[Shanghai] Yi Long Court 逸龍閣

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[Shanghai] Yi Long Court 逸龍閣

Yi Long Court 逸龍閣

Add: 2/F, The Peninsula, 32 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu / 中山東一路32號半島酒店2樓
Tel: 2327 6742
Hours: [lunch] 11:30am~2:30pm [dinner] 6~10:30pm [dim sum brunch] 11:30am~2:30pm (Sat & Sun)
Website: http://www.peninsula.com/Shanghai/
Price: [lunch] 250 RMB [dinner] 400 RMB
Visited: Oct 2010

Restaurant Week stop #6: Yi Long Court at The Peninsula. After a wonderful Restaurant Week lunch at Sir Elly’s, I was under the impression that quality at The Peninsula is not compromised by the 118 RMB price tag and decided to give Yi Long Court a try. The restaurant serves traditional Cantonese cuisine by China’s Michelin Star winner Tang Chi Keung, who was until recently with The Peninsula Tokyo and also served as Chinese Executive of The Peninsula Hong Kong in earlier times.

Lunch here started with dim sum combination (逸龍閣點心拼盤), which includes a shumai, a shrimp dumpling, and a vegetable dumpling. The shumai was excellent in both taste and texture, it’s apparent that the ground pork was of good quality. The shrimp dumpling, on the other hand, had a soft and mushy skin, and the vegetable dumpling on the bland side.

Soup dumpling with shark fin (古法魚翅灌湯餃). Again, lackluster in flavor.

Braised eggplants with minced pork and conpoy (瑤柱肉嵌茄子), a dish worth acclaiming. The eggplants were perfectly braised – not too soft, not too firm, with mouthwatering flavors from minced pork and conpoy.

Braised seasonal vegetables in chicken broth (上湯時令蔬), well executed and presented as nicely as braised vegetables can be presented. The light but flavorful chicken broth was slightly thickened with cornstarch so it adheres to the perfectly cooked leaves.

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[Shanghai] Tonkatsu Hamachan 浜ちゃん

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[Shanghai] Tonkatsu Hamachan 浜ちゃん

Tonkatsu Hamachan 浜ちゃん

Add: 176 Jiaozhou Lu, near Beijing Lu / 胶州路176号，近北京西路
Tel: 6256 8674
Hours: 11:30am-2pm, 5:30-10pm
Price: 65 RMB/set
Visited: Sep 2010

Located right across from Urbn Hotel in Jing’an area, Hamachan is a small 6-table restaurant specializing in tontaksu – Japanese style fried pork cutlet. Rumor has it that this place serves THE best tonkatsu in town…

The pork cutlet comes in two varieties, ロース (fatty) and ヒレ(lean), both at 65 RMB/set. Actually, there isn’t a significant difference in the meat itself other than the extra layer of fat on the fatty cut, which I prefer because it’s slightly juicier and the crust is thinner. All tonkatsu is served with special tonkatsu sauce and yellow mustard. The set also includes pickles, miso soup, shredded cabbage, and unlimited refill of rice.

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[Shanghai] Palladio at the Portman Ritz-Carlton

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[Shanghai] Palladio at the Portman Ritz-Carlton

Palladio at the Portman Ritz-Carlton

Add: 1/F, Shanghai Center, 1376 Nanjing Xi Lu / 南京西路1376號 上海商城1樓, 近西康路
Tel: 6279 7188
Hours: 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10:30pm
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com
Price: Lunch 200 RMB/person, Dinner 500 RMB/person
Visited: Sep 2010

Venue now closed.

Restaurant Week stop #5: Palladio at the Portman Ritz-Carlton. A memorable lunch experience with impeccable service and beautiful food (the taste is…well, debatable).

Ordering wine somewhat defeats the purpose of Restaurant Week since the wine would most likely double the bill. However Manager Fabrizio was extremely helpful with the recommendations so we ended up ordering a glass each and had a fun time comparing notes.

Amuse Bouche, duck with walnut and vegetables.

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[Shanghai] T8 Restaurant & Bar

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[Shanghai] T8 Restaurant & Bar

T8 Restaurant & Bar

Add: Xintiandi North Block, Lane 181 Taicang Lu / 太仓路181号，新天地北里
Tel: 6355 8999
Hours: [lunch] 11:30am-2:30pm [afternoon tea] 2:30-5:30pm [dinner] 6:30-11:30pm
Website: www.t8shanghai.com
Price: [dinner] 500+ RMB/person [brunch] 258-498 RMB/person
Visited: Sep 2010

Restaurant Week Stop #2: T8 Restaurant and Bar, Asian-inspired fusion cuisine tucked away in one of the back alleys in Xintiandi.

t8-exterior 2

Like the utensils, dislike the bread.

As part of the Restaurant Week, T8 put together the following menu (lunch 118 RMB/person), starting with poached local baby lobster, Spanish ham, asparagus, burnt onion mayonnaise, radish, crispy rice paper. Alright.

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[Shanghai] Sir Elly’s at The Peninsula

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[Shanghai] Sir Elly’s at The Peninsula

Sir Elly’s at The Peninsula

Add: 13/F, The Peninsula, 32 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu / 中山東一路32號半島酒店13樓
Tel: 2327 6756
Hours: [lunch] 12:00pm-2:30pm, [dinner] Sun-Thu, 6:00-10:30pm Fri-Sat, 6:00-11:00pm
Website: www.peninsula.com/Shanghai/
Price: [lunch] 280 RMB + 15% [dinner] 500+ RMB
Visited: Sep 2010

Restaurant Week Stop # 3: Sir Elly’s at The Peninsula. The lunch, unsurprisingly, turned out to be the best out of all my restaurant week meals.

The Restaurant Week lunch was a 3-course affair – appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Both the appetizers and the desserts were served in sampler sizes, allowing guests to try a variety of what the restaurant has to offer: “Goat Cheese Tart” with Carmelized Onion and Frisee Salad, “Summer Tomato Salad” with Vanilla, Orange, and Ginger Confit, “Tuna Tartar” with Espelette and Blinni, Vichyssoise” with Rosemary Cream, and Crouton. Even something as simple as the tomato salad was thoughtfully put together – the cherry tomatoes were briefly cooked, skinned, chilled, and served with orange and ginger confit and a splash of olive oil. Perfect for a hot summer day.

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[Shanghai] Café Dan

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[Shanghai] Café Dan

Café Dan

Add: No. 41, Lane 248 Taikang Lu, near Sinan Lu / 泰康路248弄田子坊41号后门, 近思南路
Tel: 6466 1042
Hours: 10:30am~10pm
Price: 100~150 RMB/person
Website:  www.idancoffee.com
Visited: Sep 2010

Café Dan is small cafe in Tianzifang filled with an abundance of sunlight and the alluring aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Luxurious iced latte, desserts, and down-to-earth Japanese comfort foods that warm you up from the inside.

Dan Cafe is a 3-story structure. The 1st floor has no seating area and seems to be filled with coffee and coffee brewing apparatus. After climbing the dangerously steep stairs, you will arrive at the 2nd floor with half a dozen counter seats and a few 2-person tables that can be combined for bigger parties. The in-between floor and the 3rd floor have additional tables and tatami seating, but the space quickly fills up on a Saturday morning. We arrived before 11am to snatch the 2nd floor window seats because reservations are apparently not guaranteed.

The menus, both for drinks and food, are extensive with plenty of appealing choices. After perusing the menus for a good 20-minutes with plenty of flipping back and forth, we finally settled on the following dishes, starting with breakfast set 3 – Japanese style (60 RMB). The Japanese style egg was fluffy and moist, served with perfectly cooked organic rice.

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[Shanghai] The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo

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[Shanghai] The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo

The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo

Add: 2967 Lujiazui Xi Lu, near Fenghe Lu / 陸家嘴西路2967號, 近豐禾路
Tel: 5054 1265
Hours: 11am-2:30pm, 6-10pm
Price: [lunch] 128~188 RMB/person + 15% [dinner] 300~400 RMB/person + 15%
Website: www.ystable.com/Branch_2.html
Visited on: Aug 2010

Pudong’s riverbank is lined with a good number of restaurants and bars, but The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo seems to be one of the very few that offer decent food to match the views. We came here for lunch and found it to be a delightful oasis on a hot summer day. The lunch set menu is a good deal – an appetizer, a pizza/pasta, and dessert for 128 RMB, or opt for meat/seafood instead of the pizza/pasta for 148 RMB, or both the main course and the pizza/pasta for 188 RMB. Drinks extra.

Nice patio area with trickling water.

Salvatore Cuomo started his brand in Japan and is apparently quite a celebrity in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya. The Kitchen is his first attempt in China, and judging from the bustling lunch hour traffic, Salvatore seems to be doing quite well here too. You can also find his concept and style at Issimo, a wildly popular Italian restaurant located on the 2nd floor of JIA boutique hotel.

For appetizers, we ordered the Atlantic salmon carpaccio with rocket leaves and Mediterranean dressing, and the traditional Neapolitan eggplant lasagna. The Salmon carpaccio was fresh and plump, excellent with the accompanying mango-hinted Mediterranean dressing. The eggplant lasagna was nicely done, flavors all there, a bit oily but the arugula helped to cut back the greasiness. (FYI, the two other appetizer choices are: coppa ham served with vegetable pickles, and seasonal salad with olives and artichokes.)

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[Shanghai] Azul

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[Shanghai] Azul

Azul

Add: Ferguson Lane 8/F, 378 Wukang Lu, near Hunan Lu / 武康路378號8樓, 近湖南路
Tel: 5405 2252
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 12pm-12am [Sat-Sun] 11am-4pm, 6-11pm
Price: [brunch] 130~160 RMB [dinner] 200~300 RMB/person
Visited: Aug 2010

UPDATE: Azul has moved to a new location (address updated above).

Azul Tapas Lounge is a modern Peruvian eatery by Eduardo Vargas, a brunch favorite among expats. The restaurant offers generous portions of brunch items ranging from salmon crepes to Spanish chicken to omelets to steaks. For us, the 130 RMB two-course sets were more than enough, but if you are extra hungry, opt for the three-course set at 160 RMB.

Brunch at Azul comes with a complementary drink (sangria, smoothie, juice, etc.) AND coffee/tea. Unfortunately the watery smoothies here are nothing compared to what Melange Oasis serves.

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[Shanghai] Shintori 新都里

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[Shanghai] Shintori 新都里

Shintori 新都里 Add: 803 Julu Rd, near Fumin Lu / 巨鹿路803號, 近富民路 Tel: 54045252 Hours: [Mon-Fri] 5:30-10:30pm, [Sat-Sun] 11:30am-2pm, 5-10:30pm Price: 300 RMB/person Website: www.shintori.com.tw Visited on: Aug 2010 Easily missed by passerby, Shintori is a Japanese fusion restaurant hidden behind an unmarked doorway on Julu Lu. Follow the bamboo-lined path and you will arrive at a…Continue Reading “[Shanghai] Shintori 新都里” →