Shanghai Shikumen Fine Cuisine:inherit the classic and maintain sentiment

647-344-7997
530 Dundas St W, 
Toronto, ON M5T 1H3

As a microcosm of the old Shanghai, Shikumen is like a mirror which reflects the different lives and time changes of Shanghainese. Today, Mr. Huang, the owner of Shanghai Shikumen Fine Cuisine, continues the long history of Shikumen through the brand “Shanghai Shikumen Fine Cuisine”, and slowly tells the Shikumen classic sensation with the delicate and mild Shanghai cuisine. The customers who feel the aroma of those mouths seem to be in the old Shanghai, which still retains a great deal of charm.

Mr. Huang came to Canada in 2010. At that time, the number of Shanghai cuisine restaurants in Toronto was particularly small. In order to fill some of the scarce resources of the current Shanghai cuisine in Toronto, he took over a restaurant that also operated restaurants in September 2016, and officially launched his founding brand, Shanghai Shikumen Fine Cuisine. Since Mr. Huang himself studied from the inheritance course teachers and he has been a chef for 13 years in the country, he naturally has rich experience and seasoned culinary skills. In addition, since the chefs in the restaurant are all personally cultivated by Mr. Huang, the dishes made in this restaurant are authentic and seasoned, and the restaurant business is also booming. Mr. Huang has always been committed to opening a second restaurant in October 2017 without a stop so as to make more customers understand the culture of Shanghai cuisine and taste the traditional authentic Shanghai cuisine.

In terms of the decoration design, the two restaurants adopt the old Shanghai style with classical elegance. The design is dominated by the building structure with the combination of the nostalgic alleys and the homestay, which are like the Shanghai beauties with thousands of styles, causing people to have infinite thoughts. Most of the waiters in the restaurants are Shanghainese, so when people come here to have dinner, especially those who come from Shanghai, they can appreciate the affability and warmth of their hometown.

The two restaurants specialize in Shanghai cuisine and Sichuan cuisine. The specialty dish squirrel-shaped mandarin fish uses the meaty and fat squid as a raw material, and uses a special way of cutting to carefully and finely clean the fresh and tender fish slices. The hot oil is dripped all over the fish and then fried until it is golden brown, then take it out. Finally, pour on the sauce to enhance the color. This dish is shaped like a squirrel, which is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside; the sautéed shelled shrimps, which has the reputation of “Shanghai’s first dish”, uses fresh and smooth shrimp. After being treated and washed, mix well with egg white, salt, cooking wine and other ingredients, then add in a hot pot to stir fry. The grilled fish is glittering and translucent, just like pearls; the braised pork in brown sauce is made of fresh streaky pork. After filtering out some of the grease of streaky pork, the meat will become fat but not greasy, brown and shiny; in addition, the two restaurants also serve classic smoked fish, sauted hardshell crab with rice cake, Shanghai style steamed baby dumpling, pan fried pork Bun, etc., which are very popular in this restaurant. Mr. Huang has always attached great importance to the health of food. When cooking, he will control the amount of oil and salt, and try to make the taste lighter. When dealing with ingredients that are rich in oil, burn some of the ingredients so as to reduce the calories they contain.

In the aspect of restaurants hygiene, the post responsibility system is implemented. Each person is responsible for their own hygiene area. As for the bathroom, the two restaurants also hire a special person for cleaning. Every Monday, the two restaurants also conducts comprehensive sweeping works to ensure the quality and level of the restaurant’s hygienic conditions.

The restaurant team consists of roughly thirty-five or thirty-six employees. Both of the two restaurants have managers and head chefs, and humanized management. Each employee performs his/her own functions and helps each other. Mr. Huang and his wife will go to the two restaurants to check every day. They treat their employees very kindly, with rewards and occasional penalties. The working atmosphere of the staff is very relaxed and enjoyable. Mr. Huang also tries not to put too much pressure on them. Thus, the employees will feel for others when they are doing things and understand each other’s hardship. As a result, the team’s cohesiveness is more harmonious and stable.

In terms of quality of service, the two restaurants issue a code of conduct manual for each employee so as to standardize team discipline. In terms of rewards and punishments, the two restaurants will treat equally without discrimination. Besides, in the course of service, the two restaurants will try to meet the different demands of different customers and should deal with and deal with problems immediately when encountering difficulties or troubles.

At present, Mr. Huang is basically satisfied with the operation status of the two restaurants. At the same time, he is also adjusting while operating the restaurant, hoping that through his efforts, more customers can understand and like Shanghai cuisine and let Shanghai cuisine occupies a place in Canada. At present, the business of both restaurants is very prosperous. Thus, after the time is ripe, Mr. Huang plans to take the current brand into a chain form and gradually expands the scale and influence of the surrounding.