Shang Palace @ Shangri-La Hotel

Met some good friends for lunch at Shang Palace (Shangri-La Hotel, 22 Orange Grove Road, Tel: 6213 4473). Whilst one can always count on having good food at Shang Palace, one cannot say the same for the standard of service. Although the restaurant wasn't crowded, we were made to wait for our table. Not a word of apology from the hostess. Instead, we received curt instructions to sit at the side while waiting.

We ordered some interesting dimsum items.

Deepfried Lobster Meat with Crispy Noodle (SGD5 for 3 pieces). The crispy noodle layer encased chunks of lobster and diced apple. The lobster and apple bits were coated with a tangy mayonnaise dressing, which I didn't mind, but would have preferred the mayonnaise as a dip.

Our steamed items consisted of the ubiquitous shrimp dumpling (SGD4.80), stuffed beancurd skin roll (SGD4.50) and siew mai (SGD4.80). All were very well executed, we had no complaints.

We then ventured on to their extensive ala carte menu.

DH ordered this delectable item, Four Treasure Bowl (SGD38). The 4 treasures were, in no particular order, sea cucumber, fish maw, abalone and shark cartilage soup. DH thinks that the 4th treasure was the stalk of vegetable (BTW, DH now stands for Dim Hubby). It was a veritable bowl of treasure, as the sea cucumber, fish maw and abalone were thick and juicy. The piece de resistance was the cartilage soup, which was lip-smackingly delicious. It wasn't starchy, but rather gummy, which could only have come from boiling it for hours with the cartilage. A cynic at our table suggested pigskin, which I doubt.

This jasmine tea-smoked chicken (SGD24 for half a bird), was fragrant, juicy and tender. I liked this dish a lot when we came here the last time. I think that was why DH ordered it.

We also had ee fu noodles with conpoy (dried scallop) (SGD20), which was excellent. The wok hei was unmistakable, which was a testament to the chef's skills. The noodles were springy and tasty.




We ended our meal with some more dim sum items, baked mini custard puffs (SGD4.50) and beancurd skin roll (again! SGD4.50). The custard puffs were not our original choice. Unfortunately, the baked mini egg tarts were not available. I didn't like the custard filling, which was dry and cakey, rather than smooth. The beancurd skin roll was crispy, but unimaginative, with the same fish filling as the steamed version.

All in all, a nice meal. Now, if only they would improve their service.