The dining area may have been simple, but the dishes were rich and plentiful, including Fried Crispy Pork, Braised Pork, Crystal Sweet and Sour Pork, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Braised Bamboo Rat, Stewed Chicken; all of them were meat dishes, and each portion was generous, served in either two large pottery basins or bowls.
Vegetarian dishes were naturally not absent: Fried Five-Spice Tofu, Scallion Omelets, Sweet and Sour Chinese Cabbage, Fresh Bean Sprouts stir-fried with chicken broth, and specifically for Shang Yuanyuan, Gu Jinli made gravy rice noodles.
When making tofu at home, the tofu skin was peeled off, and Gu Jinli used that tofu skin to make a three-ingredient spring roll, filled with blanched bean sprouts, egg strips, chicken strips, scallion strips, and then brushed with a sauce made of caramel and Hai Xian Sauce, creating a delightful treat to welcome the spring.
