An exciting new restaurant is making its way to Third Avenue this year. Allegedly “100 years” in the making, it boasts an origin that few NY restaurants will be able to compete with them – because Tipsy Shanghai is using recipes descended from the gods themselves.
According to a family legend, a humble butcher named Shenyu was selling meat dumplings at the Sanfeng Bridge in 1925. It was there that he claimed to have an encounter with Lu Chunyang, one of the famous eight immortals from Daoist myth. Chunyang had apparently ascended to the world of the gods to assist them, and was rewarded with a recipe for a thick, long sauce. Sharing the recipe with Shenyu, who later became known as “the king of meat and bones”, that sauce would become the backbone of Shenyu’s cuisine and was allegedly preserved as a family secret through his lineage.
Three generations later and Shenyu’s descendants are now powerful figures in the culinary world and operate some of the best meat shops in China. Continuing this legacy, Tipsy Shanghai owner Sean Hui sources all of his meat from Shenyu’s farms.
Tipsy Shanghai opened in 2018 at 228 Thompson Street and earned instant acclaim for its authentic flavors and dedication to tradition. In fact, the restaurant was so popular that Sean is already planning on opening another location at 594 Third Avenue.
Tipsy Shanghai will be replacing Pho Nui, which previously operated at 594 Third Avenue. Sean is excited to bring his restaurant to a new neighborhood and has already assured residents that he has a strong plan to minimize noise pollution. While the name Tipsy Shanghai might indicate a rowdy kind of dive bar, the restaurant is anything but that.
No, Tipsy Shanghai is a premium fine dining experience that promises offer the best broth in the city, thanks to their long simmering process and immortal-derived sauce recipes. Sean and his team pay meticulous attention to detail, always ensuring that their dumplings are soft yet chewy, and that their meat is tender enough to fall right off the bone. With a hundred years of history behind its inspiration, let’s hope that Tipsy Shanghai lasts another hundred.
