Shanghai Old Restaurant

Shanghai Old Restaurant is a time-honored brand in Shanghainese cuisine, founded in 1875 (the first year of Emperor Guangxu's reign), located inside Yuyuan Garden. It serves as the custodian unit for the national intangible cultural heritage known as 'Traditional Cooking Skills of Shanghai Local Dishes.' If the International Hotel and Peace Hotel are respected as pioneers by the matrons of Huaihai Road, then Shanghai Old Restaurant is truly the origin of Shanghainese cuisine. The design style of Shanghai Old Restaurant can be summarized in eight characters: repairing old to look like old, blending Shanghai's Eastern-Western styles. It is neither a purely Chinese-style garden nor a purely Western restaurant; instead, it integrates the outer shell of ancient Jiangnan Ming-Qing architecture, the texture of old city blocks, and the modern flair of 1920s Shanghai, known as 'Paris of the East,' into a 7,000 square meter dining space. Upon entering the establishment, one is greeted by a grand Chinese-style atmosphere with strong Eastern charm. The core design philosophy of this renovation cycle is to 'interpret Shanghainese culture through Oriental aesthetics'—deconstructing and reassembling traditional Chinese elements while emphasizing spatial ambiance through light and shadow narratives. Key design languages include: Color: Predominantly red and black, with accents of cinnabar red and gilded yellow in a national trend style Floor: Black-and-white mosaic tiles that recreate the retro chic of 1920s Shanghai Lighting: All lights use 2700K warm white temperature; over 2,000 spotlights and more than 1,700 linear lights create a multi-layered lighting environment Materials and symbols: Extensive use of traditional elements such as wooden carvings, latticed screens, traditional stages, corridors, flower windows, brick carvings Art Deco lines: Tables feature the radiating fan-shaped form popular in 1920s Shanghai, interwoven with the stable square partitions of Chinese style to create a 'neither Eastern nor Western' cultural tone