Xin Rong Ji新荣记

About This Restaurant

Two-Michelin-starred restaurant serving refined Taizhou and Shanghainese cuisine in an elegant setting. The yellow croaker is legendary. Xin Rong Ji represents the pinnacle of modern Chinese fine dining — a restaurant where the traditions of Taizhou, a coastal city south of Shanghai, are reinterpreted through the lens of precision cooking and world-class hospitality. The dining room in Jing'an is all muted greys, warm brass, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a private courtyard — a deliberate contrast to the ostentatious luxury of many Chinese high-end restaurants. The kitchen, led by chef Zhang Yong, sources ingredients with fanatical dedication: yellow croaker from the East China Sea, bamboo shoots from Lin'an in spring, and hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake in autumn. The yellow croaker dish that made the restaurant famous is deceptively simple — the fish is lightly salted, air-dried for 48 hours, then steamed with slivers of aged ham and Shaoxing wine, achieving a texture that is simultaneously firm and impossibly flaky. The braised sea cucumber, prepared in the Taizhou style with a rich brown sauce and scallions, is a dish that requires three days of advance preparation. The tasting menu is the way to experience Xin Rong Ji fully; expect no fewer than twelve courses that trace the coastline of eastern China. Reservations are essential and often require booking three to four weeks ahead.