Almost every Chinese holiday comes paired with a festive dish. At Tomb-Sweeping Festival, there are bright green qingtuan (glutinous rice dumplings) to celebrate the arrival of spring. During Dragon Boat festival, we have zongzi, stuffed sticky rice steamed in bamboo leaves, to commemorate the poet Qu Yuan. And during Mid-Autumn Festival, we chow down on mooncakes as we gaze at the full moon.

But Chinese New Year doesn’t come with just one dish. It is a feast that lasts for days, starting with “bao”-ing or wrapping dumplings on Chinese New Year’s Eve (for snacking on well into the night) to the tangyuan (more glutinous rice dumplings) eaten 15 days later on Yuanxiao or Lantern Festival. And while some of what you eat serve as fuel to get you through the fireworks and celebrations, other dishes are designed to elevate your dining experience to a symbolic plane.

Whole fish is one our favorite examples of this. The phrase “年年有余”, often bandied about as Spring Festival approaches, means “May there be abundance every year.” But the character for abundance (余) is pronounced yú, a perfect homophone for fish (鱼). So it’s important that every New Year’s Eve dinner (团圆饭, tuányuánfàn or 年夜饭, nián yè fàn) come with a whole fish – tail and head (and eyes) intact. Here are some of our favorite restaurants in Shanghai to seek annual abundance.

Old Jesse (老吉士)

The cod fish head (葱油烤鱼头) is one of Old Jesse’s most famous dishes from their secret menu, but if you’re looking for a full fin experience, they have a couple of options for you. The smoked pomfret (熏鲳鱼) is a cold dish, and a bit of a misnomer. There’s no smoking, but the whole fish is cut up and deep-fried and covered in the city’s famous red-braised sauce, then reassembled on the plate for a full body experience. Also following the red-braised tradition, the hongshao yellow croakers (红烧小黄鱼) serves up two small red-braised yellow-bellied fish, and you can opt to add cubes of soft tofu to the mix (红烧豆腐).

Fu 1039

Part of the famous “Fu” family of restaurants in Shanghai, Fu 1039 serves up traditional Shanghainese cuisine in a gorgeous old villa. One of the must-order dishes year-round is the steamed shad. It’s a beautiful whole fish served topped with slices of Jinhua ham in a sauce of aged Shaoxing wine. It doesn’t get much more abundant than that!

Xiaoping Fandian (哓平饭店)

This homestyle Shanghainese restaurant offer so many whole fish dishes, you could practically make a meal out of just those. The salt & pepper yellow croakers (椒盐小黄鱼) come out quick and crispy. The squirrel fish (松子桂鱼) is a visual delight, deboned and carved, then fried and doused in a sweet & sour sauce. Or just go classic with our favorite: steamed fish with shredded ginger and green onions in a light soy sauce and huangjiu broth (清蒸鲈鱼). You’ll often find Japanese seabass on your plate, but the variety may differ based on what’s in season – something else we love about this locavore spot.

Published on January 28, 2022

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