Shanghai Nosh Advisory, an independent food blog in Shanghai, has teamed up with City Weekend to show you some of the best authentic local fare in Shanghai. In this first blog, we visit the Lao Ban Zhai and nosh on the lion’s head meatball (shīzitóu, 狮子头).

To me, no dish typifies Shanghai-style cuisine more than lion’s head meatball (shīzitóu, 狮子头). The dish begins with a mixture of finely chopped pork leg meat, water chestnuts and egg. The addition of water chestnuts lightens the mix, as do breadcrumbs in similar Western recipes. Once formed into balls, the meat is braised hóngshāo (红烧) style – in a sauce made from soy, sugar, salt, rice wine and of course MSG. The result is one of the most classic examples of a Shanghai flavor combination referred to nóngyóu chìjiàng (浓油赤酱) or ‘rich and oily red sauce’.

Shanghai oldsters show up in droves to the snack cafeterias of yesteryear, where they wax and weep over treats enjoyed since childhood. Lao Ban Zhai (lǎo bàn zhāi, 老半斋) is such a hold-over, which serves admittedly tasty snack foods, but is also a sad reminder of the dehumanizing logistical nightmare that State-operated employment pits represented.

To order food at Lao Ban Zhai, you must first wait in line and place your order at the cashier, choosing from items displayed on nearby placards. Except for beverages, which must be ordered somewhere else. If you manage not to anger the cashier with your sluggish foreign ordering, you are given a ticket which can be redeemed for food. The most complicated part, though, is knowing which serving station delivers the goods you ordered.

There are at least eight stations, spread out around a central kitchen. These might as well be the rocky ramparts of Zhuge Liang’s Eightfold Maze, perplexing customers as if they were enemies of feudal China’s greatest strategist:

“There are eight endlessly shifting openings arranged according to the ‘Taboo Days’ formula: Desire, Survive, Injure, Confound, Exhibit, Perish, Surprise and Liberate. During every time period of every day, the openings move unpredictably, like crack legions in constant motion.” - 1

The first station serves miscellaneous cooked dishes, then there are two dumplings stations (pot sticker and shēngjiān), two noodle stations (cold and soup), dessert station, etc. The two noodle stations are not even next to each other. And if you show up at the wrong station, prepare to be treated coldly. No one has time here for your low-end Chinese skills so you better get your act together if you want to eat at Lao Ban Zhai.

This serving station scheme is meant to maximize employee headcount while minimizing individual responsibility, interaction with customers and efficiency – so I believe. It is a cluster.

That being said, this is where you can discover truly excellent shīzitóu. They can be found at the first station.

One baseball sized serving sells for RMB8 and is typically served with a bowl of vegetable egg fried rice. I am not the strongest advocate of hóngshāo, as it is often too sweet for my tastes, but Lao Ban Zhai does it just about right. The sauce is rich with a complex flavor that complements pork wonderfully and sits well on rice.

With fifty years of history behind it, Lao Ban Zhai has many other classic dishes whose preparation has reportedly remained unchanged over the years. Try the bàoyú miàn (暴鱼面), featuring saury, a homely bottle-nosed fish. Sliced, air dried then fried in a sweet sauce, it makes a fine topping for noodles in mustard green broth.

DETAILS

What: Lao Ban Zhai (老半斋)

Where: 600 Fuzhou Lu (at Zhejiang Lu) 黄浦区福州路600号(近浙江中路)

Tel: 021-63222809

English menu: Not available

1 - Attributed to Luo Guanzhong, translated by Moss Roberts, Three Kingdoms. California: University of California Press, 1991.