Pincui Jin’an 品粹近安 @ Shanghai

Anhui is a poorer inland province west of Shanghai, so its food is basically simple peasant food. Since Xinrongji got its 3 stars, these types of rustic cuisines have been gentrified and brought onto the fine dining tables.

Shanghai really lives up to its moniker 魔都, a city full of magic. Julu Road 巨鹿路 is located in the old French Concession of late 19th/early 20th century Shanghai. When you arrive at this gated community, it seems that you have arrived back in time to 19th century Paris.

Pincui Jin’an 品粹近安 is located in the Julu Gardens 巨鹿公馆, offers Hui cuisine in a fine dining setting. Overlooking the gardens, the private rooms only dining are elegantly decorated with a variety of sizes to cater for party of four to more. Every room is assigned a butler who will contact you in advance to prepare the menu for the banquet, and to customise the experience for every VIP needs.

Hui cuisine 徽菜 is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions 八大菜系 of Chinese cuisine. It is derived from the native cooking styles of the Huangshan region in southern Anhui Province, and is similar to Jiangsu cuisine. It becomes popular when the omnipresent Huizhou merchants brought their hometown flavours to almost every corner of China.

The dinner menu was suggested by our assigned butler beforehand, taking into consideration dietary restrictions and taste preferences.

While we waited for our first course to be served, we snacked on some 阳光玫瑰 shine muscat grapes that have been cultivated in China, 黑芝麻糖 black sesame malt candy that brought back a lot of nostalgia, and 虎皮花生 soy sauce coated peanuts that are savoury peanuts with a sweet shell.

青杭椒仔姜皮蛋 Green Hangzhou Peppers with Century Eggs and Pickled Ginger

青杭椒仔姜皮蛋 Green Hangzhou peppers with century eggs and pickled ginger isn’t Hui cuisine but Hunanese cuisine 湘菜. Simple and nice.

油鸡枞酸菜拌螺片 Termite Mushrooms, Salted Kohlrabi, Sliced Whelk

鸡枞菌 termite mushroom is a species of mushrooms that grows on rotten logs infested by termite. The termite mushrooms have a stronger taste with higher nutrients. Used to be an expensive ingredient, but these days the Chinese have figured out how to cultivate them so the price has come down significantly. A mixed salad dressed with chicken oil skimmed from boiling chicken for the soup in another dish.

庐州徽子拌菜苗 Luzhou Microgreens Salad

A very Western style salad, this was rather out of place but it seems that nowadays there is always a salad in the menu to cater for the health conscious.

风干肉拼手工香肠 Air-dried Pork and Sausages

徽州风干香肠 Air dried sausage is made during the month of La Yue 腊月, the last month of the Chinese calendar when China enters into deep winter 大寒. Many families will prepare 腊肉 (lit. “waxed”) salted meat as the weather is perfect for doing this. This is a misnomer, there’s no wax used to preserve the meat, only copious amounts of salt. The naturally occurring oil from the meat sealed the exterior to give it a waxy look. Steamed before serving to cook and release the fragrance of the oil.

肥西老母鸡汤配手工炒米 Old Hen Soup With Puffed Rice

Another complicated dish is the 肥西老母鸡汤配手工炒米 old hen soup with puffed rice. The hen raised for three years is used to prepare the stock by slowing boiling for three hours. The chicken stock is comparable to chicken essence and fresh matsutake mushroom from Yunnan is added to enhance the umami. Puffed rice is finally added just before serving. I left out the puffed rice and just drank the soup, which was amazing.

红烧皖西大白鹅 Stewed White Goose from Wanxi

There are many famous species of goose used for cooking, and Wanxi 皖西 (lit. Western Anhui) is famous for its white goose. 红烧皖西大白鹅 Stewed white goose from Wanxi wasn’t what I expected, a red sauce braised goose.

徽州臭麵鱼 Huizhou Stinky Mandarin Fish

In the olden days, 桂鱼 or 鳜鱼 Mandarin fish were sought after for their succulent flesh and clean taste. And during springtime peach blossoms, they fed on petals dropped from the trees lined along the river. Gourmets then believed that gave them the “peach blossom” taste. The fish used was about 1.2-1.5 kg, pickled with salt for about 15 days in the local climate of Huangshan. A heavy slate was used to press the fish during the pickling process to make the meat firmer. The strong tasting sauce may put off some people at first, but the fish is delicious. An acquired taste for sure, like stinky tofu.

黄山石鸡双吃 Huangshan Spiny Frog in Two Ways

At first, I thought it was black wood fungus with chicken. Then when it was introduced, this classic Hui dish is made up of two unique ingredients of Mt Huangshan. 石鸡 (lit. “stone chicken”), aka 石蛙 Chinese spiny frog, is an edible frog found in the crevices of stones on the wet and humid mid-levels of Mt Huangshan. 石耳 rock tripe is a fungus growing on the surface of these wet stones. It has medicinal value and is used as a TCM ingredient to stop bleeding. The frogs were cooked in two ways – first with the rock tripe in clear chicken oil, and sautéed with green peppers. Like what I thought it was, the frog tasted like chicken and rock tripe tasted like wood fungus.

海肠尖椒土鸡蛋 Sea Intestines Jalapeño Free-range Egg Omelette

Sometime the simplest dish is the best. The actual name for sea intestines 海肠 is penis fish because of its similarity to the male anatomy. The first time I ate this was in Yantai. In the old days it was dried and milled into powder and added to other dishes for umami, a natural MSG. So you can imagine how great this simple dish tasted. The free-range eggs were really eggy. It has been a long time since I tasted real eggs.

皖味丸子煮豆腐 Wan-style Meatballs and Tofu Stew

Another ingredient commonly found in Anhui, tofu and pork meatballs similar to lion-head meatballs from Jiangsu. Tofu is supposed to be invented by Prince Liu An (179–122 BC) of Anhui province. Cooked in a beautiful chicken broth.

猪油渣炒菜心 Sautéed Choysum with Pork Lard

Again the simplest dishes are always the best. This simple stir-fry choysum has the wokhei and the satisfying amino acids from pork lard, you need nothing else.

刀板香蔬菜炒饭 Salted Pork Belly and Vegetable Fried Rice

According to legend, the famous Ming general Hu Zongxian 胡宗宪 was returning after a successful campaign, he passed through the county and paid a visit to his teacher. The teacher’s wife used salted pork belly, sliced them and steamed the salted belly on the chopping board. The whole board was presented to Hu and he was amazed how fragrant it was. Since then, 徽州刀板香 (lit. “fragrant chopping board”) Hui salted pork belly has been prepared the same way. Here, it has been finely chopped and incorporated into the fried rice.

葛粉米浆配龙须酥 Arrowroot Paste with Dragon Beard Candy

The warm dessert is made up of two parts – 葛粉米浆 arrowroot paste and 龙须酥 dragon beard candy, a traditional Chinese confectionary similar to floss halva or Western cotton candy. Arrowroot paste has almost no taste but plenty of nutrition, the candy added the sweetness to the paste.

It seems that it is related to the Anhui Provincial Guest House’s restaurant. No wonder there’s a deja vu feeling. A wonderful Hui cuisine restaurant, great service and elegant ambiance. Perfect place to entertain clients.

Pincui Jin’an 品粹近安 安徽庐州菜
静安区巨鹿花园889号22号楼
Tel : +86 177 2115 9248

Visited Oct 2024