It's not entirely appropriate to say that this local cuisine is the specialty of Shanghai. In my opinion, from its origin and development, it is difficult to compare with other cuisines in China, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Guangdong and other places. Therefore, it is ok to say that this local cuisine has the local characteristics of Shanghai, but it should not be said that it represents the local characteristics of Shanghai. In a complete sense, Shanghai local specialties should also include "Shanghainese" dishes from all over the world that have been established and rooted in Shanghai for a long time, especially in the past century. There are hundreds of rivers, and capacity is great. Shanghai cuisine, like other cultural categories, embodies a special style that blends with the world. In this sense, old Shanghai is a beach, but it is also a sea, a wide and deep sea.

The appearance of native local dishes is very early. At the beginning, the consumers faced by the operators were very ordinary. Most of the people who come to eat in this humble shop are small traders, hawkers, coolies and other types of guests. Their dining requirements are not high, and they spend a few small money for convenience. The main purpose is not to eat well, but to eat full. Therefore, in the early days, the local dishes were simple and the prices were low. Obviously, this is determined by the operator's goal orientation and the specific level of consumers.

In the early days, our local dishes included tofu blood soup, vermicelli soup with 111 pages, fried leek with 111 pages, braised grass carp pieces, and simple cold dishes such as peanuts, edamame and pork head for guests to drink. Although these dishes are no longer common, staple goods and ordinary home cooking are the right way to meet the needs of specific consumers. In addition, it is well managed, convenient for customers to call Cai, quick to deliver food, easy to eat and cheap, so it is very popular with ordinary workers.

Let's talk about it. During the Tongzhi period, about 131 years ago, there was a typical husband and wife shop that operated Benbang Lai on the old Jiaochang Street in Shanghai, near the west head of Chenghuang Temple. The owner's surname is Zhang, and his hometown is Chuansha, Pudong. He has come here to open a humble shop. There are only three square tables in the shop. Every day, we make some popular dishes such as fried pork, bacon tofu and bacon soybean soup for dozens of guests to make a living. Mr. and Mrs. Zhang get up early in the dark and work hard to make soup and dishes delicious, with good quality and low price. Therefore, the number of customers in small restaurants is increasing and the business is getting better and better. The boss asked someone to give the store a name, called Rongshun Pavilion. As a result of good management, the longer the time, the louder the reputation, and the Rongshun Museum is well known. After a long time, people call it Lao Rongshun. This time-honored local restaurant is the predecessor of the famous local restaurant Shanghai Old Hotel.

Although the old restaurant was located in a small street, it was well run and paid attention to keeping the traditional characteristics of popular and homely dishes. It was always the most famous among many old and new colleagues. Many small shops and stalls, when operating local dishes, originally only had soup and simple cold pots, and later gradually increased hot cooking. The variety of fancy dishes has also increased accordingly, from ordinary spicy sauce to eight-treasure spicy sauce, from ordinary fried meat to oily meat and oily hooves. Originally, the old-fashioned local dish braised fish pieces also began to be refurbished, adding dishes such as casserole fish head and grass carp tofu. In this respect, the old hotels in Shanghai are all leading the way in this cuisine.

Shanghai Old Hotel was officially named in 1964. In 1978, he moved to the newly-built seven-story building at No.242 Fuyou Road, north head of Chenghuang Temple. The business area of the whole store has greatly increased, and it can receive six or seven hundred customers for dinner at the same time. Foreign guests who visit Yu Garden (Town God Temple) are happy to go to Shanghai Old Hotel to enjoy the local food customs. Locals who have been abroad for many years or left Shanghai to work in other places and then returned to Shanghai prefer to go to Shanghai Old Hotel to taste the local flavor.

Shanghai Old Hotel is a collection of the main local flavor dishes in Shanghai, which is famous for its lively cooking. In the production, we should pay attention to the heat, the taste and cooking, the original flavor, and keep the juice rich in color and delicious. The store pays great attention to the characteristics of dishes, emphasizing fresh feeding and meticulous picking. If you don't take it fresh, you don't need it alive, especially fish and shrimp, you must be alive and kicking. The herring needs about 3.5 kilograms of live hair, the hen needs about 2 kilograms, and the eel is soaked and killed alive. To stir-fry the grass head, you need to choose three tender leaves at the top of the grass head, spray Qu wine to add seasoning, and stir-fry it quickly. When the dish is loaded, the color is like jade, and the population is fresh, so the dish is also called "Sanyelai". After tasting all the delicacies, it is even more light and delicious to taste this dish.

There are dozens of famous dishes made in Shanghai Old Hotel, such as eight-treasure duck, shredded pork, braised mandarin fish, soup rolls, spiced pork ribs with salt and pepper, eight-treasure hot sauce, bad bowl and so on. Eight-treasure duck is a fat new duck, and its belly is stuffed with delicious and fragrant ingredients such as Xianglian, ham, shrimp, mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, diced meat, glutinous rice, etc. After steaming, the main and auxiliary ingredients penetrate each other, and the duck meat is tender and the ingredients are waxy and soft. When served, it is delicious. Braised abalone is made by changing fire for three times, adding water for three times, and carefully cutting and burning. The marinade is like glue, with bright red color, tender fish and oily but not greasy. In the traditional bowl head of fermented glutinous rice, several samples of pig viscera were taken, stored in the bowl head with aged fragrant glutinous rice, and steamed in a steamer. The glutinous rice was fragrant and delicious.

In addition to the old Shanghai Hotel renamed from Rongshun Pavilion, there are Dexing Pavilion in our local cuisine restaurant. Dexing Pavilion is located in the small east gate of Shiliupu, Shanghai, and it is also a century-old shop in Shanghai. It was opened in the 9th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1883), and its original site was Zhenru. In 1958, it was moved to the present site of No.29 Dongmen Road. In the thirties and forties, it was also famous at home and abroad. Most of the chefs in this restaurant are local people in Shanghai, and they all have decades of experience. The local dishes in Shanghai are authentic in taste, rich in juice and delicious in soup. Well-known dishes include big black ginseng with shrimp seeds, eight-treasure hot sauce, shredded pork and soybean soup, pickled fresh bamboo shoots, fried pork tofu, big fish head and chicken bone sauce. Braised bald lungs, fried circles, etc. The big black ginseng with shrimp seeds is a housekeeping job, and it rises just right. After cooking with shrimp seeds, it is crisp and not broken, with thick original juice and delicious flavor, and has the reputation of "the first ginseng in the world". In addition, in the past, Dexing Museum's specialty was raw stir-fried grass heads with garlic at the bottom and red-cut pig intestines, that is, grass head circles. This dish is one of the most popular dishes in Shanghai. Not only does it have no peculiar smell in its intestines, but it is ready to go home, and it doesn't cost a bit. With the raw grass head, it can be called good color, smell and taste.

In the 1931s and 1941s, local restaurants in Shanghai were very popular. No matter in the market business center or in a remote alley, you can look up and see the local gang and the dining gang (light food) restaurant with font names such as "Xing" and "He". Many local teahouses in Shanghai are characterized by "Lao Zheng Xing", such as Jincheng Lao Zheng Xing, Shanghai Lao Zheng Xing, Roman Lao Zheng Xing, Xueyuan Lao Zheng Xing, and so on. In addition to Dexing Pavilion and Zhengxing Pavilion, there are also Zhenxing Pavilion, Qiaxing Pavilion, Hexing Pavilion, Xiexing Pavilion, Shunxing Pavilion and Changxing Pavilion in the restaurants of Shanghai Benbang and Shanbang. In addition, with the word "harmony" as the signboard, there are Dehe Pavilion, Renhe Pavilion, Renhe Pavilion, Zhenghe Pavilion, Tonghe Pavilion, Yuanhe Pavilion and Concord Pavilion.

Old Shanghai will also know that there used to be an "Old Heji" restaurant on Caishi Road (Shunchang Road). It's also a famous old shop. Two famous shops were very common at that time. One was mainly made of pig brain, and the other was mainly made of pigeons. However, after careful cooking by the master chef, the dishes taste delicious and unique, which makes people stay fragrant. A dish with pig brain as the main ingredient is called Jinyin Shuangnao. Smoked pig brain and fresh pig brain are used to remove the bloodshot and fine tendons, and then cooked with scallops and ginkgo. The scallops are fresh and the ginkgo is deodorized, and cooked with slow fire, which makes it taste fresh and tender. Pigeons are drenched in oil with pigeons, which is rich in flavor and tender and delicious in meat.

The flavor of Shanghai Benbang Cuisine Restaurant is the most suitable for the local people in Shanghai. Our local dishes are: boiled chicken, gravy mixed with celery. Stir-fried cauliflower, kidney, dried shrimps, cabbage, kidney, three fresh vegetables, stir-fried diced pork, hairy bones, bald lungs, braised Chinese cabbage, head and tail of herring, braised (hoof bones), Tiger Claw soup, pickled yellow croaker soup, blood-clearing soup, and salted tofu soup. Clear egg soup, shredded pork and soybean soup. Shredded pork and soybean soup and dog Duxian are the most common soup dishes in Shanghai local cuisine restaurant, most of which are thick and greasy. Regular diners will have a soup with flowers and eggs, or a soup with red vegetables and make it worse, which makes them feel refreshing and palatable. In addition, in our cuisine, the seemingly simple and easy-to-cook seeds are cut into meat, and sometimes they have a unique flavor. As for braise in soy sauce dishes, our club uses braise in soy sauce as the main flavor, and the juice is as thick as glue, with bright red color and mellow and fresh flavor.

Generally speaking, the characteristics of our cuisine are thick oil, red sauce and wide soup, which are salty and palatable and keep the original flavor. In terms of cooking methods, the local dishes were mainly braised, stir-fried, simmered and fermented. After absorbing the advantages of tin dishes, Su dishes and Yong dishes, cooking methods have increased, including braising, steaming and stir-frying. Braised in oil, fermented grains in Sichuan, pickled, fried, and so on. The variety of dishes is also enriched. For example, taking herring as the main ingredient, it can be made into burner-sealed and braised grapes according to different parts of herring and different cooking methods. More than twenty different dishes, such as braised paddling, bald chin and lung.

In the past, the main service target of our library was the working people. The dishes were cheap, and the dishes were also common bacon and tofu, clear soybean soup and clear egg soup. After eating, it was only 211 pence when paying the bill. You should eat better, such as boiled chicken, stewed chicken, fried three delicacies and so on. The amount of food is very rich, and it won't cost much for three or four people.

nowadays, with the improvement of the management level and the expansion and change of the service scope of the local restaurant in Shanghai, the former style is like a passing cloud, almost gone. Take Dexing Pavilion as an example. It is located in the commercial center of South Bund and Shiliupu, with three floors and economic snacks on the first floor, and operates refreshments with Shanghai characteristics. On the second floor, there is a banquet dance hall, which provides local dishes. Private rooms are set up on the third floor to arrange high-end banquets. There are more than 111 special dishes, such as raw fried turtle, shark's fin stew with fire slips and fried crab claw meat, which are unique in Shanghai. Of course, the price is far from the low price of Bofei, a local dish.