I always believe that as long as there are Chinese people around, there will always be people willing to pay for good food. The increasingly affluent Chinese in China are forking out lots of money to eat in posh restaurants like Jade Garden Restaurant and South Beauty 俏江南.
Originally from Shanghai, Jade Garden Restaurant now has two outlets in Beijing, one of which is on the first floor of the building where my company's Beijing office is situated. South Beauty is located in the next building where the office used to be located until June this year. So I've eaten many times at both restaurants. Lucky me. Hee.
Jade Garden Restaurant specialises in the cuisine from the provinces of Jiangsu (江苏), Zhejiang (浙江) and the Shanghai municipality. The most famous city in Jiangsu is Suzhou (苏州) and in Zhejiang it's Hangzhou (杭州). The word 汇 (hui) refers to the Shanghai municipality. Jade Garden's interior design is what one would call Chinois chic with Chinese influences fused with Western design - no gaudy red dragons and phoenixes wood carvings adorning the walls and ceilings. It is elegant with pristine white tablecloths, black chairs with clean lines, string beaded curtains in the numerous private rooms in the restaurant for added privacy.
On week days, the clientele stems mainly from the corporate sharks who have to entertain other corporate sharks. On weekends, the place is patronised by many families. The place is always packed and I have no doubt that there are many rich Chinese people out there 'cos the food really isn't what I would call cheap even by Singapore standards.
Serving portions are similar to Singapore, i.e. quite small. This actually suits me fine 'cos most of the time I can't finish the huge portions that many other cheaper restaurants in China serve.
The menu is pretty extensive. There are the cold dishes (凉菜) which are the appetisers. Many of these dishes are sauteed vegetables served cold - I like ordering these cold dishes in the thick of summer but certainly not when it's cold. The mains consist of many stir-fried items, and dishes like preserved vegetables with stewed pork (梅菜扣肉), steamed fish, black pepper pork ribs, stir-fried diced beef in a honey glaze, and Shanghainese dishes like Xiaolongbao (小笼包) pan-fried buns (生煎包) and soup buns (汤包). There's also the famous Yangzhou Fried Rice (扬州炒饭).
It's a nice restaurant to go to for Chinese fine dining in China. Everything is clean and nice and service is good. However, I think I'm getting jaded - even though the food was pretty good, it didn't have the Wow-factor. But still, at the end of a long work day in a foreign city, it's nice to go there and have a good dinner instead of some grubby place. All these on company expense, of course! ;)
Posted by DSD at November 29, 2006 11:15 AM