Red Capital Club

By Jeremy Webb (bestfoodinchina.net)
Updated: 2009-01-15 11:31

Our host likened this restaurant to a “museum”. Since museums are often overly-serious places, I think the word “theme park” is a more appropriate way to describe the playful and highly-enjoyable Red Capital Club.

If Kawashima Yoshio - the Manchu princess who originally occupied this stunning courtyard - could see it now, she would have no idea which century, let alone which decade, she had been brought back to. Doubtless, the infinitely resourceful American owner must have had a wonderful time collecting all manner of historical relics: Communist-era memorabilia hangs on the walls next to antique Chinese furniture and while some waitresses are dressed in austere Mao suits, others wear glamorous Cheongsams.

Cultural and historical markers do not stop at the weird and wonderful surroundings. The food, classic Chinese cuisine, has not been spared the “theme-park treatment” either. The first dish we tried – Deng Family Tofu – is named after the reformist Communist leader and takes the shape of another Chinese symbol, the dragon. With a tail fashioned from carrot and a head carved from taro, the belly - a hollowed out melon – was filled with soft chunks of tofu swimming in a delicious fiery sauce.

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