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cityweekend

Cushy Cantonese

Possessed of what may be the world's slowest elevator, the food at Hong Kong & Shanghai Restaurant is, thankfully, worth the wait. The dining room is brand spanking new and service impeccable, although on a busy night we can't be sure we would have gotten the same attention. A mostly Cantonese menu has pictures and decent English translations to help the hanzi challenged. The nicely priced dim sum selection, some of which isn't available at night, yielded delicious siu mai (streamed dumplings, RMB22)--plump, meaty and topped with a slice of scallop. We'll certainly be back to try more. We followed with a plate of char siu (roast pork, RMB35) that was perfectly cooked and seasoned, if a little lean for our liking. Filet of beef with spicy sauce (RMB58) was perfectly tender and not overly spicy, the latter being true of the one misstep, a Sichuan hot and sour soup (RMB68 for a large bowl) that, while tasty and well garnished, was neither hot nor sour to the point of being bland. The triumph of the night was definitely deep fried duck in mashed taro (RMB48), a galette of shredded duck topped with a taro puree deep-fried to crispy perfection. We're always happy to find a new Cantonese favorite and this place fits the bill perfectly. --Michael Elliott

 

mbe

Owners of the world’s slowest elevator, thankfully the food here is worth the wait. What’s more, the place is squeaky clean and the service is great; the kind of Chinese service where it’s almost too much (”No, I can put the napkin on my lap by myself thanks.”). The word “Shanghai” in the name of the place is a bit of a token gesture, the menu is very Cantonese, and, while not biblical in thickness, what they do they seem to do well.

We were very taken with the dim sum selection, priced anywhere from 12¥ to 22¥, although my favourite rice rolls (cheung fan) weren’t available at night. We settled for some siu mai (22¥ for 4 units) which were plump, tasty, and topped with a nice slice of scallop. This and the rest of our meal convinced us that we would be back for more dim sum in the near future. A plate of char siu (roast pork, 35¥) was nicely meaty and sweet as well as being perfectly cooked, the only slight I might offer was that it was the leanest char siu I’ve ever had. Everyone knows that the best char siu is the half fat/half meat kind (”bun fei sao” baby!!) so, while theirs was good, I felt a wee bit gypped at the almost total lack of “fei”.

The one low point of the evening was a Sichuan hot and sour soup (68¥, large bowl) which had lost almost all of it’s sour and hot on the trip from Sichuan to Shanghai (via Hong Kong). Technically the soup was very good, nice broth, just thick enough, not too goopy, well garnished with lots of fixings, but hot it was not and there was no sour power. We requested chilli and vinegar and did it ourselves, the leftovers are still in the fridge if anyone wants to come over and try it :)

Fried filet of beef with spicy sauce (58¥, waitress recommended) was very good. Again, perfectly cooked, not too spicy but with lots of whole dried chillies. Candied cashews studded with sesame seeds were a nice treat to find buried amongst the beef and chilies! A dish of stir-fried pea shoots (dou miao) was well prepared, neither greasy nor overly MSG’d; nice clear flavour.

Best for last and the winner of the night had got to be deep fried duck in mashed taro (48¥). A cross between perhaps a hachis parmentier and the deep fried taro balls from dim sum, tender shredded duck had been topped with a layer of mashed taro and then deep fried (?) resulting in a crisp feathery coating. The mashed taro texture might not be for everyone but we just loved the dish, the concept, everything.

 

9 months, 1 week ago