Shanghai Blues

We had dinner at Shangai Blues last night. We had booked a table at 7.30 but when we arrived, they had us down for 8.30 and insisted on it. After a while they found us a table (the restautant was only half full). Straight away you notice the trendy decor, the chilled out atmosphere, the low lights. It's a plesant setting.

There is a large choice of cocktails and even without alchol: we tried the Citrus one and it was delicious. The food menu is also very extensive, with choices of dim sum, poultry, beef, noodles etc. Unfortunately they have a dish which includes Shark's fin - sharks are an endangered species and to me, personally, it's unacceptable that in the 21st century London it could appear on a menu! I did ask the manager to consider removing it (giving him a leaflet) but who knows...

Back to the restaurant experience: we shared a basket of dim sum, which were fairly average and very westernised (besides, dim sum are a lunch dish not a dinner dish) The peppercorn & shangai herbs ribs were fantastic, well cooked and flavoursome. We had crispy duck as a main, and again it came in a large portion, and was very well cooked. We shared a dish of crispy seafood noodles which was fairly average, although loaded with seafood, while the beef fillet with BBQ soya sauce was incredibly good.

What was the worst thing about our evening was the service - extremely clumsy (they dropped food on the table while cleaning, and didnt remove it until we pointed out), very slow (my drink didnt arrive until well after the food got served), uncommunicative (they started cleaning our table before we had our mains!) and quite rude too (when we refused to pay the discretionary service charge!).

If they dont get their acts together (and for me, if they dont stop serving shark fin) I will not consider going back.
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Fried Egg Fred
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

I totally disagree with the last review. I went to Shanghai Blues, on a Saturday round 6pm. The decor is gorgeous, dimly lit romantic. The tables are spread out far enough so you don't hear other conversations, and the service was attentive - plates taken away when finished, but it wasn't intrusive, and they wiped your table constantly.

The food was lovely, I think they don't use MSG in their food, unlike every other restaurant in Chinatown. We ate duck and roast pork belly, both of which were delicious, delicately flavoured, the duck wasn't too fatty.

We paid just under £100 for 3 dim sum, 2 mains and a bottle of wine - all well worth it, I cannot fault this restaurant!
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foodfish
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, November 22, 2007

The food was very disappointing. Any China Town restaurant would be far tastier and cheaper. Every dish we ordered was either too dry, too salty, rubbery or tasteless. It is very hard to understand how they got their stars.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Saturday, November 03, 2007

one of the finest chinese restaurants in london.

subtle flavours, generous portions, the menu passed the first test: too many seductive dishes to choose from. The food passed the second test in that it looked salivatingly good. The third test, the eating, made me order another starter just before the dessert....

service attentive but not fastidious , atmosphere would be relaxed , mellow, discreet were it not for the poor choice of music before the live jazz band started playing at 7pm. The jazz was excellent and the pairing with a chinese restaurant unsual but refreshing.

i think particularly good for dates
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riccardo - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, October 19, 2007

We went with a friend for an early dinner on Sat night. The place is quite dark but nicely decorated. The staff was very attentive but not intrusive – just right. We had a selection of starters (I can recommend the seafood with Mango) and main courses (the Shanghai Devil lamb is delicious; I wasn't too impressed with the duck though - too dry for my liking). I've been to better value-for-money places in London but overall it was worth while – I'd certainly go back.
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Timo
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Sunday, September 02, 2007

We were looking for some good authentic Dim Sum in London. After a lot of research, we decided to try Shanghai Blues, even though the restaurant from the outside looked more like a dance club than a restaurant.

We have only ordered Dim Sum and the Dim Sum are quite authentic. Like in Hong Kong, they have some creative dishes but food is generally good. Most of the Dim Sums are normal in size and taste. Price is about right for the quality and setting. One interesting thing is that the Barbecue Pork Bun is unusually small, even for Hong Kong standard. Also, desserts are quite interesting as we do not eat western desserts like cakes when we have Dim Sum.

Another interesting thing is that during Dim Sum , we were told we have to each order one pot of tea rather than sharing as we are used to.

Although there are quite a few strange things but the restaurant's Dim Sum is of good quality (not the regular China Town standard).
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Beaver - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, August 20, 2007

The food I ordered was good, but not exceptional. The crispy noodles were not crispy (although the high quality seafood toppings were generous). I've had slightly better food at more moderately priced chinese restaurants. The Soft Shell Crab and Dragon Prawn was tasty (my mum gives it a 9/10), but I prefer the way more traditional chinese restaurants serve soft shell crab.

I like the fact that they serve a fair selection of dim sums after 5pm. I am still glad I went to this place. The service was brilliant. I've never had such good and attentive service in a restaurant. It made it worth the visit to be treated so well. They are the first place I've been to that truly earned their tip, plus extra.
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ANON
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Sunday, August 12, 2007

I came here with my boyfriend for my birthday and enjoyed it very much. It was rather dark when we first entered, however staff were helpful and directed us. Not good or safe, in case you fell because it was so dark.

The dim sum basket was nice, but quite pricey for 8 pieces, though were tasty.

The scallop and abalone dish had too much sauce and not enough scallops, unless there were only meant to be 3 scallops. It was a simple dish, cooked very well though. The rice parcel was really nice. The noodle dish with prawns was very fresh and cooked well. The vegetable with garlic were really nice. The food was not as greasy or oily compared to some of the resturants in Chinatown, however when it was served it was NOT piping hot.

The ambience was really nice, and I loved the decor. The staff were very efficient, and maybe too helpful. But maybe Im not used to it. I would have like to check out the Jazz music. It is pricey though, and would only come for a special occasion. The resturant was impressive, though perhaps too dark.
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Kate
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Sunday, April 08, 2007

The interior design and ambience is impressive, dark and imposing.

Staff have zero personality, no flair, and walk around like cyborgs. Thats not to say they are efficient, no awareness of customer needs.

Most importantly the food. When it works it really works, the dim sum was delightful, the spare ribs were small but great. The mains caused huge problems for the restaurant. 5 mains were ordered, all coming out at different times, and were STONE COLD! We sent the dishes back, and 15 minutes later they came back out, and 2 were still cold. We complained politely, but when your paying £14 for a main dish you expect better.

Fair play to Shanghai blues, they recognised we had an awful experience and waived the bill. Its a real shame as this eatery is close to being good. Sadly its a mirage, what looks like should be a fantastic restaurant in fact turns out to be slightly above average chinese food charging premium prices.
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Sambo Hero
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

We went to Shanghai Blues last night. It is a really pretty place very nicely decorated. We first had a drink in the bar. They served little nibbles with it which was nice. There was pleasant piano background music. But I did not like the fact that they kept the mixer going to prepare drinks which was a disturbing loud noice ruining the atmosphere. The food was delicious but it is on the pricey side. We weren't particularly happy with the service though. First they were a bit pushy, more water, another bottle of wine...you constantly felt like you had to justify why not. Then they seemed to have given up and we had to ask for the desert/tea menu twice and wait for it for quite a long time. I dislike when they make you feel like you are not running up a high enough bill. That's just wrong and we did have starters, 2 bottles of wine, main, tea, so what else did they want?
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Sandra - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Saturday, January 27, 2007