Ming Court Chinese Restaurant

Location

With its 2 Michelin star cred in Hong Kong, the new Ming Court at the savvy Langham Xintiandi raises expectations for dim sum cravers.

The consistent wave of hotel and restaurant openings in Shanghai is mind-boggling and often the trivial banter among city folks about their preferred dining destination. Thus, upon receiving a lunch invite to the Ming Court at The Langham Xintiandi, I was intrigued to check out this new kid on the block .

The Langham s prominent but tight-fitting location at Xintiandi plays up on the sophistication and savvy style of a luxury boutique on a busy corporate street corner. A swift ride to the 5th level brings you to the Langham s signature Chinese restaurant, Ming Court. Unlike most Chinese restaurants with grand entrances enhanced with water features or landscape paintings, the long angular corridor with back-lit wooden panels provides a subtle yet stylish ambience.

Subtlety appears to be the on-going theme as Ming Court focuses on discreet t te- -t te private dining with nine private rooms that seats up to ten guests each and a glass-paned gazebo-style main dining foyer that seats twenty-four.

With Langham s influences from Xintiandi s Shui On developer, it is natural that style and design is an inherent trademark throughout the premises. To imprint a distinguished local flavor, Ming Court went to the detail of commissioning haute couture designer, Lu Kun, a Shanghainese native to design their table-ware and server s uniforms. Remarkably original, I feel.

With some time before the special set lunch is served, I enjoyed some refreshing German white wine at a comfortable sofa corner with a great bird s eye view of Xintiandi shikumen style houses.
.
Being the soft-opening phase, the set lunch menu presented signature dishes from Executive Chef Tony Su. A native Shanghainese, Tony has acquired experiences with The Grand Hyatt and Four Seasons Hotel, including Macau. His dishes aim to portray his knowledge of Shanghainese and Cantonese cuisine as well as his focus on green dishes, using less salt, oil and absolutely no food additives.

Our first appetizer was a succulent fresh whole abalone sitting on a bed of chilled lettuce. Unlike fresh rock oyster, the abalone was already de-shelled and the meat is tender and aptly accompanied by salmon roe and thinly sliced black mushroom. It was well-paired with the German white and a confident assurance of more exciting dishes.

Warm appetizers followed with an assortment of dim sum varieties, such as steamed Shanghainese pork dumplings, deep fried spring rolls and cod fish baked in cheese pastry. This savory plate of dim sum may be common dim sum tickets but the pastry and handcraft was very refined.

The next serving of saut ed prawns in garlic sauce were delicately skewered between green asparagus with one prawn dressed in a dark spicy sauce and the other naturally saut ed in garlic, a resemblance of yin and yang. Aesthetically arranged, its more spicy taste picked up the pace of the meal and now accompanied by a rosy Rosemount Shiraz.

Two morsels of roast crispy chicken arrived with a shiny glaze on its delicate skin and sliced crispy lotus root. Succulent and juicy meat; simple yet delicious. As Chinese soups are almost like potatoes to a western meal, the next dish was a light broth of pumpkin soup served with house-made tofu and translucent skin dumplings with crab meat and winter melon. While it is far removed from the traditional Chinese tonic soups, this combination was colorful and healthy.

Thus far, the tasting menu has been exquisite and clearly demonstrates the chef s focus on aesthetics, fresh ingredients and pairing. The last presentation was the much awaited sweet finale; a black sesame mousse with hawthorn sorbet, all very familiar local flavors but neatly presented like European style desserts.

Overall, this new Ming Court has lived up to her predecessor in Hong Kong already credited with two Michelin stars. With its suave theme and discreet service, these signature creations will pave the way for modern Chinese cuisine in this competitive market.

-- by Brian Sun