Best Food In China

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Buffets are a difficult beast master in Shanghai. For a buffet to work well there needs to be sufficient turnover of the dishes in the chafing pans and this can only be economically achieved with a consistent stream of patrons. That’s where we run into trouble, the Las Vegas inspired fashion of piling your plate high with an absurd mix of dishes that were never meant to occupy the same plate space hasn’t quite caught on with Shanghaiers. Buffets are more of a novelty in this town where 150RMB Japanese places rule the all-you-can eat market.
So when I entered the Grand Cafe in the Sofitel Pudong on a Tuesday evening and found it almost empty, alarm bells started to sound.

As far as big hotel buffets go in Shanghai, this one is priced at the more reasonable end of the scale (198RMB + 15%). And as far as I could discern the food selection has not suffered. At the self service stations you can find a selection of cheese and house breads, a ‘Cold Station’ with sushi and various chilled seafood, a ‘Hot Station’ with all you hot meats, pastas etc. and an extensive ‘Dessert Station’ with hand crafted individual desserts, New Zealand ice cream, fruits and the requisite chocolate fountain.
Apart from these there is also an interesting individual Hot Pot station where people can design there own Hot Pot, choosing the soup base, fillings and garnish which is then brought to the table bubbling away over a small burner.

So now to my opinion on the food. One of the standouts for me was the sushi, which was fresh and surprisingly tasty. Another was the assortment of individual desserts, each were very well presented and seemed like someone had taken quite a lot of care in their detail, it also didn’t hurt that they tasted great.
Everything else was reasonably well executed as you would expect from a top hotel and though there were few guests (we may have missed the rush by 8pm) the majority of the foods on offer had been refreshed and looked appetising.
I enjoyed my fill at the buffet and hit every station along the way, coming up with very few disappointments. The house red (Lindemans Shiraz Cabernet) helping to wash the lot down.

The reasons you should have for visiting any buffet are; simplicity and value for money, the Grand Cafe easily checks both of these boxes. If on the other hand you are in the neighbourhood and in for something a little more upmarket; try the revolving restaurant Xsensation on the 46th floor, specialising in French fine dining.

-by Sam White

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