Pursuing The Ideal Course:
Restaurateurs Share the Tastes of Old Shanghai

English text by Sarah Matheson
Photos by Xuehui Zhang and Yiming Wang

Outfitted with nostalgic 1930s-era Shanghai decor, and offering authentic Chinese cuisine, China Blue in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood is an elegant restaurant with an abundance of heart.

The sister restaurant of Café China, a Michelin star winner for the last five consecutive years and the only Chinese restaurant in New York City with a Michelin star, China Blue is a manifestation of the will of two former Wall Street bankers and their desire to bring traditional Chinese culture to the heart of the United States.

While Yiming Wang and Xian Zhang’s Michelin-starred Café China in Midtown Manhattan specializes in fiery Sichuan cuisine, China Blue in Tribeca offers the more delicate salty-sweet flavors of traditional Shanghai-style cuisine.

And China Blue has also captured the attention of Michelin reviewers, who have complimented the restaurateurs for bringing “an elegant taste of Shanghai” to Tribeca.

Yiming and Xian opened their third restaurant, Birds of a Feather, in trendy Williamsburg in April. It also specializes in fiery Sichuan fare, but with a contemporary twist.

THE ESSENCE OF THE CULTURE

Yiming grew up in Harbin, in China’s northeast, but came overseas to study. She loves photography, and literature, and has a particular fascination with early 20th-century Chinese culture. One of her favorite periods of Chinese literature is the Republic of China period from 1912 to 1949, which started at the end of China’s last dynasty, the Qing, and ended when the communists seized power.

By the 1930s, Chinese women were still wearing traditional Qing-style cheongsam or qipao dresses, but the style was slowly being influenced by European and American fashions. Yiming admires the fashions and the feel of that time. She personally owns around 30 high-end cheongsam, some vintage and some she actually designed herself.

The essence of China’s philosophy in the 1930s also stirs something inside her, the collision of East and West that was effecting gradual cultural change. And this melding of cultures was especially apparent in old Shanghai as it became a metropolitan city.

NO COMPROMISE

Despite the countless difficulties associated with starting restaurants from scratch, the process of establishing themselves as restaurateurs has been a happy one for Yiming and Xian.

It was very important to them that, like their first restaurant, China Blue also serve authentic Chinese cuisine. Xian and Yiming believe that authentic Chinese cuisine is representative of China’s traditional culture. China Blue serves a vast array of traditional Shanghainese cuisine and a small number of dishes from other provinces.

Xian remembers worrying when they opened their first restaurant in Midtown that perhaps Americans would be unaccustomed to authentic Chinese cuisine. But his concerns were quickly overturned by a number of high-profile rave reviews shortly after Café China opened its doors in 2011.

“There was a lot pressure,” he said. “A lot of the big chefs advised us that traditional cuisine wouldn’t work, because American-style Chinese food is something Americans are familiar with and the production costs are relatively low.”

Today, their three restaurants often attract Westerners who have traveled to China and can order food in Chinese. Some of their Western employees also speak Chinese and really love Eastern culture. “I’m very proud of our team,” Yiming said.

Their team has grown to between 200 and 300 full- and part-time staff members between their three
restaurants. Xian believes that creating a good environment is so important for their staff. “From the perspective of being a good person, a boss should be considerate of others. A good worker brings a restaurant far more value than their wages, so we should value our employees.”

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Housed in a landmarked neo-Flemish building with an outdoor dining area that opens during the warmer months, China Blue’s high ceilings and colorful decor give the space an airy feeling. The Hudson River is a little under two blocks away from the restaurant’s Watts Street location, which is also not far from the Holland Tunnel.

Yiming designed all aspects of China Blue. The atmosphere is humming, and the setting is nostalgic. Antiques picked up at flea markets and placed here and there help reconnect diners to an age well before smartphones.

Yiming paired blue-green walls with painted exposed brick and dark wood floors, producing an exotic vibe that seems to change at each hour of the day. The extensive art-deco-style bar in the center serves a variety of liquors and cocktails. From the wooden barstools, warm orange-yellow lampshades and an old gramophone catch the eye, another reminder of how people used to socialize.

The menu is extensive, brimming with delicate Shanghainese soups, a large assortment of dim sum, and many traditional forms of fish, crab, chicken, lamb, and pork. Combined with the subtle decor, great food, and warm ambience, China Blue is nothing short of East meets West, a perfectly satisfying alignment of tradition and modernity.