However, at the Renaissance Yangtze Shanghai Hotel, there is a dining secret only true Shanghainese and food connoisseurs can appreciate.

The Raphael looks and feels much as a hotel restaurant ought, offering intimate dining to its visitors and guests in a convenient surrounding.

It would be easy to overlook this eatery at first glance from the average aesthetics of its decor, but that would be a grave mistake.

True to its spirit of Mediterranean influences, the Raphael, one of the more expensive Shanghai dining experiences, has invested extensively in its most important area, its dishes.

Taking influences from Asia whilst combining European cooking methods, its main focus is to cater for its Western guests with Western food.

"It's a Western haven away from Chinese food," says Robert Gasser, the restaurant's manager. "It is a place where people can come to experience great food after perhaps traveling around China and living on Chinese cuisine, or for those with cravings for more Western tastes."

Although it boasts a French name, the restaurant, opened three years ago, features an impressive, varied menu.

From a variety of influences, the majority Mediterranean, the restaurant offers flavors from the hills of Tuscany and the bistros of middle Europe with a wild card in the Chicago steak.

Perusing the decadent menu, a good place to start is with a pre-meal aperitif. A popular choice is the "Ruby Slipper," a vodka concoction mixed with cranberry and grapefruit juice "to open the stomach," Gasser explained. "It also gives you a hearty appetite for what is to follow."

With a diverse selection of appetizers, the seafood platter is simple fare with a selection of lobster, crab, shrimp and oysters. However, as winter is here, a most satisfying dish was the mushroom soup. An ordinary option you may think, but it was one that could rival any top eatery in Europe with its creamy, sumptuous texture and mouthwatering flavors.

Good service is sometimes a rarity in Shanghai but Raphael seems to have mastered this with its impeccable friendly staff and its passionate manager and chefs.

"The Chicago steak accompanied with a truffle mash is a top choice for a main course," says Humphrey Wang, Raphael's executive sous chef. "Its always cooked medium rare, with an aromatic flavor of crushed peppers and oyster sauce. This makes it very tender on the inside but slightly crispy on the outside."

Having trained in Tianjin with credentials from the Sydney Hilton, Wang is fanatical about his dishes. He describes them as "mostly European with a small Asian twist."

"For guests who want to make more of the Asian influences, the crab linguine or something off the special hairy crab menu would be a winner." The Asian influences are most apparent on this alternative menu but are prepared with European technique.

The desert selection is typical of any Italian menu, offering tiramisu and cheese cake with its own individual touches of ice cream mud cake and walnut tart all prepared by an in-house pastry chef.

Raphael also boasts a solid wine selection. "We get a lot of our wine from small boutique wineries. With many of the best bottles only sold here," says Gasser.

As expected of a high-end restaurant, the Raphael uses only noble ingredients in its dishes. Smoked salmon, lobster, caviar and truffles, to name but a few, are offered on an a la carte menu that does not fall into the over-pretentious trap of so many of establishments. With generous yet not copious portions, Raphael's cuisine could be summed up simply by five words, great food and great ingredients.

It is efficient cooking and great wine all in one little restaurant tucked away in the grandeur of the Renaissance Hotel.

Address: 2099 Yan'an Road W.
Tel: 021-6275-0000