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cityweekend

Design Dining in Gubei

From the unique entranceway to the overhead shark tanks, the decor is by far the most spectacular aspect of this Gubei restaurant. Make sure you ask for a banquette table, they're super-comfortable and help to heighten the James Bond sensation. The extensive menu offers pan-Chinese choices with a brief fusion section, a fair selection of sushi and a small but adequate drink list. Some of our better picks included a Korean seafood pancake (YY35), marinated agar with spicy Sichuan sauce (YY22) and crispy shrimp in perfectly sweet mustard-mayo (YY78). Sauteed chicken with spicy Sichuan sauce (YY58) was straightforward and the crispy rice crust added a great textural dimension. The other half of our meal we found unremarkable. An appetizer of smoked codfish (YY68) was bland and not so smoky. Kale stem with shrimp sauce (YY48) should be edited to read "very fermented shrimp sauce." And, in the fusion section, the Thai style fried prawns with chilli sauce (YY120) were big on the fermented bean paste but not very Thai, unless that meant the pieces of toast? Service was good but encouraged us to over-order. All told, there's still some work to be done. --Michael Elliott

 

mbe

The décor here is the real draw with overhead shark tanks and a unique entranceway (think Peoples 7 but a bit more decorative). The banquettes are cushiony and blue, they’re super-comfortable and help to heighten the James Bond “villain’s lair” sensation. Make sure to ask for one if available. An extensive menu offers pan-Chinese, with a brief fusion section, a fair selection of sushi, and a small but adequate drinks list. Some of our better picks included a Korean seafood pancake (35¥), marinated agar with spicy Sichuan sauce (22¥) (although this might not be for everyone, a bit of a jello texture), and crispy shrimp in perfectly sweet mustard-mayo (78¥) (if you know the deep fried shrimp with pineapple and mayo at Charmant this is in the same vein). Sauteed chicken with spicy Sichuan sauce (58¥) was straightforward, chunks of tender deep fried bird, dried red chillies, and the crispy rice crust added a great textural dimension. The other half of our meal we found unremarkable. An appetizer of smoked codfish (68¥) was bland and not so smoky, almost definitely from a piece of frozen fish. Kale stem with shrimp sauce (48¥) should be edited to read “raw fermented shrimp sauce”, it might appeal to your hardcore Vietnamese granny but we had a bite each and passed. In the fusion section, Thai style fried prawns with chilli sauce (120¥) were big on the fermented chilli bean paste but not what you’d think of as Thai, unless that was the pieces of toast? Overall presentation was spot on, actually quite faithful to the menu pictures (isn’t that always surprising). Service was good but encouraged us to over-order by 2-3 dishes. All told we won’t be running back, with the taxi to Gubei and 200¥ a person for dinner and a small draft beer, well, if we’re in Gubei we’ll go for Korean or Iranian.

 

10 months, 1 week ago