Since the last time I reviewed Skyland de Shanghai, I have been back three more times, and I have never been disappointed. There is something to be said about the power of consistency, especially with Chinese restaurants. Now that I have sampled a decent chunk of their menu, I am ready to give my SassyChef Stamp of Approval to a few dishes.
Crispy fried noodles with pork, mushrooms, and vegetables. I love the fact that these noodles are not the thin egg noodles that most “crispy fried noodles” in Cantonese restaurant refers to. These were far more aromatic, my mouth is watering just thinking about them. The pork and vegetables (mostly celery strips) were very xian (savoury) but not salty. That is true for most of their dishes, they’re not as salty as the ones you’d find in many Chinese restaurants in North America, true to the Shanghai style.
Beef tenderloin with scallions. The beef was very tender, in an excellent sauce.
Small version of Shanghai Special Hot Pot. Just as good as the big version, except the Lion’s Head meatballs are sometimes over-cooked. The vermicelli tends to be easier to eat in the small version, since the heat is on the big hot pot the whole time that by the time you get to the bottom where the vermicelli are, most of it’s too breakable to scoop up.
These two are from the dim sum menu. On the left is a special kind of guo tie, it’s basically fried rice1 except it’s fried until it’s crunchy. On the right is a sesame covered pastry ball with a savoury meat filling inside. It is absolutely delicious.
There was also an appetizer, called Shan Xi liang fen, which was a very good cold dish with huge portions (considering it was on the dim sum menu for under $5).
The following is what not to order:
Fried dough with shredded pork filling. On the menu, it just says “pork filling” so we didn’t realize it was going to be shredded cooked pork. This wasn’t very good, the dough could have been sweeter and lighter, the filling just tasted strange.
Xiao long bao. Their xiao long bao filling reminds me of wonton filling, which is just wrong. All wrong. In fact, many of their dim sum items are questionable. I would not order any of the cold dishes from the dim sum menu as those are sitting out buffet-style by the kitchen until they’re consumed, and they don’t look appetizing at all.
- Think the bottom of a sushi pizza. [↩]
This is delightful, i seldom eat chinese cuisines because it is not often serve here in our area. My mouth is watering with these foods, i cant wait to taste it. Hmmmm..yummy!
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