Shanghai Shanghai 紅豆食府 @ Taipei

This restaurant is famous for 2 things: the daughter of the owner is married to a very prominent Taiwanese politician, and they served very good Shanghainese cuisine.

The Far East Mall store of Shanghai Shanghai has been in operation for over 22 years, so the decor has seen better times although it has been renovated. As this store is frequented by government officials and businessmen around the area, it has private rooms that are very discrete. During the festivals and the year end dinner 尾牙 period, this place is almost always full.

涼拌過貓 Vegetable fern salad

If you were to order only one appetiser, then I would recommend this vegetable fern. This is actually the edible buds of the lady ferns, lightly blanched and dressed with a Chinese-style vinaigrette. The vegetable fern here was crunchy and not fibrous, one of the best place to eat this dish in Taipei IMHO.

乾炸老鹹菜春筍 Fried bamboo shoots with preserved greens

The climate in Taiwan helps in the growth of bamboos of all kinds. Hence in spring and winter, you get a lot of bamboo shoots. And because of the island climate, the bamboo shoots in Taiwan are sweeter than those I get in China. To accentuate the natural sweetness, the bamboo shoots were paired with deep fried preserved mustard green that gave the dish a smoky, savoury taste.

砂鍋菜飯 Shanghai vegetable rice

The Shanghai-style claypot vegetable rice is another perennial classic from Mato 魔都 or “Demon City”. The claypot rice comes with chopped up vegetable similar to nasi ulam minus the herbs and salted pork belly for that depth in flavour.

(Shanghai is often called Mato because of the 1924 novel of the same name by Shōfu Muramatsu 村松梢風 (1889-1961) in which he portrayed the dichotomy of Shanghai – a modern, beautiful, civilised façade, hiding a darker side populated by all manner of criminals and vice.)

鱔糊韭黃 Sautéed eel with Chinese chives

Sautéed eel with Chinese chives is a classic Shanghainese dish that has been murdered back in Shanghai with sauces that are too sweet and eel that are bred on steroid. The one here had the right sized eel (no thicker than a finger) with a savoury sauce with just the right amount of sweetness.

We were told to mix everything up – eel, chives, shredded ginger. The ginger helped to reduce the muddiness of the eel, the heavy sauce combined with the chives made this dish not so greasy.

貝酥角瓜 Braised silk gourd with crispy scallop

Taiwan is blessed with great crops; even their loofah tastes better than most places. Literally translated to “silk gourd”, loofah 絲瓜 has that silky texture if they are picked young. And combined with the umami from dried scallops, this is a wonderful eat.

醃篤鮮 Shanghai creamy chicken soup

Yāndǔxiān is a Jiangnan cuisine made from a duo of cured pork and fresh pork with fresh winter bamboo shoots boiled in chicken stock and finished with Shanghai green or bokchoy and beancurd skin. Seemingly simple dish, the technique require everything to be prepare and done right. Too much cured pork, the soup becomes too salty. Too little, you cannot get the creamy colour. Their version I always enjoy every time I come for a meal.

蟹黃獅子頭 Stewed meatballs with crab roe

蟹黃獅子頭 Stewed meatballs with crab roe is a traditional dish in Huaiyang cuisine made first in Yangzhou and Zhenjiang. Ordinary lion’s head meatballs can be stewed or braised, but crab meat lion’s head should only be stewed. The sauce was rich with umami from the crab roe. The Beijing cabbage was sweet and mopped up the remaining sauce. If only there were some steamed rice with this.

At this juncture, we were all quite full, and we skipped dessert. I had to say this was a great meal, especially it was free! The service staff was fantastic and attentive. They were not pushy even though we didn’t order the expensive stuff. And the food was really of a very high standard.

Shanghai Shanghai 紅豆食府 遠企店
The Mall by Far Eastern, B2 F., No. 203, Sec. 2, Dunhua S. Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei
Tel : +886 (0)2 8732 1536

Visited Sep 2023

@shanghaishanghai.tw #紅豆食府 #台北美食 #台北餐廳