Issimo

Another yummy dinner at Issimo. As our greedy selves we were having pizza and pasta to start.

Portions were pretty big even as starters but we were happy chowing everything down quickly. My seafood linguini had a very nice tomato finish which gave it the right balance.
My dad was the only sensible one and ordered a salad to start. The parmesan was actually very tasty.The rest of the meal was on par with the usual Issimo standard. We were all very happy and satisfied.


As full as we were we had to cram in some desserts. We will be back again and again.

Issimo

2/F, Jia Shanghai, 931 Nanjing West Rd. (nr. Tai Xing Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 3302-4997

Bi Feng Tang

A quick lunch at a Bi Feng Tang restaurant. Despite the countless numbers of branches across I had never felt like going as they all looked pretty naff. As I was very desperate that day I had no choice but to walk in. Big mistake. My beef noodle is everything but Cantonese. And it didn't taste good: noodles were soggy and the beef was too much of a mystery cut I left it all behind.

I saw this noodle dish 2 tables down and thought I'd give it a try. It was probably the greasiest fried noodles I had in my entire Chinese-food-eating career (and I had had a LOT of greasy stuff). Hidden in the greasy noodles were slivers of the cheapest salty ham you can find in this world. Everything about it was nasty!
I think these may be cuttlefish balls. I honestly don't remember now and lets say they did not redeem the meal.
Now that have looked at it's website the restaurants are all franchised. It explains a lot why the place is very much pseudo Cantonese. There is not going to be a next time even if I am desperate.

Bi Feng Tang

1108, Brilliance West Mall, 88 XianXia West Rd. (nr. JianHe Rd.), Shanghai.

Mr. and Mrs. Bund

Girls' night out at Mr. and Mrs. Bund.

The menu was very confusing and we left it to the manager to do the ordering. Portions are all for sharing anyway.
It was so long ago and most of the dishes were OK but not outstanding and therefore I have forgotten what some of them were. I seem to remember the duck breast with polenta was one of the better ones, then again it's quite an ordinary way of cooking suck breast.
Foie gras. I didn't try any as it was a bit awkward with the bread. I am not a foie gras fan anyway.
Asparagus with cream sauce. A bit lame.

Sea Bass with truffle and I am guessing polenta once again?
King prawn with lemon grass and citrus sauce. I do remember it being quite refreshing and zingy. Too poncy in presentation and hardly enough prawn for what they are charging!
The steak was not bad.
The restaurant's version of mashed potatoes.
Lobster tail in hot and spicy sauce. It wasn't but it certainly wasn't a wow.
I have been trying to convince my husband to go there so I can give it another try but he says the food is too fussy for his taste. I don't blame him.

Mr. and Mrs. Bund

6/F, Bund 18, 18 Zhong Shan Yi Rd. (nr. NanJing Rd.), Shanghai. Tel :6323-9898

Hanmadang

We made it back to Hanmadang for another delicious BBQ. The kimchi spread was excellent as usual.

And so was the beef.
Bibimbap.
Spicy tofu soup - mouth watering spicy.
Another look at our bibimbap. I need to go back very soon.
Hanmadang

3/F, Highton Hotel, 1000 East Hong Song Rd., Shanghai. Tel: 6145-9691

Simply Thai

A quick lunch at Simply Thai with my favourite Thai BBQ chicken. Loved the spicy dip and how moist the chicken was.

Beef noodles which came in a lunch set (RMB48 with a drink). I don't remember it being outstanding at all and I won't be ordering it again certainly. Should have gone for the tom yam chicken noodles instead.
Simply Thai

5C Dong Ping Rd. (nr. Heng Shan Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6445-9551

Issimo

We were back to Issimo again for its Sunday brunch.

For RMB198 there were 3 to 4 choices for each of our four-course set brunch menu.
I decided to be adventurous and went for an octopus salad. Chewy. What did I expect?
We got to choose 2 pasta dishes. Both were yummy.




Issimo

2/F, Jia Shanghai, 931 Nanjing West Rd. (nr. Tai Xing Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 3302-4997

Laris

We are back to Laris for its best-kept-secret weekend brunch once again. This week we had a very elegant-sounding string quartet to accompany out excellent meal.

My husband's scallop starter had the freshest scallops in a rich broth. He doesn't normally rave about scallops but this dish changed his mind.
The foam on my lobster bisque put me off slightly as I hate foam. The bisque did more than enough to redeem the dish though. Rich and full of flavours but not fishy I chowed it down very quickly.
We were totally greedy and went for the 4-course set, which had a number of egg dishes to choose from. The soft-poached eggs benedict tasted every bit as nice as it looks.
My lobster omlette was to die for too.
My husband's beef randang was slow cooked to as tender as beef would get. It's certainly an interesting interpretation of the regular beef randang we normally get.
I decided to skip the usual meat dishes and try the kimchi fried rice with seafood. Being a Korean food enthusiast this dish did not satisfied me completely. The rice was not dry nor firm enough; kimchi's taste had no depth (probably not very authentic) but the seafood was good.
The chocolate desserts from the chocolate factory did not disappoint. We will be back again!

Laris

6/F, 3 on the Bund, Shanghai. Tel: 6321-9922

Mansion Veranda

There is just no other way to describe our 3rd visit to Mansion Veranda other than to say it's a total disappointment. My heart sank when I looked at the very small and uninspired set lunch menu.

I picked the remotely interesting fresh spring rolls to start and boy was I disappointed. The fillings were clearly from a bag of prepackaged coleslaw. The spring roll skins were also package stuff and the sauce was just Thai sweet chili sauce straight from a bottle. I serve better food than this at home if you give me 10 mins for preparation.

My fish and chips was very ordinary , but at least it involved actual cooking and not just assembling packaged food items together.
Mansion Veranda
5/F, Mansion Hotel, 82 Xin Le Rd. (nr. Xiang Yang Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 5403-6692

Tang Palace

We were told Tang Palace has the most authentic dim sum in Shanghai. We tried to give it a try a number of times over weekends and we always ended up being turned away by the massive queue. At last an opportunity came on a weekday and off we went.

It was still packed over lunch and we figured the food had to be good? We decided to order everything to try. The first dish to arrive was BBQ pork with rice noodles. The pork was so fatty despite my request for lean, and the soup base way too salty. One out of five.

The seasoning on our deep fried calamari was nice but it was very strong and they became very overwhelming after a few.The fried rice was also packed full of flavours and it way too salty for me.
The rest of the dim sums were nothing special to be honest. They were bad but why would anyone want to queue up forever for mediocre dim sum? Royal China has better food and there is always a table.




Tang Palace

103 DongZhu An Bang Rd.(nr. Jiangsu Rd.), Shanghai. Tel: 6251-3960