Hilton showcases Shanghai food heritage in Cooking with Chris

Hilton has featured Waldorf Astoria Shanghai Qiantan in its latest Cooking with Chris episode, pairing president and chief executive Chris Nassetta with the hotel’s director of food and beverage, Mandela Zhu. The company’s newsroom post, published on 21 July 2026, follows them making wontons while discussing Zhu’s family traditions and career in hospitality.

The episode links the Shanghai property’s food and beverage leadership with a family connection to Hilton that began in 1995. Alongside the video, the company has published winter and summer wonton recipes, providing preparation details as well as the personal account behind the dish.

A family connection to Hilton

Zhu’s father joined the original Shanghai Hilton in 1995, according to the company. Zhu regularly visited the hotel with him as a child, and those experiences inspired him to pursue his own career with Hilton.

His daughter now shares his interest in cooking and hopes to become a chef at Hilton herself. The family story therefore spans an established employment connection across generations and a younger family member’s ambition to follow them into hospitality.

In the episode, Zhu recalls that his mother kept part of her wonton recipe to herself so they would continue to have a reason to cook together. He now makes wontons with his daughter, passing on the practice through time spent preparing food.

Hilton presents communal wonton-making as a longstanding family tradition in China, associated with home and togetherness. Zhu describes the wrapper’s role in enclosing the filling as an expression of the protection and support family members give one another.

Seasonal recipes accompany the episode

For food and beverage operators, the accompanying material offers a detailed account of the dish’s preparation. Both recipes combine Chinese greens and shepherd’s purse with pork back fat and pork leg meat, seasoned with soy sauces, oyster sauce, lard, egg, salt and white pepper.

The method calls for blanching the greens for 20 seconds and chilling the mixed filling for 6 hours before wrapping. Hilton recommends a water-to-wonton ratio of 9:1 during boiling to help maintain the wrappers’ tender texture.

The winter version is served in seasoned pork stock with sesame oil and lard. Its garnishes include dried shrimp, seaweed, chopped spring onion and sliced egg omelette.

The summer preparation instead uses a sesame-paste dressing with light soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce and sugar, finished with chilli oil and chopped spring onion. Hilton has made both full recipes available alongside the episode for viewers to prepare at home.