Delicacies
Sheng Hui Tang (InterContinental Shanghai Expo)
By Kevin Smith (bestfoodinchina.net)
Updated: 2011-01-19 16:19
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With an entrance road briefly cordoned off for the President of Fiji, I could not think of a more fitting introduction to Shanghai’s only luxury hotel located directly alongside the World Expo Site – InterContinental Shanghai Expo, a five-star hotel that has been regularly entertaining dignitaries along side its regularly customers around the world.
Passing through the lobby we crossed along a vast, open around the clock buffet restaurant, its various food islands floating like beacons of edible land. However, this evening another restaurant in the InterContinental was our destination. And, frankly speaking, class should be respected with a glass and what better way to do so than amongst restored villas and what was once a distillery, aptly named the Liquor Factory, a British style pub with outdoor seating in InterContinental’s garden. With an eighteen year single malt Macallan Scotch in hand, surrounded by images of England’s royal family, following a warm pull I thought, ‘Wow, feels good to be a king.’
On the third floor is Sheng Hui Tang, which translates to ‘Grand Meeting’ is a Cantonese restaurant with Shanghai characteristics and a peppering of Sichuan. The restaurant has a main dining room its center with various private rooms, each varying in size running off the two sides. Each private room is artfully decorated in a modern Chinese style, from the large wooden doors and their lion-head knockers to the great round tables, and fine bone-china table settings.
We started with a simple, refreshing drink that almost all Cantonese can relate to their childhood, the liang cha or cool tea, a sweet drink made from sugar cane, water chestnuts, corn and carrots. The drink is known for its medicinal cooling effects on our systems no matter the season.
Admiring the stunning view of the Huang-pu River and the Nan-pu Bridge’s lit framework, the waitress in an attractive Chinese dress poured glasses of a dark, but light, chilled red New Zealand Pinot Noir.
Sheng Hui Tang’s in-house Hong Kong Master Chef Pan Xian Wen first creation was a soy marinated fish filet ‘Shanghai’ style. Slightly warm, with a similar level of sweet, the bones non-existent, this Shanghai specialty may be the best I’ve come across. A simple classic was the Drunken Chicken, marinated in Chinese liquor and served cold, soy sauce for dipping.
And to round out the cold appetizers was the smartly wrapped Chinese spinach in a thin blanket of chilled bean curd.
Matching Hong Kong’s appreciation for thicker soups, an orange, slightly sweet bean curd broth with shrimp and scallops was everything it should have been, the stock rich, the bean curd smooth.
A buttery sweet dish was the flaky baked cod fish with mushroom sauce. The hunks of boneless white fish were soft and melted on your tongue.
The lightly fried Australian beef filet cubes with deep fried garlic were excellent. Each cube tasted as if they danced perfectly against the wok’s sides, given them the consistency of miniature juicy steak bites, the chopped green and red peppers adding a little flair.
Fried seasonal vegetables with black mushrooms and bamboo shoots finished our meal on a healthy and lighter note.
Whether dining visiting country figureheads, closing a potential business deal or just out for a lavish evening with friends along Huang-pu’s waterfront, if seeking a traditional Chinese dinner served with Cantonese class, trimmed with Shanghai style, than InterContinental’s Shanghai Expo is a perfect option.
In addition to Sheng Hui Tang, there is Basilico, an Italian restaurant on the second floor, the Lobby Lounge, Café 1188, the buffet that is open twenty-four seven and the most unique option, Vista which offers a cigar room, cheese room and a rum room.
Location
No. 1188, Xue Ye Road, Pudong.// 上海市浦东新区雪野路1188号 Tel:021-38581188
Service quality:
very good
Food quality:
very good
Environment:
excellent
Price per head (RMB):
300-400
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