Lane 1039 YuYuan Road

Fu 1039 in a 1913 Villa

Typical 1913 interior

I visited a number of restaurants, both new and old to me, with Charlie and Ella.  A new one for me was Fu 1039 in an old 1913 three -storey villa in Lane 1039 off the YuYuan Road.  Without the instructions to walk down the lane for 30m and then through the garden, we would probably never have found it, as the restaurant entrance was unmarked and there was no sign on the main road – but the instructions worked and walking in through the front door we were confronted by the typical architectural features of a 1913 house – unusual in this city of modernisation.  There are large private dining rooms available as often happens in China, which I understand have seating for 10 to 20 people, large leather armchairs and over-sized chandeliers, but we joined the main dining room where a pianist was playing an upright

The Main Restaurant Room

Charlie Studying the Menu

piano and there were smaller groups of Chinese people enjoying the evening.

Fu 1039 serves typical Shanghai food, sweet and sticky with oil.  I had brought my guests here to sample true Shanghai food, which disappointed Charlie a little as he wanted to sample all the things on the menu that he hadn’t tasted before like Sea Cucumber.  We compromised somewhat with him ordering Jellyfish and me ordering typical regional fare.

We started with Shanghai-smoked fish which is smoked in the wok and drunken chicken  – chicken steeped overnight in Shaoxing rice wine and served cold on a bed of ice.

Smoked Fish Starter with Chicken in Shaoxing Wine

Jelly Fish in Aged Vinegar and Tea-smoked Eggs With Fish Roe

The Chinese bring food to the table in the way similar to the way we used to serve food in Europe, Service à la française until the Russian Ambassador introduced the Parisians to Service à la russe, where dishes are brought to the table in sequential courses, and we Brits copied the idea some years later.  The Chinese way seems to be to bring it when it is ready, no matter how inappropriate.  Rice often appears at the end of meal for instance.  Next to appear was the jellyfish in aged vinegar and the tea-smoked eggs with fish roe.  This was followed by a dish of peas which interestingly and unusually came with a spoon with which to serve it and a sweet and sour fish dish called squirrel-shaped bass.

A Plate of Peas

Squirrel-shaped Bass

Next to arrive was the pork braised in soy sauce known as Hongshao Rou, which was served in its own huge brown pot warmer to keep it warm and a noodle dish and seasonal vegetables.  Unfortunately Richard couldn’t join us, it being a Tuesday evening he was having to work.  But we had had a similar meal at a sister restaurant Fu 1088 on the other side of the Jiangsu Road from here not so long ago, so I don’t think he missed out too much.

As Charlie has worked in restaurants during his double gap year, as both a fine-dining waiter in Canterbury and as a Chef de Partie in Falmouth he was rather disapproving of the group of Chinese with their heads in their mobile phones at the table.  In fact, I think the amount of mobile phone watching that goes on in Shanghai was the one thing that annoyed him most during the whole of his fortnight here.  He hates it when people do it back home in the UK, unlike most of his age group.  Be with the people you are with, not a person at the other end of a phone call.  I couldn’t agree with him more.

At the end of our meal a completely unsolicited dessert

Unsolicited Dessert

arrived – a large white serving dish piled high with ice and on top individual grapes, lychees and cherry tomatoes.  The Chinese, quite rightly, regard tomatoes as a fruit and treat it as such, whereas most of us know that it is a fruit and treat as a vegetable.