User:Zhangjing Lou/sandbox

Haipai Cuisine, also known as Shanghai western-style food, is unique to Shanghai. It absorbs the advantages of many food from other regions of China and Western food and then adapted them to suit their own taste according to the features of local ingredients. It is divided into several major types: French, Italian, Russian, British, and German,   among which the Russian-type dishes receive a great welcome as it is more affordable ，such as the Shanghai-Style Borsch (Luo Song Tang). Today, the more famous dishes of Haipai cuisine are Luo Song Tang, fried pork chops, Shanghai salad (foreign taro salad) and so on. Apart from the above-mentioned common dishes, baked clams, baked crabs, Jin Bi Duo Soup (Million Dollar Soup), etc, are also popular among the Haipai dishes.

Hundred years since it opened to foreign traders has witnessed the increasing popularity of Haipai dishes in Shanghai. People tend to follow this fashion the Haipai cuisine as it belongs to Western food category, and can cater to the tastes of Shanghai people. However, since China began to implement Chinese economic reform in 1978, more and more authentic Western restaurants set up in Shanghai. As a result, the number of Haipai restaurants gradually declined, and now left only several ones like DeDa Western Restaurant, the new Lixi Restaurant, Red House Restaurant, etc. But Luo Song Tang and fried pork chops with worcestershire sauce are still considered to be the flavor of "old Shanghai"  ，and are relishing.

History
After shanghai opened to outside, western culture was gradually brought into Shanghai, and west restaurants began to set up in Shanghai. According to documentary records, the first west restaurant -Xiang Fan restaurant was founded in Fuzhou Road. At that time, Western dishes were also known as “Fan dishes”. Although western food became fashionable at that time, it was still hard for the Chinese people to adapt to the Western way of cooking, such as medium rare beefsteak .Therefore, shanghai western food absorbed the essence of different western countries and gradually formed different styles of food: French-style, Italian-style, Russian-style, British-style, German-style food, etc. French-style cuisine focused on fresh materials and exquisite food; British-style cuisine focused on seasoning, and Italian-style cuisine focused on the original flavor, so each has its own characteristics. After the October Revolution in the Soviet Union in 1917, a large number of Russian refugees poured into Shanghai, and among them the white Russians were named as “Luo Song”. Later, they opened more than 40 Russian restaurants in the Xia Fei Road (now Huaihai Road), and their two dishes: a dish and a soup (that is, Luo Song Tang, bread plus butter) gained a great popularity in Shanghai due to their low price. By the end of 1937, Shanghai had more than 200 restaurants ，and most of them were located in Xiafei Road and Fuzhou Road. Therefore, Fuzhou Road (formerly known as the Sima road) is named as "Si Ma Lu Da Cai " . Restaurants like Red House Restaurant, DeDa Western Restaurant, Kaisiling Western Restaurant, Lei Xi Restaurant, Fuxi Western Restaurant and Swan Court West Restaurant.

The construction of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is a turning point in shanghai western food. A large number of western restaurants closed down one after another during this period, and only the Huangpu Distric t left 18 restaurants after adopting the pattern of public-private Joint Management. Besides, due to shortage of supplies at the time, "Going to western restaurants" is not a common thing for ordinary people. However, the Shanghai people, whether because of love for Western food or memories of the ancient time, still try every means to enjoy western food in this difficult era .One way is to use a variety of local ingredients instead of import of western ingredients, such as using Chinese mitten crabs instead of  sea crabs, self-roll soda crackers instead of bread powder. Western food is completely removed from China after the Cultural Revolution ， Then, the famous western restaurant the Red House was renamed as the Red Flag Restaurant, and offered Chinese traditional dishes. Since the reform and opening up in China, the number of authentic Chinese restaurants in Shanghai has increased dramatically. On the contrary, the numbers of Western-style restaurants that offer Haipai dishes have been declined gradually, and a lot of western restaurants shut off in 1990, such as the Swan Court, the Fuxi Western Restaurant and the Lei Qian restaurant.

Haipai Cuisine and Western dishes
Following are the names and the current situations of the famous Haipai cuisine from different styles: French-Style, European and American -style, Italian-style, German-style, Russian-style, and all these kinds of Western dishes are fitted into the Chinese taste.

French-Style: Shanghai Red House West Restaurant

Europe and American-Style: Lei Qian West Restaurant (has been closed), Shanghai West Restaurant (now Red House Restaurant -Huaihai branch that has been offering expensive French food)

Italian-style: Swan Restaurant (has been moved to Eshen Restaurant)

German-style: DeDa Western Restaurant

Russian-style: Donghua Restaurant (closed)

Shanghai-Style Borsch (Luo Song Tang)
Being quite different from its Russian origin, the Shanghai-style Borsch, finding its home in Shanghai as the Belarus refugees settling down in concessions in the early 20th century, was changed in its recipe by replacing beetroots with cabbages and using ketchup to color the soup as well as to add to its sweetness ,because Shanghai's climate was bad for planting beets and the soup's original taste of sour was alien for the local people who later usually fry the ketchup in oil to reduce its taste of sour, then put white sugar in the soup to make it both sour and sweet .Some recipe would contain beef soup, sausages and potatoe s. In Shanghai, the Deda Restaurant and Le CyGne make the most famous borsch. Well of course as more and more people make borsch at home, its recipes change all the time to please the different tastes of its makers. Besides, the soup can also go with buttered bread .

Shanghai-Style Fried Pork
The Shanghai-style Fried Pork Chop is a modification from Wiener Schnitzel the national dish of Austria. And a fried pork chop is more a street food than a beef steak. The pork chop is coated with bread flour when it is being fried to avoid too much greasiness and to be crispy outside but tender inside. Back to the old days when supplies were badly-needed in Shanghai, soda crackers were crushed to replace bread flour, which produced a different unique favor，In Shanghai, the pork chop is enjoyed together with the special local Shanghai La Jiang You whose taste and ingredients are different from the British Worcestershine sauce. The way of eating is never found out of the city.

Potato Salad
Usually known as Shanghai-style Salad, the Potato Salad is made by mixing salad dressing and shredded boiled potatoes and diced sausages. It also goes with minced turnips and diced peas to make the salad more colorful. Now most people make Shanghai-style Salad using the ready-made salad dressing bought from the supermarkets, while a more delicate way to make the salad is to DIY its dressing by patiently mixing the salad oil, the egg whites and Mayonnaise for a long time, whose taste is beyond imagination.

Baked Clams
The Baked Clams is famous among Shanghai-style western dishes. it was invented by the Maison Pourcel chef Yu Yongli from the French specialty Snails Au Gratin.The invention was caused by the worse and worse supply shortage of French snails since 1946.After times of trials, clams were chosen by Maison Pourcel to replace snails. To make Baked Clams, first the clam should be removed from its shell and washed clean, then it is placed back into the shell with salad oil, red wine, mashed garlic, minced celeries, etc., and baked by the oven. The new dish was so loved by the customers that it was called a Chinese born French cuisine by the French president Pompidou when he tried it during his visit in Shanghai  .