Shanghai Club

Rest : Shanghai Club
Loc : ITC, Grand Central, Parel
Meal : Lunch

Chinese in India is a separate cuisine by itself. The taste is livelier, tangier, spicier then traditional Chinese. If you go to a restaurant like Royal China which is more on the authentic side chances are you will be pretty disappointed with its bland offerings.

However Shanghai Club at the ITC sticks to its Indian Chinese roots and offers a delectable selection of dishes. ITC is famous for its pan Indian offerings but they also have strong credentials in the Asian cuisine section as well (My humble house, Pan Asian) Shanghai Club is their lesser known restaurant in Bombay.

The place is small (compared to the gargantuan and perennially full Kebabs n Kurries) but it has charm and is a fairly comfortable place to dine. The silver and the china have subtle oriental touches.

Not offered but served with dim sums is the soy ginger and garlic sauce which is a must have. If not having dim sums do ask for this anyway.

Our drinks of choice as usual were a lemon iced-tea which was not that great

A diet coke which was well, a diet coke.

the traditional jasmine tea is a great palate cleanser however i reckon they forgot the jasmin somewhere as all i got was boiled water

The glass noodle soup with greens was a fantastic choice, i was expecting a clear soup but this was some tasty darkness. I wish it had been a little less salty but it tasted great nonetheless.

The vegetable dumplings, steamed were delicious. I was never very impressed with their dim sums but this one was great, it went great with the soy ginger garlic sauce it was served with.

The entrees were the pan fried noodles with veggies which were acceptable. However the veggies with mushrooms in a chilli sauce thing were completely wrong. We were told and expected something spicy and it turned out to be sweet. Not that it was bad, it wasn't it just wasn't what we had asked for.

The golden garlic fried rice was excellent, it has a unique sourish taste and goes well with anything spicy.

Overall the meal was good but there were little disappointments here and there. Usually they are consistent above average, this time however it seemed like a bit of a dip.

The service was friendly as usual but pretty scatter brained and slow.

Food 7/10
Service 6/10
Damage for 2 without drinks 2800

Shanghai Club also serves a four course set meal with unlimited Indian bubbly for 1000+taxes. Not bad but i always prefer making my own choices.