Here in Beijing, the cuisine is made to sustain us through long, cold winters. In Shanghai, meanwhile, its for long, elegant banquets. The latter is undoubtedly worse. What with all the baijiu toasts, rigid codes of table etiquette and constant pressure to impress senior businesspeople, we’d take a Beijing winter over a Shanghai banquet any day. And yeah, that applies to the food, too. Authentic Shanghainese cuisine is not for the faint of foreign palates – it’s sweet, fishy, often goopy and frequently not the temperature you expect.
‘But I love xiaolongbao,’ you say. Duh, everyone loves soup dumplings, but those are just the dainty showgirls of Shanghai food. Do you love wheat germ soaked in sweet wine? Do you love cold chicken? What are your feelings on tongue? Shanghainese food is one of the greats, and it is equally rich in both nutrients and history – but long story short, its flavors can take some getting used to. Where do you begin?
You begin at Wulixiang. The Shanghainese restaurant is fit for both China gastronomy nerds and the freshest of the fresh off the boat. With excellent service and a welcoming environment (Sanlitun!), Wulixiang sets a new standard for Shanghainese food in Beijing.
While laowai will learn a lesson or two from its menu, Wulixiang’s cuisine is far from elementary. The eight-treasure duck (RMB480) practically has a PhD – deboned, cooked three times, stuffed with all manner of sweets and savories (sounds crazy, we know, but we promise it’s delicious). Their red braised pork (RMB108) glistens. But our favorite is the perfect scallion oil noodles (RMB28), the best dish we had in Beijing all month. We know it’s uncool to go to a nice restaurant and like the noodles best. But it’s the truth.
Wulixiang’s aesthetic, meanwhile, has all the elegance of a banquet and none of its clamor. And while it’s certainly nice enough to take your boss to, it’s also reasonably priced enough to visit for pleasure – which is exactly what we’ll be doing, during this long, cold Beijing winter.
See a listing for Wulixiang and read more Beijing Restaurant Reviews
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