Lao Shanghai | My Shang Hai Kitchen



Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai Restaurant
UG1, Novotel Hong Kong Century
238 Jaffe Road
Wan Chai
2827 9339
11:00-23:00(Mon-Sun)
Date of Dinning: 4 Jun 2011 (Sat)

Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai Restaurant is one of my family favourites for dinner. From causal dinner to birthday celebrations, we have had a few memories there. Being a Shanghainese descendant, both of my parents reckon Lao Shang Hai did indeed offer authentic Shanghainese cuisine. That's why we keep on spending our time here. To be honest, I think my grandma did a better job than them, taste wise. Some of my specialties dishes aren't bad too :)


1) Stir-fried Shrimp 清炒蝦仁
The stir-fried shrimp is one of my favourite Shanghai dishes that I always order. The shrimp was fat and  fresh with a shiny oil layer but not quite oily. The taste went very well with the vinegar. The dish was good but was not particularly special.


2) Deep Fried Ponderosa Fish with Sweet and Sour Sauce 糖醋崧子黃魚
I was a bite disappointed that the ponderosa fish was messily arranged when served to table, the nice fish shape was lost already. The fish was quite thin, not so meaty but the flesh was juicy enough. The breading was flakey when first served, but went more soggy later on. The taste was good but in general slightly sour.


3) Stewed Tientsin Cabbage with Minced Ham 雲腿津白
I love eating Tsientsin Cabbage especially with Glutinous Cake Dishes but steaming with Minced Ham also did the job! This was an above average dish. The minced ham was very flavourable. The tientsin cabbage was well cooked and easily chewable, as some resto can made it hard to chew.

4) Chicken Soup with Wontons and Vegetables 砂鍋雲吞雞
There was around 10 wontons in the soup. The wontons had thin wrappings and was very meaty. I personally reckon the meat were wrapped too tightly, just if it was wrapped slightly looser, the texture might even be better. The soup was delicious with a great taste of chicken. Not bad, but my home made one is better :p


5) Braised Pork with Bean Curd Leafs 百葉結炆肉
Appetising as it looks, the dish actually was rather bad. The sauce itself was pretty nice and quite savory. The braised pork however, was rough and hard in texture, the fat layer was not jelly-like enough too. The Bean Curd Leafs was also disappointing, the texture was way too hard. It either it was braised for too long or the quality was bad to start with. The bamboo shoots on the other hand were not fresh neither.


6) Fried Onion Pancakes 蔥油餅
Delicious was all I had to say about the dish. The pancake was kind of deep dish with a thickness around 1.5 cm. Both the top and the bottom were fried perfectly to give a crispy texture without a single taste of burnt and also kept the inside soft. A tiny criticism was the amount of onions could be added more. The best part was the heap of sesame bits on top that brought up the taste of the pancake. Must Order dish but  I personally reckon Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant 滬江大飯店 is slightly better, but both are good!


7) Sesame Dumplings in Sweet Osmanthus 桂花芝麻湯圓
The osmanthus sweet soup was quite disappointing. It was rather diluted, so only had a thin taste of osmanthus. The dumplings weren't nicely made too. The glutinous layer was not in equal thickness, where parts resulted in too thick in texture. The sesame paste was not liquidly enough, may be they should add some oil to it? (Well it will make it less healthy then).



8) Souffle Balls with Mashed Red Bean 高力豆沙
This dessert was relatively smaller in size as compare to other resto that I have had. The volume actually varied by be how much egg white they used to wrap the red bean paste and how fluffy had they made the egg white. Apparently Lao Shanghai had not fluff the egg white long enough, the resulting egg white was rather thick in texture, not fluffy and light enough. The red bean paste was quite nice to enjoy though.

TO CONCLUDE...

If you have not yet felt like you have had authentic Shanghai Cuisine, please do not hesitate and pay a visit to Lao Shang Hai. There are so much more dishes I couldn't capture here, but surely you won't get disappointed dinning here. Just a quick tip that you should call up few days ahead to reserve some of the great dishes as they take up to 2-3 days to get prepared.

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