Qingshui Donghua 清水东华

Qingshui’s upscale decor looks set to appeal to a pack of crusted bureaucrats. One can easily imagine the dining room drenched in smoke and filled with the clinking of baijiu glasses. The menu, though, is a World Wildlife Fund nightmare, with expensive dishes made from sharks’ fin, turtle, sea cucumber, and the like. However, there is a range of well-executed jiachangcai, home-style dishes, as well as innovative imperial-style concoctions. Most patrons opt for seats inside baojian, individual rooms, so don’t be deterred by the empty dining hall – there’s plenty of action behind closed doors....