A savvy 3-year-old

[Photo/China Daily]

The Shanghai restaurant recently celebrated its third birthday, and chef Tong flew in to help make it a special occasion. Tong's anniversary menu included several dishes that will linger through the spring-summer season, including a delicious boiled chicken soup.

The idea of drinking boiling soup in summer is as deeply rooted in Cantonese culture as chilled gazpacho is in Spain. The logic: The intake of fluids replenishes what you sweat out. For Tong, the trick is to give the soup the appeal of ice cream of frozen yogurt. First he boils the soup for eight hours, then simmers it for another four. He serves the rich result in a hollowed aromatic coconut - a Thailand variety that is more juicy and fragrant than the common type, with fish maw, yam, wolfberry, lotus seed and ham. Its savory-sweet taste makes it more like a lukewarm dessert than a soup course.

Like all Hakkasan restaurants, the Shanghai outlet boasts an elegant yet comfortable decor with Chinese-red highlights. The main dining room is defined by lattice woodwork that makes the space intimate, and if that's not cozy enough, there are five luxe private dining rooms on the periphery. There is an acclaimed wine cellar, and smart mixology helmed by British cocktail guru Matthew Hall, who goes far beyond dropping a Sichuan pepper into the odd drink and declaring it Chinese. His Shanghai-only specialties include a durian martini, the Laurel Tching (Four Pillars Rare gin, cardamom-infused vermouth, cherry liqueur, orange and lemon) and the Mayhai Dragon (Ketel vodka, litchi, dragon fruit, lime, jasmine and peach bitters).

Hakkasan Group is a rapidly expanding international hospitality company with outlets in North America, Europe and Asia, including 11 Hakkasan restaurants and several other brands including Ling Ling, HKK and Sake No Hana. Its most recently announced expansion plans: A deal to open five restaurants in Saudi Arabia in the next five years.

Many of the company's North American venues are in Las Vegas, where it's developed a sense of showmanship that has spawned nightclub and other entertainment venues beyond restaurants. In Shanghai, the food is the show, and once you make your reservation, you're on the clock: Late arrivals will find their table given away if more than 15 minutes late, and you meal will be paced - in a very polite and polished way - to finish within two hours, to make room for the next reservation. The show, as they say, must go on.

Xu Junqian contributed to this article