/ Reviews / Hubei
A New Fish in Shanghai’s Pond
by Tom Lee
on Friday, September 18, 2009 12:00 AM
Located next to other Chinese favorites - like Yunanese Southern Barbarian, Di Shui Dong from Hunan, and a branch of Cantonese Bi Feng Tang - The Fish House is one of only a few Hubei restaurants in Shanghai.
Hubei is famous for the thousands of lakes and rivers that dominate its landscape, giving rise to its title as the ‘Province of Lakes'. The Fish House samples some of the different types of fish and preparation techniques indigenous to the province, importing their fish live from the area surrounding the Three Gorges to guarantee freshness. As owner Allen Chen remarked, "Our fish are taken from deep lakes, where the water is colder, because this keeps their flavor more pure and clean."
But the real proof of freshness lies in the taste. Living up to its name, The Fish House's fish are the highlight of the menu, with the natural aromas of the fish adeptly blended with a mix of spices. The Yangtze River Catfish, (RMB78), stewed in a boiled soup, is imbued with an excellent river-fish savor, the large bones lending the soup an authentic consistency - milky but not too thick. The Yuyao Toasted Fish (RMB48) is also very fresh but has a more tender flesh, which is full of spice and has almost no small bones.
Man cannot live on fish alone, however, and there are plenty of other typical dishes from Hubei to sample. The Mixed Cold Aweto Flower (RMB18), a rarity in Shanghai, provides a soft crunch with a sweet taste to take the edge off the largely spicy cuisine. A particularly famous Wuhan (the capital of Hubei) specialty is the Jingwu Preserved Duck Neck (RMB16), which is a bony affair, with occasional explosions of spice in the small pockets of meat. More work than pleasure, it nevertheless finds many adherents among locals and expats alike.
For something a little less daunting, the Toasted Potato (RMB18) dish is a very simple composition, reminiscent of roast potato croquettes but with a little bit of chili thrown in, while the sticky Steamed Rice Cake with Three Delicacies is only mildly spiced, with small tidbits of meat to vary the texture.
The menu is expat friendly, with English descriptions and chili-symbol spice ratings, but the staff speak limited English, so you may have to resort to pointing and gesturing if your Mandarin is a little lax - a price easily paid in return for a taste of this enjoyable and lesser-known facet of Chinese cuisine.
