SAFE TO EAT

We had to pick the day the Asean Summit kicks off to try out the newly renovated Shang Palace. Ah, well. The hotel would be safe as houses. We had to get through road blocks, car boot checks, IC and phone numbers taken down, metal detectors - before we could get into the hotel lobby, where we were greeted by throngs of cheongsamed women. Little wonder then that the restaurant was half empty (or half full, for you optimists). Ah well, parking was free for the day.

The restaurant's now boudoir red and black. And there's this giant ball of tea leaves sitting in a chest in one niche.
No more trolleys laden with steaming hot dim sum. Now, it's order the food and wait for it to arrive. Which is not a good idea. Our dishes arrived lukewarm to cold.
The dishes came in pretty packaging. But the xiao long bao was disappointing. Because ther dumplings weren't hot, they were sticky and the skin burst even before we could transfer them onto our spoons. We didn't like the tofu skin with mushroom thingy (top right in photo below) - tasted like those mock meat dishes served in vegetarian joints.
The papaya pastry was nice, the shell delicately fragile that it crumbled as you popped the whole thing in your mouth. I didn't like the char siew with custard thingy - the dough was floury. But HB liked it. The drunken chicken had just the right chill and drowned in wine that was not so overpowering like the one at Crystal Jade. Then again, because it had to be served cold, quality didn't suffer like the "hot" dishes did.

The restaurant served the best last - suckling pig and foie gras sandwich. But again, we were disappointed with the dish. The liver lacked the expected creaminess. Maybe it needed to be pan-fried to get that thin mantle of brittle caramel crust. The crackling was good. But the other ingredients - what is that? Crepe? And the slice of doughy thing - gave the sandwich a dry texture. Should have served some plum sauce for dipping instead of smearing it in the sandwich.

Thankfully, the dessert was refreshing. The avocado cream, usually a thick consistency, was lightened with sago beads. And the sour strawberry slices were a nice foil for the overall sweet dish.