Barbietch: Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant

Rabu, 16 Februari 2011

Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant Part Two

This is going to be a long post, so I separated it into two parts.

So many photos to show off this golden emperor palace.

Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant PART ONE here.

Food plays a vital part in Chinese culture,

and during the New Year (Spring festival) celebrations,

"lucky" foods are served form appetizers to desserts.

So let's continue our journey with Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant.

There was a special menu for Chinese New year with interesting and meaningful names.

We ordered the set menu ($100 per head) as following:

百花齊放（八小點） ~ flowers bloom (eight different appetizers)

黃金滿屋 (百粒蟹鉗肉) ~ house full of gold (stuffed crab claws)

大展宏圖 (竹笙海皇生翅） ~ grand prospect (shark fin soup)

瑞氣吉祥 (姜蔥龍蝦) ~ propitious, good omen (ginger and spring onion lobster)

平步青雲 (原汁鮮鮑鴨掌) ~ meteoric rise (abalone and duck feet)

滿載而歸 (雀巢雙鮮)~ returning home with a full load (prawn and scallop with sweet pea in bird's nest)

萬事亨通 (紅米海鮮炒飯）~ everything going smoothly （seafood fried rice)

精美小點 ~ sweet dim sum

合時果盆 ~ fresh fruits

Drinks:

Strawberry Cocktail $14.5

Micky House Mocktail $7.5

The appetizers came very quickly which included jelly fish, chicken in chilli sauce with white sesame,

marinated ducks' tongues, smoked fish, black fungus (wood ear） with vinegar sauce,

chestnut with coffee sauce, egg roll, sliced giant mushroom (I guess but I'm not too sure about what it is).

The jelly fish was chewy, the chicken was tasty but not too spicy.

The marinated ducks' tongues was the second best I've tried in Melbourne

(the best I've tried is in the Peking duck restaurant Quanjude).

Inexpensive dish but hard to cook. A lots of them have the fishy smell I hated.

The chestnut with coffee sauce was an interesting dish and the egg roll has dried pork mince and cucumber.

Wood ears with vinegar sauce was something I've never tried but I loved this dish.

It looks like jelly mushroom and it has this crunchy texture.

It is sweet in flavor, mild in nature.

Very refreshing dish and it is very good for health.

Chinese called it the king of vegetables

and it has a reputation in Chinese herbal medicine

for increasing the fluidity of the blood and improving circulation.

Wood ears are rich in protein and low in calories

and therefore a useful food in weight loss diets.

Definitely my new favourite!

All of the eight appetizers were very well presented,

at the same time delicious and finished by us quickly!

See our empty plates in Part One.

Then we had the main courses: stuffed crab claws, abalone,

ginger and spring onion lobster, seafood in bird's nest and fried rice.

Nice dishes and good portion but nothing surprising.

However, during our meal, the lion dancers preformed an exciting show

and the loud drum beats were like the sound of firecrackers.

I felt lucky and hope we will have a lucky year in 2011.

The memorable stay finished with the cute tasty red bean and custard sweet dim sum.

Great restaurant and excellent service in a wonderful location.

We will be back with family and friends.

Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant

上海王朝

206 Bourke Street

Melbourne VIC 3000

Australia

(03) 9663 7770

Cuisine: Chinese

Food: Good

Service: Good

Atmopshere: Good

Value: $$$

Recommend: Good

Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant Part One

Happy Chinese New Year!

It is time to dressed up like a red packet(red envelope) from head to toe!

Red symbolizes good fortune, joy and success in Chinese culture.

Red also considered auspicious.

During Chinese New Year you can found red everywhere.

We dressed in red, decorated in red, wrapped our presents in red, received red packets from elderly and lighted up firecrackers (rolled up in red papers)to celebrate.

Red is a symbolic color of happiness and it brings you good luck.

If you hit the rock bottom of your life then wear a red underwear.

Traditional Chinese believe wearing red ward off bad luck from previous

and welcoming bright and colourful future.

When we stepped into Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant in Chinatown,

we entered into a golden world!

A grand palace located on the first floor of the $110 million redevelopment of the landmark Village City Centre complex in Bourke Street, renamed 206 Bourke,

a new retail and dining destination in Melbourne's CBD.

We booked a table at 8pm but it turned out the person

who took our booking on the phone didn't put our name down.

The wait staff politely asked us to sit on the sofa in the foyer and waited a while.

Due to the Chinese New Year,

although the restaurant is huge (I guess more than 100 tables not including private rooms),

it was packed with people celetrating this most important festival of the year for all Chinese.

A little disappointed but it gave me opportunity to take some photos and share with all of you.

This is going to be a long post, so I separated it into two parts.

So many photos to show off this golden emperor palace, special Chinese New Year dishes to share

and we were lucky enough to see the lion dances inside the restaurant during our visit (see PART TWO).

Grand marble columns, sparkling crystal chandeliers, beautiful bronze sculptures, breathtaking giant glass grandfather clock, stunning French reproduction furnishings, sophisticated chairs and even the restroom looks pretty luxury. Check out my photo in PART TWO.

Although this Chinese restaurant decorated in a French / Italian style

but it is not surprised as Shanghai once called the Pairs of the east.

Indeed, it represents the best of east meets west.

The lavish restaurant uses a lots of golden colour

and the WOW factors keep saying a copying style of the Palazzo Versace hotel,

one of the most luxurious hotels in Australia I've been to
(here's my post two years ago on Palazzo Versace in Queensland).

For Chinese the golden color symbolize wealth and also happiness.

It is considered to be the colour of emperors and it is a very important part of the Chinese art and culture.

There are five Dynasty restaurants over Shanghai and all decorated in this glamorous way

(personally I think it's trying too hard but still a nice and clean restaurant

as customer does't have to pay a premium price).

This is the case of you get better than what you pay for.
Reviews and photos of Dynasty Restaurant in Shanghai (上海王朝大酒店 Chinese reviews)

No doubt the designer(s) paid attentions to details

and for sure it was us the customers who pay for the bills.

However, don't scare away by it's expensive looking, trust me the price is quite reasonable.

Shanghai Dynasty Restaurant continue... PART TWO