Orchid Pavilion 兰亭集 @ Shanghai

Farewell dinner for employees, we went for a nice Shanghainese dinner in a private European bungalow.

油醋汁水云丝 Zucchini and Microgreen Salad with Vinaigrette

Not a fan of these types of Western-style salad in a Chinese restaurant, rather forgettable.

I don’t see this dish listed in the receipt and I could not remember what this was. It’s Szechuan chilli sauce with sliced pig tongue, shrimps and okras.

泡椒三珍 Pickled Chilis with Three Types of Mushrooms

I can see mainly trumpet mushrooms, so I have not idea what are the other two types of mushrooms are. Despite the amount of chilis, it is not really spicy.

养身捞汁秋葵 Okra with Wellness Dressing

A delightful simple appetiser with lightly boiled okra with almost no visible dressing. The flavours came from the blanching stock. Serve with peas and lily bulbs.

兰亭匠心素鲍鱼 Faux Abalone

The imitated “abalone” is made from gluten so for those of you gluten-intolerant out there, this is poison. For the rest of us, it has the texture of abalone, the taste of abalone, and none of the nutrition of abalone. Loved it as an appetiser.

温州手工鱼饼 Wenzhou Handmade Fish Cake

We were sitting and chatting, and kitchen was closed for further orders. The only thing they can whipped out was this fish cake, which turned out to be a highlight of the meal. Really yummy fish cake, like the ones I remember when I was small and the corner kopitiam uncle put in his Teochew fishball noodles. Then I realise the umami comes from the MSG.

经典糖醋排骨 Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs

A classic Shanghainese appetiser, the sweet and sour pork ribs were really too sweet and too sour for my taste.

经典响油鳝丝夹饼 Classic Sautéed River Eel with Crepe Wrap

This is my favourite dish for that evening. I have always liked 响油鳝丝 sautéed river eel, a classic river eel that is cooked in a sweet and savoury sauce and a ladle of boiling hot oil poured onto the dish prior to serving, causing it to hiss and hence the name which literally means “loud oil”. I love the popiah skin like crepes that we use to wrap the eels with a la Peking duck style.

浓汤台州豆腐煲 Taizhou Tofu Casserole in Heavy Stock

By this time in the dinner, we needed a soup, but this tofu casserole was too rich to be a soup. The creamy stock is made from boiling chicken and pork bones over a long time until it’s milky white. Dried bamboo shoots 笋干 and salted pork belly 腌肉 are added for taste. The tofu absorbs all the flavours onto itself.

风生水起捞三文鱼 Salmon Lohei

An auspicious dish, it’s raw salmon in a tossed salad.

黑蒜蜜枣焖河鳗 Braised River Eel with Black Garlic and Dates

This eel is different the eel used in the previous dish. These are larger river eels naturally found along the tributaries of rivers surrounding Shanghai. These days they are farmed and exported to Japan. Unlike the Japanese, the bones of the eels are not removed prior to cooking, resulting in much more umami but a more difficult eat.

秘制牛肋排 Roasted Beef Ribs

There’s always a beef dish, and I find that these restaurants do not give credit to the beef.

满载而归 Pork Trotter in Salt Brine

Quite a simple dish, just pig trotters boiled in salty liquid spiced with aromatics. Still crunchy and great as a snack.

高山豆苗 Highland Pea Sprouts

First vegetable, highland pea sprouts simple sautéed with vegetable oil.

红焖菜心 Braised Hong Kong Choysum

The second vegetable, this one has lard in the veggie, it was finished in seconds.

海鲜炒饭 Seafood Fried Rice

The fried rice is not the Cantonese style fried rice I am used to – there’s no wokhei and the rice is quite wet. However it has a sense of nostalgia as it was the same taste of fried rice at our office “canteen”.

Perhaps it’s because of the occasion, perhaps we were quite distracted and worried about the future, the food wasn’t that great that evening. We were appreciative that the waiters actually stayed until we left; we were the last table to leave. Left a big tip, thanks for everything team.

Orchid Pavilion Private Dining 兰亭集私房菜
上海市徐匯區永嘉路335号

Visited Oct 2024