Semma Shanghai

Old Jesse (老吉士) - Shanghai (China)

In order to truly understand the Shanghai food scene, it is imperative to dine in one of the city`s old-school restaurants. These are the true gatekeepers of the local cuisine, also known as Bebang, which is influenced by the Jiangnan region as a whole.

The most representative of such restaurants is undoubtedly Old Jesse, a legendary institution in the former French concession neighborhood.

Jesse has expanded to several locations, but the flagship one is where we headed for a very special meal and celebrated my birthday while introducing ourselves to the Bebang cuisine.

In true Chinese fashion, even with a reservation we still had to wait outside for our turn to enter the dining room. It was small, simple, with a low ceiling and efficient staff members quickly moving from table to table.

The extensive menu made it impossible not to miss out on several hits, including a scallion fish head that looked amazing on another table and that I had read wonders about online.

From the dishes we did order, the Hong Shao Rou (红烧肉) was melt-in-your-mouth tender. This recipe, a slowly cooked and red-braised pork belly, represents many of the local cuisine characteristics, with notable sweet and caramelized flavors.

Another favorite was the Hexia (河虾), tiny freshwater prawns that paired with vinegar.

Finally, one of the perks of visiting Shanghai in October is that fall is peak hairy crab season. This gave us no choice but to order an off-menu specialty: 蟹膏捞蟹肉砂锅饭, a crab meat and roe sizzling claypot rice. The waiter kindly triple checked that we were OK with the price tag, and upon confirmation the kitchen staff prepared what was an aromatic, intense and very pleasant end to an educational meal.

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