I went there because I had a lunch meeting, and somehow we ended up saying let’s go somewhere good, so we stopped by a popular restaurant nearby.
Entrance
Jinzhanzhan is the name, but it’s actually written quite small, while “the three great Hakka dishes” is written much bigger. The description is no joke.
Shundexian
This is the restaurant I went to before, and it turned out to be right next door. I couldn’t take a photo back then, so I took one this time.
The interior looks like this
It was huge, and tons of people kept coming in. So it’s a popular place. The words written over there are fun: the three great Hakka dishes, 1 chicken, 2 beef, 3 tofu. I guess that shows how confident they are?
Interior
In a way it had the vibe of a clean franchise place.
Here’s the menu, posting it in case anyone is curious.
Menu 1
They do fish dishes too.
Menu 2
The food looked like it had some real level to it.
Menu 3
There’s duck too. Peking duck isn’t the only duck, after all..
Vegetables, desserts and so on
Seeing how neatly they do all this, it must be a place that knows what it’s doing.
Juice
Was it plum juice? It had a slightly tart taste, and serving it like this seems to be the tradition. But I’m not sure whether juice before a meal is right.. or whether it’s meant to be had as dessert. A bit ambiguous.
Lighter
I found it interesting so I took a photo.
Chicken dish
This is the chicken dish you could call the foundation of Hakka cuisine. They said it was half a chicken; it was cooked well and the beans were nicely salty, so it was delicious. It made me think that high-end Chinese cuisine really is good.
Tofu dish
The Hakka restaurant I went to before had tofu too, but this place was a cut above. It was piping hot and the filling was generous, so I really enjoyed it.
Vegetables
I think it was something like pumpkin, but the seasoning was good.
The kitchen inside
The food was so good that I took a photo of the kitchen, and the kitchen was big with a huge number of staff. With this many people, no wonder proper dishes come out.
Fish dish
The portion was huge and the spices were just right. Not overdone, just pleasantly tasty? I thought they really know how to cook.
Pork
It’s meat cooked with Shaoxing wine, and this was tender and delicious too.
Rice
They use good rice here too.
Duck
This duck was neither rare nor medium; the meat still had a chewy, almost raw texture while being well seasoned all the way through. (Does that even make sense?) One bite and you want to applaud. I wondered if it was cooked sous vide, but then again it’s a traditional dish, so would they really do that.. Anyway, it was an amazing experience.
A photo I took after coming out
Maybe because this area has lots of IT companies, the level of the restaurants is high too. It feels like it would be just perfect to work in this neighborhood and wander around nearby for meals..
Anyway.. it was great to be introduced to such a delicious restaurant.. (and they paid for the meal too..) but the things we had planned for this meeting didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped.. I get going to a great restaurant to build rapport, treating us to good drinks, and rallying everyone together.. but things have to move according to schedule, and the materials we asked for weren’t made, progress reports were slow.. It felt like: even if the work isn’t great, we’ve built a relationship, so let it slide, that kind of thing.. It’s a bit awkward to say this after being treated so well.. but it’s hard to get good results working that way.. I had only heard about China secondhand, and visiting in person this time I learned a lot of different things.. I get that guanxi matters that much, but I’d like them to show their skills when it’s time to show them.. (Though when you’re entertained that well, it’s hard to say anything.. that’s just human nature..)
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