Xindalu China Kitchen Dim Sum Special

Xindalu China Kitchen Restaurant at Hyatt on the Bund was having a dim sum promotion for 180RMB (plus 15% service charge) for a steady stream of these small dishes for lunch. Only tea or juice was included with the deal, which ended on June 16 after running daily during lunch hours for about two weeks. So, sorry in advance if you were expecting to go and take advantage of this promotion. The 180RMB price tag may be daunting for some, especially with cheaper all-you-can-eat dim sum deals being offered in Shanghai, but Xindalu has made a reputation for itself as a fine dining experience in an upscale hotel. Most know of Xindalu for the way its Peking duck that is cooked in a special wood oven or so the Hyatt website claims. The flavor of Xindalu's Peking duck is supposed to rival or best that of the popular chain, Quanjude. The dim sum promotion allows diners to sample another region of China for a fine dining lunch experience, though you could surely supplement the meal with other items off the menu. The menu for the dim sum lunch was not particularly extensive, most likely to maintain control of the quality of the dishes, some of which may have been created specially for this promotion. Upon arrival, diners are given a pen to check off which dishes or how many of them they want on a paper menu. If you want to order more, the server will bring out another of the same menu where you can re-order your favorites. Of course, we tried as much as a pair possibly could.


The restaurant is located on the ground floor of Hyatt on the Bund and adjacent to the lobby with no significant views to admire, though you could easily see who is rolling up the main driveway of the hotel. (Check out Vue bar upstairs). The main dining area is dark with the seats by the window reserved for smoking. The kitchen is open although partitioned with glass that fogs up from steam giving diners access to the action while waiting for dishes to be served.




From top, left to right: Pan-fried turnip cake, Barbecue pork puff-pastry with sesame, Fried goose liver taro dumplings, inside of goose liver dumplings, Steamed shrimp dumplings, Steamed scallop vegetable dumplings, Fried mango rice paper roll, Fried mushroom bean curd skin roll
The plates came out as quickly as the order was put in and there was barely enough room for our individual pots of tea and towers of steamers. The fried goose liver taro dumplings were particularly decadent, savory, and heavy despite the lightness of its fried interior. The fried mushroom bean curd skin roll was crispy, light, and not at all oily. The puff pastry around the barbecue pork was more densely packed than light imparting a solid crust than flaky exterior. The small filling was slightly sweet.




From top, left to right: Steamed chiu chow dumplings, Baked Barbecue Pork Buns, Mini baked chicken meat pies, Steamed beef balls with bean curd sheet, Steamed traditional Cantonese sponge cake, Fried custard glutinous dumplings, Steamed Sesame Buns, Black sesame interior of sesame buns
The baked dim sum items had a very dense crust encasing the moist, salty, and savory meat in the center. There were a few items on the steamed and fried section of the menu that were more sweet than savory: steamed traditional Cantonese sponge cake, fried custard glutinous dumplings, and the steamed buns filled with black sesame. The latter of the two were more memorable for a tongue conditioned by Western sweets.

Clockwise from bottom left: Sweetened sago cream with mango and pomelo, Red bean soup, Almond tea with egg white, Chilled mango pudding (with condensed milk), Baked sago pudding with chestnut paste
Xindalu does particularly well with its dessert (and sweet items as mentioned above) without being sugary. The sweetened sago with mango and bits of pomelo was light and fresh. The red bean soup was cool and subtly sweet. The almond tea with egg white could almost be sipped straight from the bowl and was as light as it looked. The chilled mango pudding apparently came with condensed milk, but it was better used on the baked sago pudding with chestnut paste that was served warm. The meal ended nicely with this touch of sweetness.


The dim sum lunch was extremely filling with a very attentive staff, but classic dim sum dishes like the pork ribs were missing from the selection. Given the limited selection, each dish was on average good for what it was, but still the dim sum at Ye Shanghai is preferred. It was nice to try the dim sum at Xindalu just for the experience. However, I am more inclined to return to sample that wonderful smelling Peking duck. The way that the server would clean the carcass precisely with his skilled hand releasing the aroma of the duck meat was enough to get your appetite going again.

One fun fact: The concierge at Hyatt on the Bund advised me that although they do not valet bicycles nor have a proper bike parking area, they will gladly escort you and your bike to the place where staff park their bicycles, electric bikes, electric scooters, and motos. Just make sure that your bike is not one that is particularly valuable as you are parking at your own risk.

Xindalu. Hyatt on the Bund, 199 Huangpu Road, Shanghai 200080, China. 上海外滩茂悦大酒店 中国上海黄浦路199号 邮政编码：200080. Hours: Lunch 11:30 – 14:30, Dinner 17:30 – 22:30. Reservations: + 86 21 6393 1234 * 6318.

Cha's Restaurant with Shanghai Bloggers

Cha's Restaurant for "Cha canting" is the 1950's Hong Kong style diner on Sinan Road. It is a place I have heard many expat friends in Shanghai like to visit because they say the food is good and cheap and the line is worth it.

Instead of taking on the challenge of an epic wait, The Thirsty Pig (Jimmy Chang), Sugared & Spiced (Cindy Wang), and Buzz of Dining Secretary's Dumplings to Donuts met on a rainy Sunday right after opening at 11:30, beating the lunch rush. Actually, there is no actual waiting area in the restaurant, but the small entrance where patrons manage to tuck themselves into in anticipation of a table. We were seated at the back in a tight table where the menu was visible under the glass on the table. Never have being been to a Hong Kong style diner, The Thirsty Pig reassures us it looks exactly like the old diners in Hong Kong. Points for authenticity.

The food came out as quickly as it was ordered. The egg tarts did not come out until last, as is tradition. I will say that I have never tried typical Hong Kongese diner food, so bear with my newbie experience.




The Poached Chicken in Soya Sauce (50RMB) came out first. The meat was incredibly moist, tender, and cooked all the way through. The thin skin of the chicken had a slightly sweet tang to the otherwise salty dish. The chicken flavor was allowed to come clean through. The Homemade Curry with Beef Brisket and Tendon (40RMB) had a vibrant color and a strong, spiced flavor to match. It had large chunks of potato, carrot, and green pepper to compliment the incredibly tender and rich thickly-cut beef brisket. The potato and carrots were cooked all the way through and the green pepper still maintained some of its crunch. The curries at Cha's are supposed to be the household specialty. Cha's Fried Rice (32RMB) had bits of egg, cucumber, and a few shreds of salty cured meat in it. Just pour a bit of the curry sauce or more on a spoonful of fried rice and the curry flavors overpower and are carried by the rice, which simply offers a variety of textures (some crunch from the vegetables, softness from the bits of egg, and fluff from the rice) when eaten with the sauce. The Sweet and Sour Pork (32RMB) also left quite an impression with the exterior of the fried pork still being crunchy even after being on the table for some time. The Pineapple Buns (6RMB each), so named for looking like a pineapple although not containing any trace of it, were served with a giant tab of butter inserted in the middle. Seeing how much butter was put in the middle to give it a soft, buttery center to contrast with the more crunchy topping was kind of gross, but at least the pineapple buns were warm. It made it easy to spread the butter evenly, making them more satisfying.


To end the meal, we each had an egg tart (5RMB each). The crust was dense and baked just the way through tasting bland. The custard filling was bright, but a little runny. More effort was placed into maintaining an aesthetic expectation of bright-yellow custard filling instead of baking the tart the whole way through, even if it means some browning. The egg tarts at KFC are still a lot better, in my opinion.

The final bill came to 243 RMB for four people. Not too bad as we left absolutely stuffed. As we left the restaurant, the queue was taking up most of the entry space. So glad we did not have to wait through that. Cha's Restaurant is a solid choice for Hong Kongese dining and while some dishes were good, I may require a return visit to decide if it is really something I would wait in line for.

Sugared & Spiced and The Thirsty Pig going at it with their cameras
Cha's Restaurant 查餐厅. 30 Sinan Road, 1F (by Huaihai Middle Road) / 思南路30号1楼 (近淮海中路), Shanghai, People's Republic of China. 思南路30号,近淮海中路. +86 21 6093-2062. 11:00-02:00.