Shanghai Blues (Chinese) – London, England (8/10)
Oct 3rd, 2007 by admin
[UPDATE: I revisited Shanghai Blues on 19/02/2008, so please read the review here]
After a friend told me about the £15 dim sum and lobster lunch deal that Shanghai Blues are offering until the end of this month, I thought I’d take the opportunity to see what the restaurant was like. I’ve heard much about it, but always assumed it was simply another imitation of Yauatcha and so never seriously considered going, until now.
The interior was very stylish, a modern take on the traditional Chinese look, with an entire wall covered with beautiful fabric, two giant blue drum lampshades that dominated the centre of the room, very high ceilings and lovely dark wood furniture (have a look at the interior shots on their website). In terms of service, the staff were extremely polite and helpful. And on arrival, we were served complimentary snacks of roasted peanuts and pickled cucumber.
What we ordered:
We ordered the special dim sum and lobster lunch. Four types of dim sum arrived – scallop dumping in spinach juice pastry, steamed vegetable dumpling, fried Chilean sea bass roll and crispy duck yam roll. They were all delightful, so it was a real shame to only be served one of each per person. Also we couldn’t really hear or understand what the dim sum were when they were announced.
However, the platter (per person) of braised whole fresh lobster and noodles (rice is the other option) cooked in ginger, spring onion and leek with baby pak choi more than compensated for the lack of dim sum. It was hard work extracting the juicy flesh from the shell and claws, even armed with a lobster pick, chopsticks and ten fingers, but it really was worth the effort. The noodles were soaked with the lobster juices, making them even more tasty. More tips on eating lobster here.
We were almost too stuffed to have the dessert that came with the lunch, a pretty, tasty, jelly-like red bean pudding. As I only had tap water with my lunch, I paid £15 plus 12.5% service charge. I would really recommend going for this (available Mon-Fri 12-5pm) if you can get to Shanghai Blues before the end of this month.
Otherwise try the amazing dim sum (the full menu is on their website). Next time I’m going to try the steamed Supreme Shanghai Seafood dumplings, original Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, Shanghai Shui Jiao in exotic chilli sauce and Mixed Mushrooms & Minced Beef Dumplings. Unusually, they also have an excellent vegetarian selection, which is a first for Chinese restaurants that I’ve been to.
Just inside the entrance, you’ll find smaller versions of their menu to take away and study at your leisure, so that you can plan your meal from the comfort of your own home! This way, you can avoid ordering too much and feeling flustered when the waiter is hovering over you, especially if you’re planning to have dinner there. The dinner prices are outrageously expensive, particularly for seafood (£45.00 for lobster, £29.00 for Chilean sea bass, £38.00 for Alaskan King Crab and £7.80 per steamed diver scallop). Maybe when I get my Christmas bonus…
10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average
All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide
Contact Details:
Shanghai Blues
193-197 High Holborn
London WC1V 7BD
Tel: 020 7404 1668/9
www.shanghaiblues.co.uk
