Jade Orchid’s Fred Yan stays faithful to recipes and cooking styles of old Shanghai
Yan is renowned for his rich textures and exquisitely tasting Shanghai dishes as seen in his signature braised meatball with hairy crab roe and stewed trotters in brown sauce.
Elements of old Shanghai, from black-and-white 1920s and ’30s photos on the wall to a rickshaw standing on paved flooring and a ceiling which depicts traditional Chinese rooftops, are in the lobby entrance. There is a hallway that passes the private rooms to the main dining room, which comes into dramatic focus with the bright peacock-blue chairs that make a huge statement.
The food is authentic Shanghainese, and head chef Fred Yan strives to preserve original recipes and cooking styles.
Yan is renowned for his rich textures and exquisitely tasting Shanghai dishes as seen in his signature braised meatball with hairy crab roe and stewed trotters in brown sauce. For must-try cold dishes, we recommend the drunken chicken in yellow wine and the braised duck in soya sauce. The menu has a selection of meats and seafood, abalone and bird’s nest.
Another popular dish is honey glazed ham with the chef using the choicest cut of Jinhua ham, which is slowly cooked in honey sauce to bring out the flavour of the cured meat. But don’t leave before sampling the Shanghai steamed pork dumplings. The cooks have to fold and pitch the paper-thin dumpling wrapper 24 times, which takes a lot of skill. There is a selection of dim sum and vegetarian options too. For dessert, we liked the deep-fried glutinous rice ball in
sesame and the rice dumplings in rice wine soup.
