while i can't comment on shanghai uncle because i don't go there very often, but i am quite familiar with the guanghua rd xiaowangfu. during lunch, i'd dare say it's one of the whitest restaurants in beijing and dinner isn't all that different. and i will go so far as to say that i like the food there (which is saying a lot given that i am a very picky eater). in particular, i like their duck (quite a bit more than any of the famous ducks around town), their cuipi doufu, and their xianglaji. regarding the latter, they use boneless chicken meat. many chinese are turned off by the idea of boneless meat because the bones supposedly add flavor. while i understand the logic and respect their opinion, i much prefer the boneless variety (the same goes for fish, by the way).

to the poster that mentioned freshness of ingredients, i couldn't agree more that this is important. however, in general, i've found that chinese restaurants in socal and san francisco use much higher quality ingredients than their typical counterparts in beijing, let alone some of the secondary markets in which i often find myself (ningbo comes to mind off the top of my head). hk is a different story; i've been to many restaurants down there that i've considered top shelf. the same goes for taiwan.

as an aside, of the 55 cities i've visited in china, sanya tops my list for quality local food.