Jin Xuan 金軒
Add: The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, 8 Century Avenue / 浦东陆家嘴世纪大道8号上海国金中心
Tel: 2020 1717
Hours: 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-1am
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com/shanghaipudong
Price: [lunch] 168~300 RMB/person [dinner] 480~880 RMP/person
Visited on: Jan 2012
Please note that this was an arranged tasting.
Jin Xuan has been on the back of my mind ever since I had a delightful dim sum lunch there a while ago, and a friend’s birthday dinner brought us back to this opulent restaurant.
The gold, the wine red, and the purple – all looked sumptuous and sparkling in the evening.
As it was a birthday celebration, the chef put together special dinner set menu (600 RMB + 15%/person) for us.
The meal started with a cup of plum tea to work up the appetite. We loved the tangy flavor so much that we asked for another cup at the end of the meal.
A small bite of appetizer, not very memorable.
The first dish, Crispy Cereal Prawn and Chilled Drunken Chicken (麥片蝦球拼花雕醉雞卷), came in two parts. The juicy prawn, snugly wrapped in a light and crispy cereal coating, instantly impressed. It was slightly spiced to gently tingle the tongue, and – sitting on a hammock-shaped noodle bed (not meant to be eaten, I tried) – it was the cutest thing I saw all week.
Next, a bowl of Double-Boiled Black Bone Chicken with Fresh Ginseng (鮮人蔘燉竹絲雞). Ginseng can be an acquired taste so this might not suit everyone’s palate – I hated it as a child too, but have grown to love it fondly. Light and soothing.
Though neither of us are meat lovers, we polished off every bit of the Wok-fried Australian M9 Wagyu Beef Tenderloin in Black Pepper Sauce (密制澳洲特級黑椒和牛粒) – when the meat quality is this good, you just can’t leave it unfinished. Medium rare and irresistibly pink at the center.
The next dish, Signature Steamed Assorted Vegetables in Brown Sauce (招牌扇形金蔬), sparked a little wow as it arrived at our table. A variety of vegetables – mushrooms, carrots, lotus roots, a few types of unknown fungus, and bok choy – are cut and carefully arranged into the shape of a fan. Not a fan of the fungus, but loved the bok choy and carrots. (Carrots! Can’t believe I’m saying this either).
As for the Wok-baked Lobster with Butter in Supreme Stock with Longevity E-fu Noodles (上湯牛油焗龍蝦燴長壽伊麵), I savored the very last strand of it even though I was already stuffed. The e-fu noodles, with its slightly chewy and spongy texture, were cooked through and satisfyingly smothered in a rich butter lobster sauce. My gosh, this was good.
For dessert, Double-Boiled Ginger Tea Papaya with Red Date and Lotus Seed, with Steamed Longevity Bun (迷你壽包仔拼薑茶萬歲果). I wasn’t too interested in this as I never really liked ginger-flavored desserts, but my dinner date happily finished this off for me.
Just when we thought the feast was over, the restaurant surprised us with a birthday cake, sizable enough to feed 8 people. Though we were both too full to enjoy the cake, we each took a symbolic and grateful bite, then asked the restaurant to store it away for us to pick up the next day at our check-out.
On our way out, we had a sneak peek of one of the private rooms, a very grand space with a very grand chandelier. A good spot for business dinners or special celebrations.
