Shangarila shares it around

THE RESTAURANT Shangarila, a downtown favourite among Thai-Chinese families for over 40 years, now has another outlet at Thanya Park on Srinakharin Road. Open for two months, it’s the fourth branch, after Silom, Thaniya and Yaowarat. 

The interior is done in modern Chinese with white-linen-covered round tables and chairs upholstered in floral motif of red and gold hues. The tables are elegantly set with Chinese porcelain and red napkins.

The restaurant can accommodate about 100 diners while three private rooms – two seating 12 and the other 15 – are perfect for larger parties. There are a few top-notch Chinese restaurants in this area and the place is always crowded during lunch and dinner.

“We offer high-quality ingredients with authentic fare, so there’s no need to head downtown to enjoy a Cantonese meal. The menu here is identical to our Thaniya branch,” says manager Weerasak Chredchusakulchai.

The food is good, with varieties of dim sum that can be ordered a la carte from a 30-dish menu. They’re brought piping hot to the table in traditional bamboo baskets for sharing with your friends and colleagues. While each dish contains with two or three pieces, the serving size is rather big compared to other Chinese restaurants. The prices range from Bt75 to Bt150 per basket.

Among the best-selling dumplings are xiao long bao, which is steamed only after you’ve ordered. The thin wrapper is wheat flour and the moist filling is minced pork and broth. You can add a vinegar mixture to the dish of shredded ginger, prick a hole in the dumpling, and sip the hot broth. Then you dip the dumpling and a little ginger into the sauce. I personally prefer the original unadulterated. 

A parade of dumplings are later served at the table, from steamed white noodles with shrimp and scallop, steamed scallop and shrimp dumplings, steamed prawn and crabmeat dumplings to steamed chicken feet in brown sauce and deep-fried taro with mixed meat. 

For sweet treats, there is steamed egg cake 

 stuffed with your choice of strawberry jam, custard or taro. Leave room to try the steamed lava bun filled with melting salted egg-yolk custard that oozes like lava when pulled apart.

But those prove to be just warm-ups for the real journey. The real journey actually begins with poached conch, available in three sizes for Bt480, Bt950 and Bt1,400. The conch is half cooked by poaching before quick stir-frying in wok. It’s served with two dips – Chinese shrimp paste that’s not as strong as the Thai version, and Hong Kong soy sauce. 

Next is stir-fried seafood noodles (Bt400) that are true to the key characteristics of Chinese cuisine: smell, colour and taste. A wok on high heat gives its own distinctive smell, which is important in adding flavour to the noodles.

Then comes a hotpot of sliced grouper with assorted vegetables, the price depending on the weight of the fish at Bt300 per 100 grams. 

The clear and mild broth is served in a shallow glass pot on a portable gas stove, with the grouper and vegetables on separated plates. You just simmer the vegetables and let the broth boil to get a naturally sweet taste, then submerge the meat and swish it back and forth until it’s cooked. It can be dipped in a mildly spicy seafood sauce or soy sauce. 

The meal ends with deep-fried sweet taro coated with watermelon seeds (Bt25 apiece). It’s also stuffed with salted egg yolk custard melted out like lava. 

 

 

FIRST AT THE FOURTH

>>Shangarila at Thanya Park on Srinakharin Road is open daily from 11 to 2.30 and 5 to 10. 

>>Call (089) 964 0208 or visit www.ShangarilaGroup.com.

>>Until November 15 you get a 30-per-cent discount on the dim sum menu and 15 per cent off other dishes when you pay in cash.