Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM has never been more in vogue, and Zhongyaotang (忠曜堂新中式GELATO) has been instrumental in introducing the ancient Chinese health care system to the world, one scoop at a time.
What makes the Shanghai-born brand brilliant: it draws from deep traditions and distils these into fun and delicious treats.
Zhongyaotang both respects TCM tradition and reinvents it. 🍧
A fine autumn’s day found us chatting with Zhongyaotang’s famously private founder Shorty over scoops of creative, complex gelato and sips of homemade, herbal ‘Coca Colas.’
We discovered that for the F&B maven, being raised around TCM culture in Taiwan and honing mixology skills helped shape her understanding of flavour sciences — and paved her path towards opening the world’s first TCM-driven gelato parlour.
Shorty took three questions from Time Out Shanghai:
Q: What made you look at Traditional Chinese Medicine and think: this belongs in gelato?
是什么让你想把中医放进意式冰淇淋里？
A: Gelato is such a fun medium — it’s playful, delicious, and its sweetness makes it easy to combine with other ingredients and flavours. So we thought, why not use something that practically everyone in the world loves as a way to bridge tradition and modernity? Everybody loves gelato!
意式冰淇淋是一个非常有趣的载体——它好玩、好吃，而且它本身的甜味也让它很容易与不同的食材和风味融合在一起。所以我们就在想，为什么不利用这样一种几乎全世界人人都喜欢的美食，来搭建一座连接传统与现代的桥梁呢？Everybody loves gelato!
Q: What’s the biggest misconception about TCM?
中医最大的误解是什么？
A: A lot of people think you should only turn to TCM when you’re sick. There’s this stereotype that it’s bitter, serious, intimidating, and even hardcore.
But actually, if you start looking into it, you’ll realise how closely connected it is to our everyday lives. TCM is really more of a lifestyle.
For example, in Chinese culture, we’ve always eaten different or tonics tailored to the seasons and solar terms. At different times of the year, we also take steps to nourish and rebalance our bodies, whether through acupuncture, moxibustion or treatments to dispel dampness. So, to me, TCM is more of an ancient Chinese approach to living.
Therefore, the biggest misunderstanding is the idea that TCM is only for when you are feeling unwell; in truth, it is something that can be seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives.
很多人对TCM的误解是它是在生病的时候才会去做的一件事情。它给我们的刻板印象是，很苦的、很严肃的、很你不想要靠近的，然后很传统的、hardcore。
但是实际上，现在的你往后开始顾及，毕竟它是一个和我们生活，很多是息息相关的，更多是一个lifestyle。
比方说，我们华人本来就有在不同的节气、不同的season，吃不同的食材 。然后又有在不同的时间节点的时候我们可能会又去调养身体，就去做针灸、做艾灸，去除湿气。
所以，对我来说，它更多像是一种我们汉方的一种生活方式。所以，它最大的误解是它并非是一个特定的不舒服的时候然后去尝试的，而是说它其实可以有跟我们生活息息相关的。
Q: Zhongyaotang helped make TCM cool. What are your thoughts?
忠曜堂让中医药变得“酷”了起来。你怎么看？
A: We never specifically set out to do something deliberately cool — our main goal was simply to incorporate traditional methods into modern life.
But throughout the R&D process, and especially after we opened our shop, we began collaborating with a lot of trendy brands like HOKA, Jordan and Nike on some really fun projects. It was through these collaborations and interactions that we realised, ‘Hey, we’re actually presenting something very traditional in a really cool, modern way!’
And that was when we thought,
‘Wow, Zhongyaotang is actually pretty cool!’
我们并没有觉得我们是特定做一件很cool的事情—而是在我们是主要把我们传统的方式跟现代的那部分去做融合。
而是在研发的过程之中，然后在我们开了店之后呢，很多的潮流品牌，然后像Hoka, Jordan, Nike。 然后和我们去做一些很有趣的联名的互动中，我们发现说，诶，我们好像把一个很传统的事情用一个很cool的方式在呈现。
那个时候我们才觉得，哇，忠曜堂好cool哦!
📷: (Top to bottom) Zhongyaotang’s gelato parlours on Hunan Road, Xiangyang South Road, and in Panlong Xintiandi
Zhongyaotang Gelato
(忠曜堂 新 中式GELATO)
Hunan Road Store
📍 3 Hunan Road, Xuhui
⏰ Daily, Mon-Thu, 1-8 PM |
Fri, 1-9 PM | Sat-Sun, 11 AM-9 PM
Xiangyang South Road Store
📍 267 Xiangyang South Road, Xuhui
⏰ Daily, Mon-Fri, 1-9 PM |
Sat, 11 AM-10 PM
Sun, 11 AM-9 PM
Panlong Xintiandi Store
📍 2 Panding Road, Lane 177,
Shoplot SZ155, Qingpu
⏰ Daily 10 AM-10 PM
🆕 Lixi Road Lab Concept
📍 Room 308, 152 Lixi Road,
Changning
⏰ Fri - Sun, 1-7 PM
The brand’s latest brick-and-mortar space is a lot different from its previous stores: the spacious Zhongyaotang LAB+ will see more small gatherings, cross-brand collaborations, and flavour-sharing events. Stay tuned!
Visuals courtesy of 忠曜堂 新 中式GELATO or shot by Time Out Shanghai. This article is not to be replicated without prior consent from Time Out Shanghai.