SHEX Reviews: Blue Heart

Grannie To Us All

On a tip from my local friend Dimi we're checking out "Blue Heart". This tiny restaurant on JingXian Lu near South Shaanxi Station on line 1 is surprisingly easy to find. It's also extremely famous in the local community. The matriarch of the establishment is a gray haired woman you could only wish was your grandmother. Grannie Li, when translated, visits every table and brightens every hungry and happy customer.

Mind you, it doesn't take to long. Five tables on the first floor seat a maximum of 32 people. I later learned if you just can't wait a little used but ever present option is just upstairs. A second floor room with overlooking window above the main dining hall has one more table. If you really want to feel like one of this woman's visiting relatives, you and friends can scuttle up the stairs to a room complete with table, chairs and a bed. Who doesn't love a nap after dinner?

Fine dinning this is not, but you will leave satisfied with memories of your own grandmother's cooking swirling in your mind. Grannie Li started this business when she was 45 years old. Her profile in Chinese below the glass table top let's us know she's been going strong for at least 23 years.

A couple of things to remember: Leave your snobbery at the ever opening and closing doors (passersby and Grannie Li's deliveries assure this). The table cloths are stained and the tables are tightly set. Get there by 4:30 or 4:45 at the latest. The restaurant opens at 5:00 on the dot. If you're not there in time, get in line and be willing to wait.

The Delightful Grub

Tonight we're trying some of "Blue Heart's" most famous dishes:

Sweet and Sour Fish. As a general rule avoidance of river fish just seems like good judgment. However, when you're simply following the recommendations of a local that may not be possible. This dish is pleasantly surprising. There's nothing rivery or fishy about it and the bright red and orange coloring of the sauce is a feast for the eyes. River or not, this dish is tender and flaky and a treat for the brave.

Duck in Beijing Style. Usually when you think of Beijing style duck there is a rice wrap, vegetables and plum sauce involved. Scrap the wrap and veggies and just dive in. The cold duck is smothered in thick plum sauce that could probably make anything delicious. Cold (could have done without that) but scrumptious nonetheless.

Braised Pork in Soy Sauce. This is the jewel in the crown of "Blue Heart". Piping hot, the pork and green peppers appear to have been marinating in the soy sauce for a fair bit. Each piece is one half excellent pork meat, one half juicy melt in your mouth fat. Mouth wateringly good.

Radish and Spare Rib Soup. Honestly this dish falls a little flat. The soup is a bit thin and the spare rib unappealing to the eye and a bit too porky to the palate. The radish, on the other hand, is juicy and delicious seeming to absorb all the flavor the soup was meant to have…maybe that's the whole point!

Stir Fried Vegetable. These leafy little guys were a nice touch to throw a wrench in a carnivore's playground. Lightly stir fried this mystery vegetable served everywhere retains it's crunch and took nicely the salty stir fry juices. Nothing wrong with a little green!

Check out Blue Heart at:

130 JingXian Lu.

Exit South Shaanxi Station via exit 3. You'll be next to the movie theatre. Turn left on Changle Lu and follow it straight until you hit JingXian Lu. Take a left and look out for a prominent 130 above a small white door on your right.

Take a photocopy of Dimi's selections for us if you don't have a Chinese friend available for dinner. You won't be disappointed!


Colin Cayer is the Features Editor for ShanghaiExpat. If you have any questions or comments about this article, please send an email to: colin.cayer@gmail.com.