The building that now hosts Ambrosia was originally the "Bixun Road French Manor," and it is there that our story begins.

Especially for the German beer festival Oktoberfest, Paulaner Brauhaus invites German oompah bands to perform, as patrons play the traditional game of "nail-hammering."

Dining with the general

In 1930, on Bixun Road (now Fenyang Road) in the French mercantile quarter of Shanghai, a new Western-style building was built. This white, three-floored edifice was known to Shanghai locals as the "Little White House," and was home to the French legation. To this day, both sides of that road are dense with London plane trees, keeping alive the exotic feel of the "foreign quarter."

But times change, and in the 1940s this French-style building became home to the KMT general Bai Chongxi, father of novelist Bai Xianyong. In the novels of Bai Xianyong, one can read about a ball held in those days in that very building for the Bais and the students of a local girls' high school. After the Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan in 1949, the building underwent another change of identity, becoming the Shanghai Art Gallery. In the 1970s it became a Yue Opera academy, and was expanded with the addition of an adjacent practice hall, built in a similar style to the main building.

In 1996 the president of Namchow Group, Chen Fei-long, who studied at an elementary student in Shanghai in his youth, came across the building and was immediately captivated. To begin with, he rented the adjacent practice hall, and entered into a contract with the Paulaner Group. Paulaner is a German company with over 80 years experience in brewing, and with Chen they set up a Paulaner "microbrewery" and, with an invited master chef from Germany, offered authentic Bavarian meals.

Namchow Group spent upward of NT$100 million breathing new life into the old French manor that once was home to General Bai Chongxi, recreating it's former warmth and relaxed atmosphere.

A taste of Germany

In order to give the building and the restaurant a consistent "old European" motif, Shanghai Baolaina Company Ltd.-the new Chinese arm of Paulaner-specially imported the former flooring of an old European church. "The mainland customs officers were so suspicious; why would anyone want to bring in old timber?" laughs director of operations Hazel Cheng.

Every night, foreign executives, Taiwanese businessmen, and young local up-and-comers can all be found relaxing in Paulaner Brauhaus, the brewpub set up around the microbrewery. They may all come from different backgrounds, but here they sit side by side as one amidst the aroma of beer as a Filipino band performs.

In October, for the traditional Oktoberfest German beer festival, Paulaner Brauhaus even invites German oom-pah bands, clad in traditional clothing, for special performances. While this is going on, the crowd all join in traditional Bavarian games like "hat swapping" and a nail-hammering race, as the place froths with merriment and beer, everyone on a high. The hope is that with the mainland opening up to the rest of the world more and more, this kind of authentic German brauhaus will catch on with the new generation of Chinese youth.

Despite the fact that Shanghai boasts a total of nine brewpubs, none can compare to the authentic German flavor of Paulaner, and it is this that brings in the creme de la creme of guests. This is also the reason that in spite of one glass of beer costing RMB65 (NT$250), on any given night you would be hard pressed to find a single empty seat in this 400-seat establishment. The brauhaus makes a stunning RMB4 million a month, meaning the initial capital stock of US$6 million has been well and truly covered. In the past few years Paulaner have opened another two establishments in Shanghai's new hotspots, Xintiandi and the banks of the Huangpu River. These new establishments are also former layovers used by Jiang Zemin on his travels.

A $100 million Greek myth

In 2001, after five years, the Shanghai Yue Opera Troupe finally agreed to lease the main building, the Bixun Road French Manor, to Chen Fei-long, who set up Ambrosia, a restaurant offering top quality Japanese yakiniku dishes.

"When we took over the place, the whole building was in need of repair; even the fireplace was boarded up," recalls Dawn Chen, general manager of Shanghai Baolaina. The Namchow Group spent NT$100 million and one year breathing new life into the historical building. They even searched out the original blueprints for the building in the Shanghai National Archive so they could renovate the building whilst keeping true to its historical feel.

Their first step in repairing and reinforcing the original structure of the "Little White House" was the replacement of the old timber roof beams. Then the roof tiles, originally held in place by rice glue, were numbered and taken down. Once the restoration of the tiles was complete, each was replaced in its original position. Next was the interior. In order to meet the requirements for a restaurant like theirs, they installed smoke extractors under the flooring, which raised the floor level by 30 centimeters. To keep the proportions and openness of the original architecture, the roof and supports were also raised 30 centimeters. All this rebuilding, aimed at keeping the old feel of the building, cost a total of NT$79 million-even more than putting up an entirely new building.

Although spending such an immense amount has earned Baolaina a modicum of scorn, Chen feels it was entirely worthwhile. With competition so heated and Shanghai running so hot right now, you would naturally expect many to ride the coattails of a successful business model like Baolaina's, eventually bringing down everyone involved. "But it doesn't matter how much money they might spend on copying our style, we've got one thing they can't copy-historical significance. They can't make another former residence of General Bai," says Chen.

The moment you enter Ambrosia, your eyes are immediately drawn to a magnificent stone spiral staircase surrounded by breathtaking Ionic stone pillars. When you make your way up to the second floor, the Baroque windows and doors give the place a truly classical air, and through the beautiful arched windows you can see the back garden, bursting with radiant camphor, holly, and yulan magnolia.

The dining tables are imported Japanese white jade, and the dishes are designed by a Japanese master, each costing upward of NT$10,000. Even the food itself is of the absolute highest quality-the beef used in the yakiniku is from 700-day-old American-raised Kobe beef cattle. To complement this grade-A beef, Ambrosia brew their own brand of beer. This beer, a lager brewed by a German master brewer, is an incomparable complement to the yakiniku.

The restaurant's name, Ambrosia, is Greek in origin: ambrosia was the food of the Greek pantheon of gods that lived atop Mount Olympus. With the Namchow Group's entrepreneurial management and substantial funding, they have created an atmosphere every bit befitting the name, a place worthy of the gods themselves, and which successfully provides an experience entirely unforgettable to all who partake in it.

New life in Old Shanghai

In the past, very few large companies have successfully moved from other industries into food service. However, after Namchow Group's previous success extending from manufacturing into food service with the Haagen-Dazs ice cream franchise in Taiwan, they are taking their entry into the restaurant business as seriously as they have other ventures. "We've set up an administration division in Shanghai, and every member of management must hold over ten years experience in a five-star restaurant. This includes Ambrosia's head chef, who was recruited from a top Japanese company," says director of operations Hazel Cheng.

But while business is booming for Paulaner Brauhaus in Shanghai as their reputation spreads, any thought of a move into Taiwan has been halted by legal restrictions. In Taiwan the brewing industry is classified as "high pollution," and thus no brewery can set up in any major city. So for the time being, anyone wanting to sample the delights of Paulaner and partake in their house brew has to head to Shanghai. On the other hand, in the words of general manager Dawn Chen, "Shanghai's 'foreign quarter' is certainly proving to be appropriately nicknamed; it's provided a brilliant arena for the Taiwanese food service industry. Here we can be as creative and imaginative as we wish."

Early-Republican European-style houses with gardens aren't hard to come by in Shanghai. In one section of Hengshan Road, an area of protected historical buildings, there are over 2500 such houses, all with their own stories to tell about great figures of times gone by. These days, with the increasing specialization and focus on aesthetics in the Taiwanese food service industry, dusting off historical sites has taken off, giving a new generation of great figures a chance to enter those hallowed halls, and adding a new chapter to the old stories.