[Shanghai] Jimmy’s Kitchen

Jimmy’s Kitchen

Add: Jin Jiang Hotel, (Cathay Building), 1/F, 59 Maoming Nan Lu 茂名南路59号1楼, 近长乐路
Tel: 6466 6869
Hours: 12-3pm, 6-11pm
Website: www.jimmys.com
Price: [lunch] 98~158 RMB [dinner] 350 RMB~600 RMB
Visited: Sep 2011

Please note that this is an arranged tasting.

For those looking forward to the Shanghai Restaurant Week, here’s a little preview for you at Jimmy’s Kitchen, China’s oldest Western restaurant that has recently been reopened in Jin Jiang Hotel (read more about Jimmy’s history here). Let’s take a peek at what they are serving for the upcoming week of gluttony.

For our preview, the chef handpicked an ensemble of dishes from the Restaurant Week lunch and dinner menu. For appetizers, there is marinated salmon tartar (dinner menu) spiced with shallot and fresh dill, accompanied by a hazelnut oil-drizzled baguette crouton. A clean and refreshing start, very generous in portion too.

The second appetizer was marinated red tuna tartar with dry fruits and light spices. I personally liked this better than the salmon tartar for its variety in texture.

For main courses, we were served braised boneless chicken leg in sweet red bell pepper compote with couscous and raisins (lunch menu). It was a fine dish, but it’s too safe of a choice to impress those with an adventurous palate.

Our other main course, veggie curry madras served with steamed rice and curry sauce (lunch menu), made more of an impression. If you (like me) have never tasted dry curry before, you will be intrigued by its sandy texture. Spicy, intensely flavorful, great with the accompanying bowl of steamed rice and curry sauce.

For desserts, orange cheese cake (lunch menu) would be a good choice for those who prefer simple and classic flavors.

On the other hand, I preferred the warm sticky date pudding, butterscotch sauce and hazelnut ice-cream (dinner menu). The description isn’t exactly accurate – the supposedly sticky pudding was more like a fluffy date cake, but it was delicious anyway – hot, fragrant, perfect with the scoop of hazelnut ice-cream on the side.

If you haven’t already packed your week with bookings, consider coming to Jimmy’s Kitchen for lunch (118 RMB for 3 courses) – timid souls can opt for the braised chicken leg, while the adventurers can attempt the dry curry.