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New Oha Eatery for Small Bites, Guizhou Style

2018-01-09 ShanghaiWOWeng


Oha Eatery has just opened on Anfu Lu, in a small izakaya-like space with open kitchen and modern understated design. 



While the palette is quite neutral and monochromatic, being so close to the action keeps the place quite cozy. Floral arrangements are tasteful and the light is warm and well diffused. 



The menu specializes on Chinese seasonal ingredients, specifically those of Guizhou, as most of their staff comes from that province. They have enlisted the talents of Blake Thornely as head chef who has a background in Indonesian and French Fusion after working at Mosaic in Bali for five years.  While fusion is not a new concept in our city, Guizhou and French Fusion with a dash of Indonesian inspiration (e.g. tempe with prawn) is a true rarity. 



It should come as no surprise that they have an interesting drink selection given they are owned by the group that runs Bar No. 3. Bottled cocktails, or what the cool kids are calling bocktails, form the core of the drink menu along with a nice selection of red, white and skin contact wine. Cocktails range from RMB 58-68 which is a great price considering you could split many of them into two glasses. 


Leon Barral Blanc (left) and Ginger Flower Martini (right)


Skin contact wine is quite unique. In fact, it was my first time tasting it ever and I can’t think of a menu I’ve seen it on in Shanghai. Skin contact refers to the process of making this wine whereby the skins are not removed, resulting in a honeyed amber or orange color wine versus a conventional white hue. You end up with something a bit more robust than white, but lighter than red with a lovely fragrance. They have three different bottles available. The Leon Barral that we tried runs RMB 146 per glass. 


Mouldy tofu salad (RMB 68)


Right off the bat, with starters, it’s evident how much technique goes into each dish at Oha. A mouldy tofu is marinated in alcohol for a month so it gets really stinky. This is a Guizhou specialty. Then it makes its way to Oha’s kitchen where Chef Thornley soaks it in honey and lemon juice to bring out the cheesiness. It is flavored with a bit of Sichuan pepper. The flavor is quite like furu and this intense tofu is served on a salad of glass leaves, watermelon radish and pickled radishes. I quite like it. If you’ve been missing Baoism, you might enjoy the air-dried pork belly, sour and spicy pickle mini burger (RMB 28). 


Other appetizers that I don’t like as much are the charcoal BBQ beef tongue (RMB 38) and the burnt bell pepper and preserved egg (RMB 22). The tongue wasn’t as intriguing and perhaps the preserved egg dish was too different. It’s a smooth puree of pidan topped with roasted peppers. As someone who loves century eggs, I just found this preparation brought out the ammonia flavor more than necessary. 


Mountain Style Chili Chicken (RMB 62)


Overall we found the mains worked out well. The mountain style chili chicken is a must order dish. Chicken is marinated with erjingtiao chili for 24 hours. It is then braised in its own juices. Finally the juices are reduced into a pungent sauce. The chicken is crispy yet moist, and so delicious. Chewy konjac and soft potato soak it all up. 


Glazed Beef Shin (RMB 105)


The beef shin is a nice serving of tender beef with king oyster mushrooms and a very rich stock. There is more numbing pepper going on in this dish. While tasty, we could go for a bigger portion. 


Crispy date (RMB 75)


The crispy date is another special dish. Pitted dates are mixed with cacao nibs, flattened, and frozen. The thin slices are then battered with corn flour and egg white before being fried to a crisp. Chinese turnip, cauliflower, cocoa coulis, celery leaves and lemongrass oil are strewn gracefully across the plate. It’s strange that the flavors go together so well. 


Seared sea bass with pomelo puree, carrot, sesame (RMB 110)


Now while I loved the slightly bitter pomelo puree, I ate with diners that didn’t. You at least have to be impressed that the citrus fruit is boiled five times over with ice baths in between before being simmered multiple times in sugar syrup, rested overnight, then blitzed in the blender. The accompanying sea bass is perfectly flaky and I enjoyed the cumin flavor that came through in the carrot and sesame salad. Go easy on using the chili powder as you could overdo it and ruin the pomelo flavor. 


Basil Mousse, turmeric lemon sorbet, white chocolate powder (RMB48)


One dish that I found confusing was the pinewood smoked kidney beans and pork (RMB 58). The hearty rift on pork and beans had me wondering if it was necessary to give this dish the fusion treatment and the air-dried bacon, while imbuing porcine essence into the beans was too tough to enjoy solo. There’s only one dessert on the menu at the moment, but it’s a well executed ending to your meal. 


Oha Eatery is an extremely interesting restaurant. With its varied influences, not every dish will appeal to every customer. In our experience over two visits, diners in the same group will likely disagree about which dishes they like best. We saw a vast improvement on our second visit, as the chef had only been in Shanghai for six days when we first went. I think third time might just be the charm. Remember not everyone loved Pelikan when it opened and look where they are now.


Address: 23 Anfu Lu (near Changshu Lu)

Tel: 021 13621647680

Hours: Daily, 11am-2pm; 5pm-10pm


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