New tiramisu launched by Haidilao uses matcha and jasmine flowers, paired with Arabica coffee for a sweet yet refreshing taste.
Spring flowers enrich culinary delight.
Spring is here, and restaurants in the city have refreshed their menus for the spring season!
With the arrival of spring, activities such as tea sipping, outdoor camping, and flower-viewing outings are gaining popularity. The thriving spring economy has injected vitality into the consumer market.
Haidilao, a popular hotpot chain in China, has launched five new spring-themed hotpot base, seasonal vegetable, shrimp roll, beverage and dessert, offering diners a “fresh taste of spring” at over 1,300 stores nationwide.
An outdoor lawn in Xuhui District was transformed into a runway on Friday, where models showcased outfits inspired by spring ingredients. This unconventional “food fashion show” offered a multi-sensory experience.
A unique spring fashion show features outfits inspired by spring ingredients.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s total catering revenue in 2024 reached nearly 5.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.3 percent.
A new hotpot base launched uses a blend of premium rice varieties, combined with Pacific white shrimps, scallops, and shredded chicken. After vigorous boiling to release the rice aroma and slow simmering for a smooth texture, the result is a rich yet non-greasy congee base which harmonizes rice fragrance with seafood flavors and caters to the dietary needs of spring.
The spring-inspired dishes and desserts also include the “spring crispy & tender vegetable platter” which combines bamboo shoots from the Wuyi Mountain, fruit celery from the Wumeng Mountain, apple and gourd, and crunchy cabbage mustard. The “dripping tiramisu” uses matcha from Guizhou Province and jasmine flowers from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, paired with Arabica coffee for a sweet yet refreshing taste.
Spring offers
A camping plus dining scene
Outdoor activities like camping have boosted sales of camping gear and spring-themed meals. During the Qingming Festival holiday, 126 million domestic trips were made, a 6.3 percent year-on-year increase, with total tourism spending reaching 57.55 billion yuan, up 6.7 percent.
Beyond new menu, Haidilao has innovated dining scenarios with camping-themed stores. Its camping-themed store in Pudong’s Hangtou Town has seen high demand on weekends, receiving over 500 visitors daily on sunny weekends.
The Xing Hua Lou Restaurant is Shanghai’s oldest Cantonese-style eatery, dating back to 1851.
Jumping on the modern bandwagon, the Fuzhou Road and Huanghe Road outlets of Xing Hua Lou, have introduced several new spring cuisines and snacks appealing to the younger generation. These include Chinese toon spring rolls and steamed buns, and seasonal desserts like yam flower-shaped dim sum and ginger milk curd with crust.
A bucket of flowers and fruits
Chinese toon, known as xiangchun in Chinese, is only on sale for a very short time. The fresh leaves of the Toona sinensis tree are a rare treat and only exclusively available in spring time.
There are also a variety of Cantonese-style wanghong (online celebrity) drinks, such as milk tea, mango pomelo sago and lemon tea.