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2013-12-16
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My colleagues and I used to go to Shanghai Po Po, but since its closure, Shanghai Min is the new Shanghainese destination, usually for when we've been to Thai Cuisine Village the night before. This time we got the set menu for 8; there were more dishes than are represented below, but I'm only allowed 12 pictures per review!Among the early dishes was this nicely presented daikon radish. Unfortunately, I thought it was too intensely radish-y for my taste. Still, others at the table liked it, or at
Among the early dishes was this nicely presented daikon radish. Unfortunately, I thought it was too intensely radish-y for my taste. Still, others at the table liked it, or at least found it interesting. C
Cold pork belly: also nicely presented. The pork belly was tender and not too fatty (except at the top), and I thought it was reasonably good. B+
It's hard to see this one in the photo. It's a sort of tofu dish the texture of spongy bread. It didn't have much flavor, and I didn't really dig the texture. C-
I'll spare you my usual rant about cold chicken with bone shards in it. This chicken was actually pretty flavorful and tender, and the piece I got only had one bone in it. For what it was, I'm actually going to say this was pretty good. B+
Pork belly soup: more pork belly! This was a theme of the evening. I thought the broth of the soup was delicious. The pork belly was less tender than the earlier, cold pork belly, presumably from longer cooking. Additionally, there was a tofu sheet with the exact texture and taste of a washcloth. It was a mixed bag. B-
I will say, the servers were saints. There is a sort of weird egg-sauce that comes on the veggies. We'd had it before, and tried to tell the servers not to put it on the veggies this time. That failed, but they kindly took back the dish and made it for us again, with absolutely no hassle. And the veggies are actually pretty good. A-
Velveted shrimp and a few scattered peas: this dish wasn't really heavy on flavor, but the shrimp was nicely cooked, plump and not chewy. I don't think others liked it as much as I did. B
This soup was mostly sea cucumber and (again) pork belly. It was my first sea cucumber ever. I found it hard to describe: it retains a structure while still being very mushy. And maybe mushy isn't quite right. Gelatinous? Surprisingly inoffensive, but still not very high on my list. The flavor of the soup was pretty good, and everyone liked the pork. B-
This was a sweet and sour fish. It was very light on the breading and restrained in both the sweetness and sourness of the sauce. Mellow, while still being very tasty, it was a hit. B+
So much for the good presentation! This sad, almost revolting reminder of mortality wasn't too bad, culinarily speaking. The duck meat was on the average side, but the rice was well flavored and had a perfect level of moistness. B-
Soup dumplings: OK, not very soupy, no soy sauce, vinegar, and ginger. It's hard to make a soup dumpling I don't like, though, and I did like these, they just don't stack up to the best instances I've had. B-
Think sugar water with fruit in it. Why? Ruining perfectly good fruit. DThe other dishes were a Western-style salad-- lettuce, dressing, that sort of thing-- and some sort of chewy translucent stringy flavorless thing. This place is OK. Nothing is really all that good, but it's definitely not bad. They have Asahi, which is nice. And the servers, as I said, are saints. B-/C+
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