Grand Shanghai 大上海

I had actually visited this restaurant many many years ago in my late teens, when my dad signed up for Copthorne's hotel membership. He had many complimentary food vouchers from the package, and Lynn and me were tasked with utilizing most of them. Yes, we go that far back, the two of us eating together. Back then we thought that the food was pretty good, but seemed pricey. We didn't pay a single cent of course, using the voucher, but didn't look at the menu either. Anyhow, we never returned.

My return this year was on CM's request. She wanted to go and check out that place as a potential wedding venue. So we lumped it together with her birthday dinner and went there for dinner. This restaurant really takes their Shanghai theme seriously. The decor is old school Shanghai with gold chandeliers and red table clothes and carpet. The food is predominantly Shanghainese. The most Shanghai aspect of the restaurant? It's life band. The band plus the Chinese girl decked out in Cheongsam were belting out old Shanghai classics such as 夜来香，忘不了，上海滩 etc. It does bring you to the old school glamour of the old Shanghai era. At least how it is usually portrayed in movies.

W, G and me arrived first. So while waiting, us hungry trio ordered starters to fill our tummies. We ordered Shanghai 小龙包 (steamed pork dumplings). Their version is a pretty big, soup filled one. However, out of the 4 dumplings in the basket, we managed to break the skin of 3 of them, causing the soup to leak out before we can savor them. I don't think it's our poor skills. Maybe the skin just isn't strong enough for the size of the filling. But the flavor was yummy. We subsequently learnt (with CM's arrival and the 2nd basket) that if we roll the dumpling onto our spoon instead of picking them up, we were safe.

小龙包 － Steamed pork dumplings

We also ordered 锅贴 (pan-fried pork dumplings). Also much larger than the usual bite sized ones, these ones took me about 3-4 bites to finish. It was juicy, and flavorful. And I like. We also liked their appetizer - some marinated tofu which was a little spicy and salty. They even have vegetarian 锅贴 and 蒸饺 for my hubby!

锅贴 - pan fried pork dumpling

Appetizer

素锅贴 - Vegetarian pan fried dumplings

素蒸饺 - Vegetarian steamed dumpling

By the time we went through all the gigantic dumplings, we were not that hungry anymore. So for the dinner proper, we only ordered Peking duck, Prawn with salted egg yolk, and braised tofu made vegetarian. The Peking duck skin carved at our table side and served wrapped in egg crepes and sweet sauce, with prawn crackers on the side. The duck meat was subsequently brought back to the kitchen, chopped, and stir fried with some veggies and pine nuts. It was then served in individual portions on a bed of lettuce. I actually liked both variations of the duck and finished all my servings. I do think, however, that the duck skin could have been crispier. However, G barely touched his stir fried meat, and we had an extra serving anyway thanks to hubby. These were cleared away by the waiters because we really couldn't eat more food.

Peking Duck skin

The prawns were succulent, coated with a generous amount of salted egg yolk. Something we all love, and it went so well with rice. The tofu was so-so, and mainly ordered so that hubby had something to go with rice. The rest of us barely touched it, so as to give him more to eat.

Prawn with salted egg yoke

红烧豆腐 - Braised tofu in Brown sauce

I found the food pretty good, and the ambience nice. The service was ok too. And I liked that they have several vegetarian options, although they didn't really a vegetarian main dish. The dim sum prices are actually reasonable ($6++ for 4 gigantic dumplings). The others are not overly pricey. I think it's a nice place to bring parents for a treat once in the while. But make sure they enjoy Shanghai music. The music does tend to be a little loud and occasionally conversations may be a little difficult.


Grand Shanghai
390 Havelock Road
Level 1 King's Centre
Singapore 169662
Tel no: 68366866