The 2010 Shanghai World Expo attracted worldwide attention, and many tourists still visit the beautiful China Pavilion. Founded in 2015, Tonglu Bay has maintained a high occupancy rate since its opening, which is not easy for a restaurant that is not good at online marketing.
Similar to the common restaurants in the market, Tongluwan selects 3~4-year-old local cattle from Yunnan-Guichuan, which are processed in a slaughterhouse in the suburbs of Shanghai and transported to the store through the cold chain. On weekdays, only one batch of beef arrives in the morning, and on weekends, another batch of beef arrives at 4 p.m. Judging from the requirements of "original taste", the performance of Tonglu Bay is not outstanding. Interestingly, unlike the common "control from slaughter to serving within 6 hours" on the market, the official claim is "from the pasture to the pot, limited to 16 hours". Whether it is a clerical error or deliberate, Tongluwan's move vaguely reveals the embarrassment of the Shanghai beef hot pot industry.
Different from the 9 types of beef in ordinary beef hot pot restaurants, Tongluwan has also added toe meat and beef tongue to enter the "fresh-cut" beef options. Toe meat, pork belly, and snowflake (neck) are scarce, and they are available in limited quantities, so it is recommended that diners who need them come to the store as soon as possible. The knife skills of the meat cutter are acceptable, there is nothing to criticize, but the arrangement needs to be improved. The menu design and name of the store are quite elegant. The classification column of "handmade beef balls" made many Chaoshan food gourmets laugh, and they did not investigate whether they were "hand-beaten" beef balls. Each type of beef ball is replaced by the word "ping pong", which is quite humorous.
In addition to beef, Chaoshan brine snacks, staple foods, desserts, soy products, wine and many other types that are rarely seen in small-scale beef hot pot restaurants are readily available in Tonglu Bay.
The overall decoration of the Expo Yuan store is at the upper middle level, the service attitude is acceptable, and a waiter is responsible for two tables of diners. There are no private rooms, only booths, but the design is reasonable and does not make people feel too private.
