Ranajit Dam
HIDDEN inside a dilapidated residential community just off Bao’an Road South is a slice of Haifeng. For those still coming to grips with Guangdong and its varied cuisines, Haifeng, which is located in the greater Chaozhou area, boasts food similar, but not identical, to what is popularly regarded as Chaozhou cuisine. Being a coastal area Chaozhou food includes a a great deal of seafood which is often enhanced by piquant sauces, such as tangerine jam for steamed lobsters and broad-bean paste for fish. And seafood is also the forte of Jurenye Restaurant, which has been serving up Haifeng-style cuisine since 2001.
Not that the restaurant is particularly shy in promoting it. The street entrance to Jurenye has a massive photograph of an oyster dish on top, and upon entering the restaurant you get the feeling of being in some sort of coastal holiday town, not least because of the wooden beams and brackets on the walls and ceilings. Fishermen’s hats adorn a wall, just above an elaborate decoration comprising dozens of empty oyster shells, but the most seaside aspect of Jurenye is the smell of fish that assails you as you enter; and also the seafood, both dried and raw that is stacked up behind glass counters in front.
Oysters feature prominently on the publicity materials of the restaurant — on its ads, and on its Web site are tantalizing pictures of succulent oyster dishes — and Jurenye makes no bones about promoting it as the most important thing to try there, so much so that diners are shown a booklet entitled “Nine Secret Ways to Cook Oysters,” which roughly resembles a martial arts training manual.
Three oyster dishes were advertised on the wall, of which we ordered the stewed oysters with spring onion and ginger (48 yuan, US$6.32) which was light yet flavorful, the pungent spring onion mixing well with the spiciness of ginger. The other two, looking equally tantalizing were the fried oyster with chopped spring onion, and the poached and stewed oyster (both 48 yuan each). We debated trying those too, but with the wide variety of seafood on offer at Jurenye, we decided to save them for the next visit.
It was not a decision that we came to regret, as the rest of the food was just fabulous. The shrimp and pickle soup (32 yuan) had shelled shrimps and a mild sour broth that was simply perfect, causing us to drain the entire bowl. Also recommended is an omelette comprising shrimp and bitter melon (22 yuan), which makes a great side dish. The last item we tried which also came up trumps was the deep-fried pork with preserved tofu (22 yuan) which is eaten wrapped in a lettuce leaf with a sweet-and-sour sauce. It seemed like a non-stop parade of delicious food, a culinary assault that kept us in a food coma for hours after the meal.
For those living in Futian and Nanshan, Jurenye’s location might seem a bit far — even though the food is certainly worth the trip — and for this reason the restaurant has opened two other locations in Shenzhen, on Cuizhu Raod in Luohu and Lianhua Road in Futian. For further information, including menus and reviews in Chinese, visit their Web site www.jurenye.com. And if you love seafood as much as we do, head down there pronto.
