"Shanghai is the Chinese Surprise Menu"

DeAille Tam loves to ride her e-scooter through her adopted hometown of Shanghai. Together with her two dogs, who are allowed to sit in a basket at the front of the handlebars, she looks up at glittering office towers in the dense traffic and winds her way through narrow alleyways with old stone houses where old men play mahjong on the sidewalk. “I can only recommend exploring the city by e-scooter or bicycle,” says Tam. “It’s the quickest way to get to know Shanghai. You can rent bikes on almost every street corner using an app.”

Discover new creations at the Obscura restaurant  

Her restaurant, Obscura, which she opened with her husband Simon Wong in 2020, is located in the Jing'an district of central Shanghai. “When you dine with us for the first time, you’ll discover many dishes you’ve never tried before,” promises Tam, a Hong Kong native who grew up in Canada. “The name Obscura stands for curiosity and boundlessness. We want to expand our guests’ culinary horizons by reinterpreting traditional Chinese recipes and combining them with Western influences. We find ideas for our recipes while traveling throughout China and the rest of the world - and, of course, on the streets of Shanghai.”   

A special time to explore the city is Chinese New Year, one of the country’s most traditional celebrations, which lasts 15 days. “During this time, the alleys are lit up with colorful lanterns, and there are shadow plays and dragon dances in the parks,” says DeAille Tam. This is supposed to help scare away ghosts. According to legend, the colors red and gold have a chilling effect on evil. The festival takes place on a different date each year, based on the traditional lunar calendar. However, it always falls between January 21 and February 21.

Red clothes and delicacies to share: the Chinese New Year   

Like many others, Tam celebrates various rituals both before and on New Year’s Day. These vary from region to region. But one thing is especially important to the chef: spending time with her loved ones. “Traditionally, the festival is celebrated with the family. The best place to celebrate is in a typical Chinese restaurant, where the locals sit at round tables and share New Year’s specialties.” A whole fish, for example, or eight treasure duck, a duck stuffed with eight different kinds of meat and vegetables. “There’s so much happiness in the air on such nights that it immediately spreads to outsiders,” Tam enthuses. “It is best to wear something red on New Year’s Day – the locals will immediately greet you with a big smile. Red is an important color during New Year’s celebrations. Not only does it protect you from dark forces, but it also represents energy, happiness, health, and prosperity.” 

The metropolis of 26 million people is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Tam: “Even though we have been living in Shanghai for nine years, we are still discovering culinary specialties. We learn the most from chefs in small street restaurants who have spent decades perfecting traditional dishes, or from market vendors who explain to us how to prepare certain ingredients so that they develop their full flavor.”  

For foodies, Tam recommends the Wuzhong and Mengxi markets as well as the traditional restaurants Bao Li Xuan, Bvlgari, Sheng Yong Xing, and Fu 1015, where you can try dim sum, Peking duck, or the local specialty Hong Shao Rou, sweet-tasting braised pork belly, among other things. “Shanghai is the surprise menu of Chinese cuisine,” enthuses Tam. “You can taste your way through the whole country here.” 

On the one hand, Shanghai is a buzzing high-tech metropolis – everyone pays by smartphone, artificial intelligence controls the energy consumption of office towers, and in the world’s third-largest skyscraper, the 600-meter Shanghai Tower, the elevator takes just 55 seconds to reach the observation deck on the 119th floor. But in the alleyways of the old districts, no one seems to be in a hurry: “People talk to their neighbors on the street, chew sunflower seeds, and wave fans at each other. It’s as if life moves at different speeds in different parts of the city.”

Shanghai breakfast: soup or coffee  

According to Tam, the old neighborhoods are the best place to try a typical Shanghai specialty: Dou Jiang You Tiao, a salty soy milk soup with chilies and onions that people dip fried dough pieces into for breakfast. “Nothing warms you from the inside out and wakes you up like this soup.” For those who prefer to start the day with a classic cup of coffee, Shanghai has plenty to choose from. There are said to be more than 10,000 coffee shops in the city, offering cappuccinos and lattes as well as various other caffeinated creations such as coffee cocktails. DeAille Tam’s favorites are Ops Cafe, Trung Nguyen Legend, and Fuel Espresso.   

If you want to dine at Tam’s Obscura, you need to book at least a month in advance, as the restaurant is small and exclusive, with only eleven guests per table. You can then watch Tam and her team prepare all the courses in an open kitchen. “For me, the restaurant is a place of exchange,” says Tam. “For each dish, we explain how it came to be and where we got the idea for it. Sometimes the flavors go as far east as China, sometimes south, north, or west.” Tam knows that being a chef today is not only about mastering your craft, but also about creating extraordinary experiences and memories. But above all, DeAille Tam believes that, “as a chef, I represent Chinese culinary culture. In my restaurant, I have the opportunity to take people from all over the world on a journey through China and explore a culture that is thousands of years old.”