Western food, Shanghai style(2)

The Nanjing Road Deda, which also struggled to make ends meet, added several innovative products, such as tonics and lunch boxes for tourists, and Suzhou and Wuxi-style cuisine in 1954. In 1963, the restaurant suspended its sale of Western food and went through several incarnations, being used as a snack store selling noodles, buns and beef soup, a medicine packaging factory, a paper-bag producing workshop, a hotel, a dim sum restaurant and a hotel.

It was not until February 1973 that Deda returned to its former incarnation as a Western restaurant.

Between 1986 and 1987, the store turned the ground floor into a café and the second floor was divided into special rooms with candlelight and a fireplace, which served Western cuisine and snacks to a wide range of customers. During its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, Deda served more than 8,000 international tourists from more than 80 nations and regions every year. Deda moved to West Nanjing Road in 2008, setting itself up in a traditional Shanghai-style villa.

It was decorated with dark red furniture and its signature purple tablecloth, serving coffee, set lunch and formal Western cuisine. Its third floor was designed for special banquets and gatherings.

"In order to retain our old customers as well as attract young people, we kept the prices of most of the dishes unchanged, such as the borsch, salad, and fried pork chop," says Lao Jianrong, executive deputy general manager of Deda. Lao said there is great potential in young customers in their 30s, who can afford more expensive food and have a good understanding of Western cuisine.

"There are quite a few things I want to do. One is to open more bakery stores, and the other is to expand our product chain to semi-finished ones." Lao says. According to Lao, Deda plans to offer semi-manufactured set meals in 2015.

"For those white-collars who want to have Western food at home but do not have much time to cook, the semi-finished set meals are ideal." All you need to do is heat the soup, put the bread into the microwave for 10 seconds, and warm the steak a little bit.

"And there is everything needed ready for a Western cuisine including wine."

IF YOU GO

Address: 473 South Nanjing Road

Tel: 021-6321-3810 Open: 7:30am-10pm

Address: 2 South Yunna Road

Tel: 021-6373-2829

Open: 7:30am-10pm