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The crossroads of Fuxing Road and Boaqing Road in Shanghai are prime expatriate territory. With a myriad of Western restaurants within a 300 square meter radius, this is the centre of the former French concession and where expatriates come out to play. Nestled right on the corner is the bustling Chinese restaurant Qian Qiu Shan Fang. Unlike the expensive expatriate-focused Western venues around it, Qian Qiu is an extremely popular haunt for locals, Westerners, and Japanese alike.
Qian Qiu is a mid-range restaurant with main dishes averaging around 25 Chinese Yuan per dish (equivalent of $3.50). It is known for its consistently high quality and interesting range of Chinese dishes. The restaurant, owned by a Taiwanese couple, has three outlets in the city, with another four opening during the summer. Each restaurant aims at a slightly different market but keeps consistently high standards, with a fine dining venue in the Shanghai suburbs and an outlet in the North of the city serving quick and easy Taiwanese dishes.
At the helm of the Boaqing Road branch is Chef Zhao Li Bing. Originally from Anhui province, Chef Zhao has resided in Shanghai for over 14 years. He trained as a chef at a culinary school in Anhui before moving to Shanghai. The Anhui style or “hui cai’” as it is known, is considered one of the eight great Chinese cuisines and Anhui chefs are renowned for their attention to detail in both colour and presentation as well as taste.
At Qian Qiu, Chef Zhao brings elements of hui cai, Shanghainese, and Taiwanese cooking to the restaurant. Having lived in Shanghai for many years, where the dishes are known for their incorporation of sweet sauces, Chef Zhao is now an expert in Shanghai cuisine. The defining touch in all the Qian Qiu outlets is influenced by Taiwan, where the dishes are generally lighter and play upon the taste of sour and savory. The lightness of the dishes is one factor in making the restaurant so popular amongst Westerners and Japanese.
Some of the Taiwanese specialities at Qian Qiu that are popular are the Chicken Samba, with “bai cai” (or bok choy) and basil, and the chicken with basil and garlic.
Chef Zhao leads a team of 15 in the main kitchen, with an additional ten chefs dedicated to the production of dumplings. Besides the main seating there is a small section of the restaurant dedicated to serving dim sum, such as the Shanghai specialty Xiaolongbao, filled with pork meat. When asked how he installed and maintained the high quality the restaurant is known for, Chef Zhao says that "the secret is in the oil." He knows many Chinese restaurants in the city use cheap bulk oil and this will ruin the taste regardless of ingredients and skill. All Qian Qiu restaurants use high quality brand oil purchased from French supermarket chain Carrefour.
MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a much talked about ingredient, especially for Westerners, and Chef Zhao admits some restaurants overuse it. In his kitchen, if used at all, it is usually a tiny amount as a binding element added just before the dish is served. If you use it as a main sauce the real flavor of the ingredients are killed.
All the dishes on the menu have been either created or tweaked by Chef Zhao. He will introduce new and seasonal items every three months or so. For most of the expatriates though, they frequent Qian Qiu Shan Fang for Chef Zhao’s fabulous “gong bao ji ding,” his delicate “jinjiang rousi with pancakes” (sliced pork in Peking duck style pancakes) and the unique dish of pancake roll with beef and cucumber. This pancake is thick, pancake laffa bread with wafer thin slices of beef in a hoisin type sauce all wrapped around a thick triangle of cucumber. The crunch of the cucumber blends beautifully with the thick pancake and the sweetness of the beef.
If you visit Qian Qiu Shan Fang more than once you will find the restaurant is full of familiar faces, as it one of those restaurants which diners never tire of, thanks to Chef Zhao, his team, and some rather high quality oil.
Qian Qiu Shan Fang
15 Baoqing Road, Shanghai, 200031
Tel: 86 21 6437 7597
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