Saturday, May 22, 2010

Bellagio for Taiwanese Shaved Ice

A bunch of friends tell me about the glorious food a Momofuku in NYC. Then CNNGo comes out with this article about David Chang preferring to go to Bellagio for late-night dining in Shanghai. I must try it.

The location on Xikang Road had mostly foreigner clientele and plenty of female servers running around with crew cut hair. Although it was already late in the evening, people were still ordering dinner items. Not wanting anything too heavy, my companion and I ordered shaved ice and dumplings.

Taiwanese Passion Fruit Shaved Ice

My passion fruit shaved ice came out first. It was huge! On top there was a small spoonful of passion fruit seeds. The shaved ice was smooth and the passion fruit flavor did not taste artificial. It was a little on the tart side, perhaps for the lack of quality and ripe fruit reaching Shanghai. It was refreshing though.

Taiwanese strawberry shaved ice with condensed milk

My companion ordered the strawberry one, except the ice was blended with condensed milk so the flavor was more of a sherbert (less creamy than ice cream, but more creamy than sorbet) and sliced strawberries decorated this mountain of a dessert. It was also very tasty. We ended up alternating the sweet with the salty when our dumplings finally came out accompanied by soy sauce, vinegar, and spicy pepper sauce. The dumpling skin was a little thick, but the filling was lovely not being too greasy.

Bellagio is much better for dessert than an actual meal. The minimalist fashion interior and super clean presentation of the servers may equate to you paying more for the ambiance than actual food. The desserts, however, are spot on. The menu for is quite extensive and the varieties of shaved ice are enough to keep you cool during the unbearable Shanghai heat of summer. I must go back and try the peanut shaved ice.

Bellagio. 111 Xikang Lu, near Tongren Lu. 西康路111号, 近铜仁路, 地铁2号线静安寺站 Shangahi, China

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