By Xiao Miao (Shanghai Star )
Updated: 2006-05-12 09:50

Chinese Sichuan food, famed for its hot spices and generous portions, is popular all over the country. At "Planet Shanghai," where it is mixed with Shanghai culinary style, the taste remains strong and the presentation is more delicate, but portions are smaller.

Planet Shanghai, located in a modern building on Huaihai Road, has a commodious diningroom and cozy ambience. Tables here are laid with sufficient space and its refined decoration has made the restaurant a good place for peaceful conversation. Those who prefer an elegant dining environment and delicate dishes will surely like Planet Shanghai.

Diners have a good view of downtown Huaihai Road as well as the large greenbelt nearby from the restaurant's French windows. The porcelain dishes are splendidly painted with flowers in the traditional Chinese style.

The most popular dish is grilled mutton chops (38 yuan, US$5), which has received especially good ratings on the Internet. The sizzling chops were served on a black iron plate, with onion slices, green peppers, red chili and topped with a sauce of cumin and sesame oil. Although not that visually attractive, the mutton was thick, tender and a bit spicy, but not strong-tasting or greasy.

Other tasty dishes are cold noodles and roasted potatoes. The noodle dish (16 yuan, US$2) is made from a secret recipe. The thread noodles were served with bean sprouts, minced peanuts, shallot slices and shredded salty meat. Diners have to mix the noodles with other ingredients and sesame oil properly before eating. The flavour is refreshingly spicy and delectable, but may even make tongues numb before they succumb to the hot spices.

The grilled potatoes (12 yuan, US$1.50) also had an impressive presentation and taste. Served in a tiny basket, the cute round potatoes were grilled to be golden-coloured and emitted an especially alluring scent. The grilled potato was crispy outside while its interior was surprisingly soft and hot.

The baby cabbage in chicken soup (12 yuan, US$1.5) is the most popular vegetable dish in the restaurant, although it contains two cabbages only. The cabbages were bound up with shallots and drenched in a yellow soup, also served with wolfberries and scallops. Unlike other food served at Planet Shanghai, this dish provided a bland but delicate flavour, a good accompaniment with rice.

Mapo beancurd is a traditional dish presented the spicy Sichuan style (16 yuan, US$2) but it was not as creative as some other dishes, which involve distinctive recipes and preparation styles.

The price for most dishes served at Planet Shanghai is reasonable, possibly because of the small portions. The cost of a meal is about 50-70 yuan (US$7-9) per person. The service there is not as good as the food and decoration. The servers twice made mistakes with our order during our dinner there.

Planet Shanghai
Location: 3F Lippo Plaza, No. 222, Huaihai Zhonglu
Tel: 021-53965852/53965853