The Experience
Before Ieoh Ming Pei became one of the twentieth century's defining architects — before the East Building of the National Gallery, before the glass pyramid at the Louvre, before the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong — his family was among Shanghai's most distinguished. The house at 181 Taicang Road in the Huangpu District was theirs. It is a building of the early Republican period: layered, courtyard-centred, drawing heavily on the Suzhou garden tradition with latticed windows, whitewashed walls, and a proportional serenity that contemporary Shanghai rarely achieves. When the House of Rong group — China's most prestigious Cantonese seafood dining brand — took over the space, they preserved it with a curator's fidelity. The original architectural drawings by Pei are framed on the walls. The courtyard motifs have been restored. The building's history is worn openly, and the restaurant benefits from it: the space communicates cultural authority that no new-build could manufacture.
The group's head chef has spent over twenty years in the Cantonese seafood tradition, with the full range of technique that implies: dim sum, barbecued meats, double-boiled soups, live seafood, the nuanced stir-frying that distinguishes Cantonese cooking at its highest level from the approximations that appear at lesser restaurants. The sourcing philosophy concentrates on wild-caught seafood from Taizhou — the Zhejiang coastal city whose fishing grounds produce some of the finest fish available in eastern China. The yellow croaker in particular, sourced from specific Taizhou waters and cooked to order when available, is the dish the restaurant's most devoted regulars claim most loudly as irreplaceable.
The menu can be customised — the kitchen will build a shared feast around the party's preferences, ingredient restrictions, and budget — in the tradition of Cantonese banquet hospitality where the menu adapts to the guest rather than the reverse. This is one of the restaurant's competitive advantages over more rigidly structured fine dining establishments: a table of twelve celebrating a corporate milestone and a table of four marking a private anniversary can both receive menus that feel individually conceived. The seasonal availability of Taizhou seafood is built into this flexibility; what arrives at the table reflects what the boats brought in that morning.
The wine and tea programme is notably thoughtful. The pu-erh selection — both young and aged — is managed by a specialist who treats it with the same seriousness that European establishments apply to Burgundy. For those who prefer Western wine, the list is concise but well-chosen, with several aged Bordeaux available by the glass. The service team is bilingual, formal without rigidity, and understands the full Cantonese dining ritual — the choreography of tea pours, dish sequencing, and the management of a lazy Susan for large groups — with the ease of deep training.
Why It's Perfect for a Team Dinner
The house's historic rooms and courtyard configuration create natural private spaces for groups — sections of the restaurant feel separated from one another in a way that no modern open-plan dining room achieves. A team dinner at House of Rong has a narrative quality: the architecture provides conversation before the food arrives, and the food provides conversation after the architecture has been exhausted. The customisable menu means the kitchen can build a feast appropriate to the group's size and appetite — eight courses for twelve people, arriving in a rhythm calibrated to keep the table animated without overwhelming it. The shared seafood format ensures that the hierarchy of a corporate dinner dissolves naturally into something more collegial as the lazy Susan turns.
Why It's Perfect for Impressing Clients
The House of Rong tells a story that most restaurants cannot: of a building, a family, a tradition, and a philosophy of sourcing that connects the plate to the sea in ways the kitchen is happy to explain. For a client from outside China — or a Chinese client who values the depth of their own culinary culture — this contextual richness is more valuable than a starred menu alone could provide. The IM Pei connection gives international visitors an immediate reference point of cultural familiarity. The two Michelin stars confirm the cooking. The historic setting seals the impression. A client who leaves House of Rong without having understood more about Shanghai than they arrived with has not been paying attention.
Signature Dishes & What to Order
When available, the wild-caught yellow croaker from Taizhou — steamed simply over Shaoxing rice wine with ginger and scallion, then bathed in hot oil at the table to crisp the skin and perfume the flesh — is the essential order. It appears on the menu in spring and autumn, when the fishing grounds allow. The Cantonese roast pigeon — marinated for twenty-four hours, roasted to order, carved at the table — is the alternative centrepiece when the croaker is unavailable. The double-boiled soup programme is anchored by a pork and watercress preparation that has appeared on every iteration of the menu and functions as the kitchen's mission statement: simple, deep, and completely without shortcuts. For dim sum at lunch, the prawn and bamboo shoot siu mai is the standard-bearer — the bamboo shoot sourced from Zhejiang suppliers who deliver three times per week.