Shanghai Blues
1$93-197
High Holborn, London WC1
 Shanghai
Blues is
housed in an imaginative conversion of
a former library. The high ceilings have
enabled the designers to hang large lanterns,
adding to the rather grand, spacious
atmosphere of the dining room which is
appointed with really comfortable chairs.
The bar with its blue backdrop is equally
impressive, and when we visited for a
midweek lunch in the last week of April,
the tables were all occupied and there
was an excited buzz in the air.
There's
an all day dim sum menu which has
become the must have for city types,
although the location of the restaurant
is strategically placed midway between
the City and the West End. I didn't
spot any obvious tourists, but there
were a good few Oriental business
people, always a good sign in a Chinese
restaurant. The amount of choice
on the dim sum menu alone is mind
boggling, and I didn't even get a
sight of the a la carte menu until
after we had ordered our choice of
some eight or so dim sum dishes.
How they manage to juggle such a
diverse array beats me, but then
the head chef, Hon Qui Feng,
is one of China's most distinguished
chefs and he has cooked banquets
for many Chinese government officials.
Some of his original Chinese must
have suffered a little in translation
providing scope for raised English
eyebrows. For instance, glutinous
rice parcel and pan fried
turnip paste, don't quite do
justice to what are most probably
delicious confections, while marinated
chicken feet might seem to us
Europeans to be taking left-overs
a limb too far.
The
dim sum we had the other day was
probably the best I've ever had,
combining a sophisticated delicacy
of flavour with elegant but essentially
understated presentation. The steamed
scallop dumplings, for instance,
appear in pyramidal perfection fashioned
from the finest pastry tinted with
spinach juice, almost transparently
green. By the way, there are three
of everything, so you have either
to fight or to negotiate over the
third piece. We divided ours scrupulously.
Another
visual delight (whose flavours
did not disappoint) were the mini
golden pumpkins, a clever conceit,
in that the pumpkin flavoured outer
pastry is refashioned into a perfect
miniature pumpkin, complete with
segments, which is then stuffed
with, yes, pumpkin and some finely
diced Chinese mushroom. Other highlights
of our feast were the crispy shredded
duck and yam rolls, and the traditional
Shanghai pork dumplings.
The
service was particularly attentive,
even down to one of London's stalwarts,
the ubiquitous and charming Polish
waitress, who looked fetchingly indigenous
in her mandarin jacket. To finish
the meal, she brought us a brilliant
exotic fruits platter, one of which
is more than enough for two. It proved
a wonderfully refreshing close to
an exciting and delicious meal.
Dim
Sum dishes are priced around £3 to £4
with a few exceptions. The a la carte
menu ranges from around £9.50 for
main course chicken dishes to over £40
for lobster. My advice is to follow
the link below to their excellent
website where you can read
the complete menu and work yourselves
into a frenzy of anticipation!
Clifford
Mould, May 2006
Shanghai
Blues, 193 High Holborn, London WC1V
7BD
T: 020 7404 1668/9
W: www.shanghaiblues.co.uk E: info@shanghaiblues.co.uk
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