Vivian Yang, the owner of Nanjing Story in Melbourne, had a vision to diversify Chinese cuisine in Australia, and now she's realised it.
Yang tells SBS Food, "Melbourne has a lot of Chinese people from different parts of the country, and you'll find a lot of and in restaurants, but no Nanjing food.
"So I wanted to bring something different here."
Yang spent most of her life in Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu province, the birthplace of one of the .
Vivian Yang wanted to tell the story of Nanjing food in Australia. Source: Audrey Bourget
"If you'd compare it to Sichuan food, which is quite spicy, Nanjing cuisine is not so spicy. It's light and healthy, and maybe a bit sweeter," she explains.
Jiangsu cuisine is also known for its elaborate dishes, and Nanjing is lauded specifically for its use of duck. In fact, it's even been dubbed China's duck capital.
"We love duck in Nanjing, we do a lot of dishes with duck," says Yang, who used to be at the helm of a catering group in her hometown.
Like I said, we love duck, and all the parts of the duck.
"We came to Melbourne because we wanted to slow down. In China, it's more competitive. I wanted more time to take care of my daughter and spend time with my husband, so we decided to open a restaurant here."
When they opened Nanjing Story in Melbourne's Chinatown in January, duck was obviously going to be championed.
"We use young ducks because the meat is softer than old ones," explains Yang.
The duck is brined in a mixture of salt and peppercorns, then boiled with spices, dried, chopped in pieces and served cold. It’s best eaten as a starter or as part of a larger meal.
Another duck dish to try is the , also a Nanjing speciality. A bowl of almost-milky duck broth is filled with sweet potato vermicelli, sliced duck blood jelly, herbs, and pieces of duck liver and gizzards.
Salted duck is one of the most well-known dishes of Nanjing. Source: Audrey Bourget
"Like I said, we love duck and all the parts of the duck," says Yang, laughing.
"You'd often eat this soup with xiao long bao [soup dumplings] for breakfast in Nanjing. Most of the time, it would be at a restaurant because it takes several hours to make the soup."
While is often associated with Shanghai, (which Shanghai used to be part of).
While you may find duck blood and vermicelli soup elsewhere in China, it’s birthplace is Nanjing. Source: Audrey Bourget
Nanjing Story's xiao long bao are bigger and sweeter than the Shanghai-style dumplings you find in most Chinese restaurants in Australia. You can have them filled with pork, beef (a regional classic) or greens.
are also a Nanjing staple. They have a similar shape to xiao long bao but are larger with a crisp bottom.
Nanjing Story's xiao long bao are bigger and slightly sweeter than the Shanghai-style xiao long bao that Australians are used to. Source: Nanjing Story
"In Nanjing, some restaurants just do the dumplings and nothing else, from morning to night," says Yang. "People go there for breakfast to have tea and dumplings."
"My father’s friends have recipes that are several hundred years old at their restaurant in Nanjing, so they taught us their recipes for more traditional dishes like the xiao long bao, pan-fried beef dumplings and duck blood soup."
You'll soon be able to finish your meal at Nanjing Story with a traditional dessert from the Jiangsu province, glutinous rice balls in a red bean soup. Source: Audrey Bourget
Her menu counts other Jiangsu specialities like wonton, Huaiyang-style sautéed fish in rice wine, Yangzhou fried rice and roast duck.
In the coming weeks, a new dessert menu will feature sticky rice balls in warm red bean soup or fermented rice soup, as well as corn pudding.
Nanjing Story
105 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
Mon – Thu 11:30am – 3pm and 5 – 9:30pm
Fri – Sun 11:30am – 3pm and 5 – 10pm
