Shinmachi 新町

Shinmachi is cute. I could see why it's the talk of the town and that the place was packed out for lunch on a weekday.

Now the food. Set lunches were between RMB80 to RMB100. Reasonable enough. Quality wise everything was fresh enough, but it had that supermarket sushi taste - or should I say the lack of taste. Somehow all the fish tasted the same - cold and plasticky - like cheap sushi.
I guess I shouldn't complain as the restaurant could easily charge more, like many of the others in the area.
Part of the set.

Lunch for two came to just under RMB300. It filled the hole.
Shinmachi 新町

159 Madang Rd. (nr. Tai Cang Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 3366-1281

Pelham's

Our first visit to Pelham's at the hyped Waldorf Astoria in Shanghai. We were greeted with some foamy soup.

I would never have guessed that this was actually caesar salad (RMB128). It came with bacon foam and it's probably the fussiest dish we ever came across.
My crab cake was fresh and sweet and I was grateful that there was no foam on my plate.
Wagyu strip with chick peas, red swiss chard and chimichurri (RMB388). It is a signature dish for the restaurant but my friend C thought it was average.
The taste was good for my steak and it was juicy, but it was a little too fatty for me.
At least C enjoyed her chocolate cake.
My s'more, graham cracker ice cream on a chocolate brownie, passionfruit marshmallow (RMB78) was not as spectacular as it sounded. Loved the moist and warm brownie though.
Our petits fours.
Pelham's

Waldorf Astoria, club lobby level, 2 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Rd.(nr. Guang Dong Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6322-9988

Sir Elly's Restaurant

Set lunch at Sir Elly's. To start we had farm egg, smoked with maple dressing and turnips; cappuccino soup, foie gras, five spices; baby greens, long beans, crab, tomato confit; hamachi, vanilla and Meyer lemon dressing, mango chutney. Our favourite was the soup. We both skipped the egg as it was a little worrying to be eating raw eggs. We also wished the fish could be a little bigger as they were way too small to make an impression on my taste buds.

The egg seemed to have unusually thick shell?
There were four main courses to choose from: pigeon, beef cheeks, scallops, and mushroom risotto. I opted for the beef and loved it. Beef was slow-cooked till it's extremely tender; served with sesame, leeks, ginger chili oil, espelette coulis. I liked the mild chili sauce with the juicy beef but I didn't understand the stack of rather dry leeks at the back. It didn't feel related to the dish.
Mushroom risotto, morel, golden thread. I have been told golden thread mushrooms grow from insects? Confirmation anyone?
Desserts from left: "apple" vanilla brule, hawthorn compote, sea salt caramel, green apple sorbet; "Madeleine" warm, stuffed with honey; "strawberry" Indian strawberry lassi. We didn't think much of the desserts, which was a little disappointing.
Sir Elly's Restaurant

13/F, Peninsula Shanghai, 32 The Bund, Shanghai. Tel: 2327-6756

Hanagatami Japanese Restaurant

Another day, another Japanese meal thanks to L, who is a Japanese food fan.

Chirashi set (RMB240). It is normally on the dinner menu but the waitress was happy enough to make it a lunch set. While the fish didn't look as fresh as the ones we had in Benkay it was not bad.

My sashimi set (RMB200).
Both set came with soba, salad, miso, and rice on the side.
Dessert was some kind of fruit which we didn't eat. Overall I thought the quality was above average but the price tags were there to match too.
Hanagatami Japanese Restaurant

2/F, The Portman Ritz Carlton, 1376 Nanjing Rd. West (nr. XiKang Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6279-8888 Ext5898

Benkay Japanese Restaurant

Our salads which came with our set lunches.

My sashimi tempura una set (RMB160). Pricey for Shanghai standards but quality was good.
Chirasi gozen set (RMB145). Plenty of fresh fish although our request for not wanting shrimps had to be repeated twice at the end.
The special dessert plate which came with the ladies afternoon promotion. There was unlimited flow of tea or coffee as well.
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We went back for another visit a few days later.
I was pretty disappointed with my sashimi gozen (RMB170). It is more expensive than the sashimi tempura una set and yet the quantity of fish I got was only slightly more.
It was pretty pathetic and I mentioned it to the waitress. She was pretty indifferent and said since all their fish comes from Japan you get less. I didn't see the logic there and secretly decided that I would avoid this place if possible.
Gone was the special dessert platter too. We were a little disappointed at our meal to say the least.
Benkay Japanese Restaurant

3/F, Hotel Nikko Shanghai, 488 Yan An Rd. West (nr.Zhen Nin Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 3211-9999

Maison Pourcel

The restaurant got a lot of buzz since its Expo debut and I was exited to try it. I have to say the website put me off a little before I even got there. Somehow having pictures of the chefs and pseudo celebrities from Hong Kong plastered on the site did not make me very confident.

The restaurant was very well set up: a lounge on the lower floor and an elegant dining room on top. Terrace dining is available but we were seated inside as the weather was getting cool by then.

Our free appetizers. I did like the deep fried goat cheese cubes.

We all decided the appetizers were a little too rich foamy for our taste.





We tried beef and lamb cutlets for our mains and thought they were average. The quenelle on the side of the beef was so strong with truffle taste it made C gagged.
Our petits fours redeemed the so-far average meal a little.
And we all liked our icy watermelon juice.
Desserts were tasty, nothing spectacular though.

Dinner for 4 with a glass of wine each came to RMB800 a head. We felt the quality of food could be better for that price.
Maison Pourcel

6th and 8th floor, 35 Shanxi Rd. (nr. Changle Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6215-8777

Element Fresh

My husband's tandoori chicken wrap (RMB68) was huge and I felt jealous right away. The chicken was juicy and tasted like proper tandoori. Lucky him!

My set came with starters and fruits. The melon soup was probably the nastiest soup I ever had: gooey and extremely salty. Why bother? And I think the light brown pieces on the side were tofu skin. Who eats this stuff?
Nile perch in sweet soy (RMB88). I had never tried Nile perch before and I was curious. As I suspected it was very muddy. The gooey soy sauce didn't rescue the fish, in fact I wasn't sure what was more gross - fish or sauce. In any case it was a very unsatisfying dish.
Element Fresh

4/F KWah House, 1028 Huai Hai Rd. (nr. Donghu Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 5403-8865