London Plane Trees on Yongfu Lu

One day last week, on one of the many days when Richard was away until late (in fact he didn’t make it home at all that night, having had his delayed flight from Guangzhou cancelled at midnight, he ended up sharing a hotel bedroom with a Japanese businessman who it turned out lives not far from our apartment) I decided to solve the what shall I eat tonight problem with afternoon tea at Yongfoo Elite.

It’s not far from the Shanghai Library Metro station, but once you have turned off the busy main road HuaiHAi Zhong Lu (HuaiHai Middle Road) – the old Avenue Joffre, and still well known by that name –  you rapidly enter the different world of low-rise villas and quieter lanes.

German Consulate in Yongfu Road

At this time of year the London Planes throughout the Old French Concession are in full leaf and it makes some of the roads look as gloomy and inviting, if not as cool, as going through a wood on an off-the-beaten track road in Kent.    This area is the home to consulates; across the road is the German consulate and indeed Yongfoo Elite itself is in the former British

Looking back along the gated driveway

Front entrance of Yongfoo Elite

Consulate building.  After being relinquished by the British it was taken over by a retired Chinese fashion designer , Wang Zingzheng, who turned the gated grounds and building into a homage to 1920s Art Deco living.

The Lawn at Yongfoo Elite

The grounds, planted with lush greenery with a sample of the flower of Shanghai the Magnolia grandiflora, a tall evergreen tree, provide a backdrop to an opium bed

Opium Bed at Yongfoo Elite

a fish pond filled with large carp

Fish Pond

Golden Carp

and an Italian style loggia along the garden wall all create a wonderful atmosphere and I imagine would be a lovely place to come for evening drinks.

Loggia

Loggia looking the other way

As well as the Loggia in the garden, the house had a curtained verandah, a section of which seemed to be available as a private dining room – a feature you find in most restaurants here in Shanghai.  It all makes for a very atmospheric place.

Curtained Verandah

Private Dining Room on the Verandah

Inside, the dining room – there are I understand three bars as well – it was all rather gloomy, and as there was a notice saying no photographs I had to be somewhat discreet, even though the table of eight at the other end of the room were taking a number of pictures on their mobile phones.

Taking Afternoon Tea

The Restaurant at Yongfoo Elite

Display cabinet of green objects

Next to my table was an interesting lighted display cabinet filled with green items from silk lotus-feet shoes to a carafe and glasses.

Lotus Feet (bound) Shoes

Traditional Chinese Tea Service

It was an interesting, and by that I mean unusual, afternoon tea, serving Chinese food, not Western, but in a semi-British way.  The tea itself ( I ordered green tea) was served on a woven bamboo tray, with a tea cup the size of an egg cup.  Next to that came a glass jug with the first washing of the tea already in it and next to that a lidded Gaiwan which contains the tea leaves and finally an insulated jug of hot water.  Once the glass jug of tea has been emptied, you pour the hot water into the Gaiwan, let the leaves steep for a couple of minutes and and then using the lid to hold back the leaves you pour the tea into the glass jug so that the tea that you drinks not brewed for too long.  In this way, tea leaves can have up to ten washings.

The Front Entrance to the Former British Consulate

The food that it came with was Chinese and not the western food that I had expected for afternoon tea.  There was a rectangular rice cake with shredded seaweed which had been toasted, a pastry filled with red bean paste and another similar one that had been rolled in sesame seeds, together with a sweetmeat that tasted of asian pear.  A tiny bowl of sweet soup with what looked liked puff rice in it and bamboo woven basket hanging on a stand carrying three more cakes which I am finding it hard to describe.  None of the food was particularly sweet and one or two of these dessert dim sum were a little stale.

Yongfoo Elite Road Sign

We have been told that the Chinese (who love Downton Abbey and all that) think that the British are highly elegant and have afternoon tea everyday.  Some parts have of the UK have (High) Tea everyday which of course is something different and something that Richard has had to explain to work colleagues what that is all about.  The whole experience at Yongfoo Elite came to the equivalent of about £20. I’m glad I did it, for it was certainly an experience and for me nowadays life is about experiences and not about acquiring objects, but I would seriously question my sanity if I went back there and had afternoon tea again.  And I wouldn’t go for a meal either – a fixed menu banquet for 8 to 10 people could set you back £1000.  Perhaps a malt whisky in one of the bars on a warm autumn evening – now you’re talking.

David Beckham Salesman Extraordinaire

On the way back home on the metro I was confronted by another bit of British culture that the Chinese appear to love – the ubiquitous David Beckham, who seems to be a car salesman over here.

He is Ubiquitous