Cosy and creative dining in upmarket mall
Ruan Beiping is expanding his creative Chinese dining concept to upmarket malls.
Oriental House at Grand Getaway 66 is his latest restaurant after a successful venture at Jing An Kerry Center. He wanted to create a cozy space for relaxed eating and drinking, as opposed to more commercial types of restaurant chains.
His restaurant is designed with a fashionable approach — an intimate ambience is created with modern furniture and mood lighting.
A bar is set up near the entrance for making creative cocktails with Oriental elements. It showcases the owner’s intention of borrowing from Western styles of dining — food with a cocktail or paired wine.
Butterfish with Taizhou rice cake.
The menu offers a complete selection with many appealing pictures. It also indicates signature dishes to guide first time diners.
The crispy pork intestine is one of my favorites, despite it not sounding appealing to many.
The kitchen did a good job of marinating and deep-frying it. With leek inside each piece, it turned out to be crunchy and less greasy.
As Ruan is originally from Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, he is keen on offering the recipes and ingredients of the region.
There are several choices of fish and crab dishes native to his hometown. The braised butter fish with Taizhou rice cake (139 yuan) was perfect.
The East Sea fish was extremely fresh, and after quick braising, it retained the original flavor of the meat. There were no overpowering sauces and condiments.
The duck tongue and fish cake platter.
Stew fried sea anemone with bean noodle is also a typical Taizhou recipe. The sea anemone is a traditional ingredient from the region and this recipe is appealing to many diners thanks to its strong taste and special textures.
Oriental House has a side menu offering seasonal summer dishes.
Wenzhou-style duck tongue, Wenzhou fish cake, stir-fried fresh wild sea prawns with honey beans, and small sea clam with scallion oil are all popular items. They are ideal for white wine pairing this hot season.
Most of the orders here are satisfactory and are decently priced.
Oriental House can be an ideal place for dinners even if you are not a regular at the mall.
Info
Opening hours: 11am-2pm, 5pm-10pm
Tel: 5466-0118
Address: 5/F, North Building, Grand Getaway 66, 1 Hongqiao Rd
Average price: 230 yuan (US$32.75)
