Category: City: Shanghai

Here you are with another Chinese restaurant I would have never heard of if I was not committed to complete my Michelin scramble in Shanghai. Shang-High restaurant at the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel was awarded one star in all the three editions of the Shanghai Michelin Guide to date, as they like to remind everywhere (including on the wet towel).

The visit

The first hurdle was making a reservation. First I used the email on their website. No answer after two attempts. Then I called and everything seemed fine. Then I had to make an amendment and I could not find anyone that would understand me on the phone. Eventually I went there in person! Surprise, my original reservation had never been noted on their book. After all of these attempts, finally I had my reservation. I wonder if someone in management is surprised that they do not get more customers.

The second hurdle was to get there (twice actually in my case). The restaurant is located on the 6th floor of the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel overlooking Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Center in Pudong. Not exactly a place on the radar for most people. The task to reach the destination actually proved easier than expected. They are located next to exit 3 of the Pudong terminus of metro line 7 (that connects with several other lines at Century Park). Just make sure to take the right exit or you will find yourself in a different mall.

From the exit, walk to the hotel lobby (before you start walking along the stone walls) and take the elevator to the 6th floor. It is an architecturally remarkable space. They even have an infinity garden accessible from the 6th floor that sadly was closed at the time of my visit.

I just ordered three dishes. The first was a fish lip soup with soy beans. I was pretty curious about the use of this unusual part of the fish (I believe garoupa). The result was pretty underwhelming in terms of flavor and everything.

The main dish of my dinner was braised beef cheek with black truffles, potatoes and carrots. This was a 200 gram portion. The meat was legit. Really tender cheek meat. The only issue that I had is that there was no trace of truffles.

I also tried their wild vegetables pancakes. Unfortunately the use of the glutinous rice made them almost inedible to my palate, worse than chewing gum.

The check

The check was 307.82 RMB because it originally included a small bottle of Evian water (alone it was 79 RMB). When leaving, it was acknowledged by the staff that there was a misunderstanding and they did not give me the free tap water (that was perfectly alright according to my initial request). So they decided to refund me the price of the bottle of water. This was professional on their part. So all in all, I spent around 229 RMB (32 USD) for the three dishes. Prices were very reasonable. As always, it is difficult to say if my small sampling is representative of all of their dishes. Probably not, but you need to know what you order. I would not go back, I might visit them again only if I had business in the nearby Exhibition Center.

Where in Shanghai:
6/F, Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai, 1108 Meihua Lu
In Chinese: 梅花路1108号卓美亚喜玛拉雅酒店6楼.

Bonus: the Jumeirah Hotel has an exhibition space of its own. Check if there is anything interesting on. This was on at the time of my visit:

Amazing Chinese Cuisine is the name of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Shanghai (one star in the 2019 edition of the Guide).

The restaurant specializes in new Chaozhou cuisine (A cuisine from Guandong region known for its delicate flavors, focusing on fresh ingredients, as opposed to heavy sauces or seasoning). The founder of the restaurant is called Du Jianqing. They also have a bigger restaurant in the Bund Financial Center area, but the one who got the Michelin award in the 2019 Guide was the original location, first opened in 2015, in Changning District. That’s the location I visited.

The visit

This was supposed to be a difficult location to check out since the restaurant is located in a villa and is only comprised of private VIP rooms. For a solo diner may not be easy to secure a table. However by the time of my visit, they had become a bit more flexible and allowed parties of two to make reservations for lunch. For what I believe was a glitch in the system, I was able to place a booking for one person through Dining City. They were very nice and honored my reservation.

First of all, a couple of details on how to get there since it is off-the-beaten path. Luckily the restaurant is within 100 meters from exit 1 of Shuicheng Road station serving metro line 10. From the East Nanjing Road is a 30-minute ride.

Taking exit 1 you will find yourself on one side of Starlive mall. Go to the front of the mall and look for the road guarded by two lions on the other side (where the mall parking access is located). That’s where you will find the villa.

When I arrived I was escorted to my private dining room. I felt a little bit of embarrassment to occupy the room all by myself. A young chef showed up, apparently he was the only staff speaking English. I quickly agreed on the set menu available and I ordered a pot of Pu’er tea. They had available the set menu used during China Restaurant Week that had ended just the day earlier. It was actually the best possible arrangement for me since the tasting menu gave me the opportunity to taste several of their dishes.

Every time the waitress came in, she would knock the door. The timing was very good. The lunch lasted around 75 minutes. The first dish I received was some seasonal fruit.

The cold appetizer platter included, from the bottom and then clockwise, king salmon, stewed pork feet with Chaozou-flavor, agaricus blazei murill (an edible medicinal mushroom originating from Brazil) with onion oil, and caviar Napoleon on a blini. I appreciated how they put together a nice range of flavors with quality ingredients not only from China. They also added a chicken consommé.

Before the mains, a light soup with snowflake beef slices and celery was served. The beef was lean and very good.

The first main dish was a relatively big piece of abalone (27 grams according to the menu) with a morchella (true morels) fungus. The abalone was better than most I had in other Chinese restaurants, meaty and very tender, but the revelation of the dish was the morchella that I believe was filled with minced pork meat and had a pleasant and powerful flavor.

The second main was equally exquisite: gently fried yellow croaker from East China Sea with crispy truffle. There was a lot of boneless pulp and the sauce was really delicious (even if the truffle flavor was not prominent).

The third main was kind of a softball when compared with the previous two. A few bits of fried salted meat (pork belly) with Chaozhou horred cucumber. Still, it was a very flavorful dish.

As customary in these Chinese course meal, prior of the end there was a starch-rich dish. This time it was not rice, but a yummy bowl of hot and sour noodles (with I believe kelp and strips of chicken meat). Once again, I must price the good balancing of the flavor.

The dessert was a warm bowl of stewed lotus seeds with rock candy. The seeds were literally meting in my mouth. It was a nice conclusion for the meal.

The check

Final check after adding the tea and 10% service charge was 821 RMB (114.5 USD). An “important” check in line with the content and setting of the meal. I was positively impressed by the course meal and enjoyed all the dishes. I must also commend on the willingness to serve a non Chinese speaker and the elegant set up of the private room.

Where in Shanghai:
B5 villa, 1665 Hongqiao Lu, Changning District
In Chinese: 虹桥路1665号B5幢别墅
Dining City page: www.diningcity.cn/en/shanghai/amazing_chinese_cuisine.