Best Food In China

Location

Mandarin Pavilion offers delicious Cantonese cuisine and is a great place to entertain visiting friends or business colleagues.

After spending three summer months in Guangzhou on an extended business trip, my aversion to humidity grew immensely alongside my newfound appreciation for Cantonese cuisine. I loved how Cantonese dishes were qing dan, light and non-greasy, complementing the sticky weather. I reveled in the adventurousness of Cantonese fare, in which no animal organ or rare animal was too exotic to be eaten.

But, three straight months of one type of cuisine can wear anyone out. So, after returning to Shanghai, I have systematically avoided Cantonese food, afraid that it would conjure up memories of endless client meetings and late nights writing reports.

However, dining at the JC Mandarin’s Mandarin Pavilion caused me to reconnect with my fondness for Cantonese cuisine. The JC Mandarin is part of Meritus Hotels and Resorts, which is based in Singapore. The Mandarin Pavilion exemplifies the Meritus brand’s motto of “Asian Grace, Warmth and Care.” The restaurant is elegant and not overbearing. Linens are in soft blue and ivory, creating a relaxing atmosphere. Dark wooden screens, carved into the Chinese character for happiness (xi), divide the main dining room into pockets conducive to conversation.

Mandarin Pavilion offers a selection of predominantly Cantonese food, as well as some Shanghainese and Sichuanese dishes. The menu, like most Chinese restaurant menus, offers a multitude of options, with an emphasis on seafood.

The Pickled Radish with Special Sauce is characteristically Shanghainese – crispy, sweet and a great dish to whet your appetite. The Mandarin Chicken was tender and mild in taste, but there was too much bone and not enough meat.

The Pan-Fried Tiger Prawn with Tomato and Chili Wine Sauce surprised me. I have never seen a shrimp that large! The meat was both juicy and firm and the sauce complemented the shrimp well: slightly spicy and with bits of chili and pork.

Everyone must try abalone, a Cantonese delicacy, at least once. The Braised Whole Abalone in Superior Oyster Sauce highlights the subtle flavor of the abalone and is cooked just right so that the abalone itself is both chewy and tender. The “superior oyster sauce” is a suitable pairing for the abalone, not masking the flavor of the shellfish, but rather emphasizing it.

The Mandarin Pavilion’s chef traveled to Thailand to learn techniques for making the restaurant’s Singapore Chili Crab, although it is unclear why he would go to Thailand to do so. The crab is accompanied with Chinese buns for dipping. This was my least favorite dish – I plan to try this in Singapore and hope to be wowed there instead.

I am partial to home-style Chinese cooking. It reminds me of my childhood, of family dinners, of my mother’s cooking. The Steamed Cod Fish with Preserved Radish Vegetables was by far my favorite dish of the night – when I bit into the fish, I was transported to my family’s dining table. Good food is supposed to conjure up memories. The way the dish was prepared and tasted instantly infused me with longing for my mother’s cooking.

Cantonese cuisine is also well-known for its desserts. Bird’s nest is another Cantonese delicacy that should be tried at least once. Because harvesting the edible bird’s nest is so dangerous, bird’s nest is one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. Bird’s nest has the consistency of snow fungus and is coveted for its skin-rejuvenating and youth-instilling effects. The Double Boiled Superior Bird’s Nest with Aloe Vera in Coconut Milk is reminiscent of Thai desserts and the chunks of aloe add a refreshing burst to an otherwise heavier dessert. The Double Boiled Superior Bird’s Nest with Lily Bulb and Almond was delicious, infused with a creamy almond taste and hints of ginger.

The Chilled Sago Cream with Mango Puree and Grapefruit is not worth trying – it tastes like Tang with bits of grapefruit. The Sweetened Walnut Cream with Glutinous Rice Balls is nice, but a bit heavy and tasted more like peanuts than walnuts. However, the sweet springiness of the black sesame rice balls added a nice balance to the thick consistency of the walnut cream.

The restaurant seems oddly named due to its focus on Cantonese cuisine, but Mandarin Pavilion is great option if you are looking for a delicious, well-presented Cantonese meal, served with warmth and care in comfortably tasteful surroundings. Why bother with the humidity of Guangdong when you can experience a meal just as authentic here in Shanghai?

-- by Tammy Ku

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