck.

鸡汤枸杞芥兰苗 Kailan Sprouts Goji Chicken Stock

酸菜番茄烤鸭汤 Sauerkraut Tomato Duck Soup

And to round up the lunch set was a huge bowl of tomato sauerkraut duck soup made from boiling the bones of the roast duck with Chinese mustard sauerkraut and tomatoes. Had the taste the Nyona itek tim (salted vegetable duck soup), perhaps that was where the inspiration came from.

秘制传统叉烧 Signature BBQ Charsiew (A La Carte)

The last time we ordered this, it was too salty for me. But this time, they had perfected the charsiew. Served with yellow mustard, calamansi (nice touch) and toasted bread with black truffle.

烧乳鸽 Roast Pigeons (A La Carte)

And we ordered their seasonal roast pigeons, and they were ok.

Since we last ate there, they have expanded to several locations, this one has been renamed to 荷唐•韻 or “Melody”. And the one in Beijing featuring Jiangnan cuisine called 荷唐·殿 or “Palace”. I am just glad that the standard has been kept, and some of the items have actually improved.

荷唐韻 Home Town
长宁路1195号莱佛士广场4号古建6号商铺，T3写字楼隔壁
Tel : +86 (021) 60881677

Visited Jun 2024