The Fifteen Flavors of Home in Shanghai

What To Expect

Each evening, they welcome but a single table, a reservation often secured half a year in advance. Xiao Ping and Lao Jin, who have dedicated their lives to the study of Shanghai's culinary history and have published their own gastronomic atlas, are the proud owners of one of Shanghai's most sought-after private dining experiences. For this three hours of dinner, you will step into the bustling alleys of Shanghai and ascend the wooden stairs of a bygone era. In the old residence where Xiao Ping and Lao Jin have lived for over 30 years, you will experience an authentic local family dinner. With a full array of 15 to 18 seasonal dishes, each meal is a meticulous collection and a perfect recreation of the flavors of home-cooking that linger in the memories of every Shanghainese, as if you were dining in the comfort of your own home. YOUR CAPTAIN: Xiao Ping and Lao Jin Xiao Ping, from Taiwan, and Lao Jin, from Shanghai, form a "Couple Bridging the Shores" whose union was a rarity in the 1990s. Together, they have woven a narrative of Shanghai's domestic culinary culture, a tapestry of years spent observing and cherishing the traditions of the family meal. To dine once at their old residence is to claim a taste of the quintessence of Shanghai's home feasts, a rite of passage for the connoisseur. "Dinner is served, come home," says Xiao Ping. LANGUAGES: Xiao Ping and Lao Jin speak Chinese, with an English translator present on-site. GROUP SIZE: 8-10 guests TYPE OF PLACE: Private Home EXPERIENCE DETAILS In China, there's a proverb that whispers, "Eat with the season's flow (不时不食)," a testament to the Chinese reverence for ingredients in their prime. Each morning, Xiao Ping and Lao Jin, with a knowing hand, select from trusted vendors the freshest greens and meats, born of Shanghai's suburban earth. At their table, the seasons dance a ballet of flavors: spring's tender shoots of wild greens, summer's robust melons and the cool embrace of mung bean soup, autumn's aquatic treasures, and winter's lamb, a warmth for the soul. Xiao Ping crafts her own elixirs, her sauces a labor of love. In her living room, jars of rose sauce from the rugged hills of Yunnan, osmanthus from Suzhou's gardens, and the winter's bounty of shrimp paste, as small as a fingernail, stand testament to her devotion. Her sauces, a testament to purity, banish the need for MSG. She even has a mini rooftop garden to ensure a perpetual harvest of fresh herbs.