Element Fresh

Comfort food at Element Fresh.  Our all-time-favourite chicken quesadilla.

And I can have this everyday!

Element Fresh
Many locations in town.

函极博 Korean Restaurant

 I can;t believe I did not know about this little gem sooner.  It is now my favourite Korean restaurnat in town with to-die-for spicy seafood tofu soup.

 Bibimbap was delicious.

 Clam soup.  A bit plain for my taste but my Korean friend C assured me that it's very authentic and well executed.

 The best spicy tofu soup.

 Loved the beef ribs as well.

 C's favourite cold noodle dish.  They weren't afraid to use spice for sure and it was very refreshing!

函极博 Korean Restaurant
39-45 YongHua Rd. East (nr. Gubei Rd.), Shanghai.  Tel : 6295-7873

Hanagatami Japanese Restaurant

It was my second visit to Hanagatami.   Even though I found it a bit expensive for what you get it is a quiet place to meet with clean and consistent food.

The ginger beef lunch set which came with a green salad, soba, rice and miso.

A random salmon roll.  Very average.

My sashimi set.  Again a little to the expensive side in terms of quality at RMB200 but we enjoyed our lunch in general at our own pace.  Will go back again if I am in the neighbourhood.

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

Jean Georges

Lunch at Jean Georges is easily the best in town.  The lunch menu is full of great choices with at least 10 appetizers and another 10 main courses to choose from.  The dessert menu was impressive too and for RMB218 you get to have all three courses it's really good value.  And I must stress that everything we tried on that day was delicious as well.  Plus valet parking and great service it's a really nice treat.

Tuna tartar, avocado, spicy radish and ginger marinade.  My friend dreams about this dish regularly and from the orgasmic noises she made while she consumed her dish I believe her.  I was lucky to have the chance to try a bite and I must say the ginger marinade was the winner.  Tangy and slightly spicy it's a pretty unique taste.

Parsnip soup with coconut, lime and mint.  I personally would not have picked soup from the wonderfully diverse menu but my friend C was pregnant and it might explain it. She was a little put off by the foam but she liked the taste in general.  I am guessing potato is probably used as well as parsnip itself would taste a little weird?

Sea scallops with caramelized cauliflower, caper-raisin emulsion.  Scallops were succulent and nicely cooked but I thought the cauliflower was a bit crumbly and awkward.  I did like the caper-raisin emulsion very much but I couldn't figure out what made it an emulsion?     

Soy garlic glazed beef tenderloin, potato puree and crispy onion.  Decent cut of meat and grilled to perfection.  A great dish.

Parmesan crusted organic chicken, white asparagus, basil and lemon butter.  Lovely piece of juicy chicken with delicious parmesan.  A bit more side dish would be great though.

Slowly cooked salmon, sweet and sour carrot sauce with basil.  The sauce was absolutely beautiful and slow-cooking gave the salmon a soft and flaky texture.  I wish I can cook fish like this at home.

We shared all our desserts and everything was sinfully delicious and smashing good!  Crackling lime tart, vanilla chantilly mousse.

Jean Georges chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate creme brule, yogurt ice cream.

Jean Georges
4/F, Three On the Bund, Shanghai.  Tel: 6321-7733

Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant

A dim sum break in London China Town. Again we had no idea which restaurant to pick.  I ended up listening out for Cantonese speakers and found this place.  The menu surely looked very authentically Cantonese and the rice stick dish easily passed the authenticity test.

Singapore noodle. I was expecting a wiener-down version but instead it had a welcoming punch of spicy curry powder, which I thought was quite bold for the chef.  Loved it!

The usual dim sum suspects were all pretty tasty too.  The only problem:  we were soooo thirsty after our meal and we usually have quite a high tolerance on MSG.  

Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant
28-29 Gerrand Street, London, W1D 6JW, UK.  Tel:  020 7734-2763