(Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2006-05-29 08:49

Few young people are unfamilair with Fragrant Camphor Garden on Hengshan Road. Since the romantic cafe, enclosed with huge glass windows and a camphor tree growing in the middle, appeared on Hengshan Road seven years ago, it has become a landmark for dating. It is one of a few dining places in Shanghai that is full of fresh air and a natural view, where you can flee from the noise outside.

As most of the people I know use it as a cafe in which to gather with dear friends during the afternoon or evening, I was surprised when I passed by last week to find it had been renovated into a restaurant. It retains the previous clean, transparent style of interior decoration, but the menu has expanded far beyond the original coffee, tea and cakes. Fragrant Camphor Garden now offers Cantonese cuisine.

The first course we ordered was even better than we had hoped. The appetizer --aromatic crispy duck and fresh fruit, 42 yuan (US$5), was highly praised by all the diners. The fresh tropical fruits and green vegetables made the salad a fusion of Western and Eastern styles. The duck was crispy and delicious and the fruit fresh and juicy. The dish is the restaurant's own creation. All the salad disappeared in five minutes.

In any Cantonese restaurant, BBQ is a favourite. Here, it was pork Char-siu, 32 yuan (US$4), or crispy roasted belly pork, 36 yuan (US$4.5). My recommendation is the BBQ meats combination, 68 yuan (US$8), which includes three types of BBQ.

My favourite hot dish was the crispy fried prawns, 32 yuan (US$4). Like a round golden cage, this dish is available in most big restaurants nowadays. I had always considered it visually appealing but not especially delicious, because most of the prawns taste dry or even falvourless.

But this time, it was different. The texture of the prawn ball in the fried noodle was firm and juicy. There are many such "ball" dishes in Cantonese cuisine, and one criterion used to judge their quality is firmness. It is said that a good quality meat ball would bounce several times if thrown down onto a table.

The chefs at the restuarant are from Hong Kong, so typical Cantonese dishes are all available, including sharkfin soup and crab meat dishes.

Dim sum is a centrepiece of any Cantonese restaurant. The dim sum here were exquisite and small sized. Less oily and less sweet, the flavours catered to modern people who come to the restaurant less to filling their stomach than for taste and fun.

The best one was the deep fried autumn rolls with preserved vegetables, at 12 yuan (US$1.50) for three. Previously we had only heard of spring rolls, a famous dim sum item, so why were they changed to "autumn" here? The waitress said it was because the roll was slim and long, so it was called an autumn roll -- I didn't really understand the reasoning but the taste was very good, with bean vermicelli, agaric, dry mushroom and carrot inside.

The last good surprise was the price. Although it is located on the best section of Hengshan Road (near Taojiang Road), an average bill per head comes to around 80 yuan (US$10).

Fragrant Camphor Garden
Location: No.2 Hengshan Road
Tel: 021-64334385