i. Biography
Cantonese cuisine at Ji Pin Court in Shanghai, China, is handled through a stated discipline: recreating true flavors while bringing modern elements into traditional tastes. Executive Chef Li Wei works inside that brief, where the craft depends on clarity rather than display. The measure is whether the cooking remains legible within its southern Chinese tradition while carrying present-tense detail. Traditional taste in this context is not a fixed museum piece. It asks for balance, depth, texture, and precision in how flavor is recognized at the table. His role at the restaurant sits at that point of control: modern elements may enter, but only without disturbing the structure of the cuisine beneath them.
The Route
Today, Li Wei is Executive Chef of the restaurant. Executive-chef work in this kind of kitchen is both technical and interpretive. The position requires consistency across service, stewardship of a recognizable flavor language, and judgment about how tradition is expressed without being flattened into repetition. In his case, the traceable path is this Shanghai kitchen devoted to recreating true flavors while bringing modern elements into traditional tastes. The cooking is framed as return with adjustment, not departure. Traditional taste remains the base grammar; contemporary detail is applied within that grammar. This is the working site where that balance is tested as cuisine rather than stated as concept.
The Work Today
Today, Li Wei is Executive Chef at Ji Pin Court in Shanghai, China. The restaurant is the setting for his cuisine and the place where his cooking is recognized by the Michelin Guide. The style is defined by two linked tasks: recreating true flavors associated with Cantonese cooking and incorporating modern elements into traditional tastes. That phrasing matters. It keeps inheritance and change in the same operating field, with the modern element treated as an addition to be controlled rather than a reason to abandon the base. The cuisine often depends on precision without excess. Within that frame, his work is presented as balance: older flavor vocabulary kept intact, contemporary detail folded in where it serves the dish. The venue functions as both workshop and service room for that discipline. The executive role makes that balance a daily responsibility. Each decision has to protect traditional taste while allowing modern elements to appear with purpose. As described through the culinary direction, the result is continuity: gastronomy rooted in true flavor, adjusted in the present, and served in Shanghai, China.
Credentials
Recognition for Ji Pin Court places this Cantonese work inside the Michelin Guide’s field of assessment. Li's honors include Two Michelin stars for Ji Pin Court (2024).
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Li
What is Li Wei's current position?
Li Wei is Executive Chef at Ji Pin Court.
What recognition has Li Wei received?
Two Michelin stars for Ji Pin Court (2024).
What is Li Wei known for?
Cantonese cuisine.
