Tucked away behind an iron gate on a busy one-way street, this gem of a restaurant is in an unmarked three-story villa with glossy wallpaper and chipped mosaic floors. Dining is in one of 17 private rooms, each laden with early 20th-century furniture, cherrywood chairs, and chandeliers. Start with the chilled drunken chicken with rice-wine shaved ice, and go on to the glorious braised pork with soy and rock sugar, the deep-fried shrimp with wasabi mayonnaise, and the steamed egg with crabmeat. Two local dishes you're unlikely to find back home that are also worth trying include huaiyang dazhu gansi (bean curd sheet with garden greens and shrimp in thick soup) and the sauteed water bamboo in soy sauce. Though waiters only speak a small amoutn of English, kitchen staff are working to an internaional spec, evinced by the immaculate fine-dining presentation. There is a RMB300 minimum charge per person in the evening, but the RMB158 lunchtime tasting menu doesn't skimp a bit on quality. —Graham Bond