Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai Restaurant    老上海飯店  

I had been craving for Xiaolongbao for weeks and finally got a chance to go to Lao Shang Hai for some authentic Shanghai food

Unlike many other Shanghai restaurants in HK which is filled with chandeliers and modern decor, Lao Shang Hai looks just like the ones that I visited with my family years ago - especially the pink tablecloth!

Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai Restaurant is one of my family favourites for dinner. From causal dinner to birthday celebrations, we have had a few memories there. Being a Shanghainese descendant, both of my parents reckon Lao Shang Hai did indeed offer authentic Shanghainese cuisine. That's why we keep on spending our time there. To be honest, I think my grandma did a better job than them, taste wise. Some of my specialties Shanghainese dishes aren't bad too

1) Stir-fried Shrimp 清炒蝦仁

We decided to give this place a try with a large group of friends during the peak of Summer, as we remember reading great reviews about here! Back from a long time ago when I tried this shop, I can only remember it was quite good but cannot recall the details anymore, and nowadays the entrance to the refurbished restaurant seems to have been relocated too? Not sure. However I think I should point out that the prices of the food here is very expensive, some running into the $300-500 range per DISH! So plan ahead, before trying here!

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8.5/10 煙燻蛋 -
This dish, unlike most other places I've tried was quite smokey although in a very 'sour way'. The yolk was really runny. Good - especially if added with 椒鹽!
3.0/10 萵筍 -
This was a big disappointment. My family and even myself have made this, in fact I just made 2 batches in July before I tried here in August and the version in this shop is peeled and translucent, which looks pretty - but it markedly lacked a characteristic 萵筍's 甘味 (Refreshing Bitterness) that's expected from such a dish. It was bland and tasteless and I couldn't work this out!
9.0/10 海蜇頭 -
This seems like the good quality Jellyfish's head which is 'flower' like in presentation. Its crunchy, with a fair bit of sesame oil essence. I guess this is from Dalian in China! What's strange is that everywhere along China's East Coast, this type of quality 海蜇頭 is found easily anywhere. Yet its rare in Hong Kong and considered a delicacy, compared to our normal elastic ones. For Mainlanders, this is probably considered very normal.
7.0/10 素鵝 -
This wasn't overly smoky and the 'skin' wrapping isn't as smooth as I would have liked, but overall it was likable.
7.5/10 葱油餅 -
Quite good and not oily. Needed more Spring Onions and Spring Onion Oil though - as it is, it was too healthy
9.5/10 白切肉 -
Good. Not a dish that easily goes wrong, the sauce here was really balanced and the marbled pork meat sliced thinly.
6.0/10 拍青瓜 -
I never know why it needs so much sesame oil to cover its freshness. I didn't like it much..It lacked the summery feel to it!
9.5/10 金目明蝦球 -
This is a fanciful version of 黃金蝦, and its very expensive too! The 咸蛋 coating was stir-fried with lard until its very chunkily 起沙 which is the best way its meant to be. Some restaurants prematurely take out the 咸蛋黃金 mixture from the pan/wok before its fried until ready, which means its quite flat and too wet-smooth, like a blob of buttery lard. The thickish sauce was great, but it was the prawn which wowed everyone as it had a strong fresh prawns taste and naturally crunchy - majority of shops can't get this part right. Here, its also a pre-battered rather than a stir-fried prawn version, the latter I think is more authentic but I like the version tonight better. Nice job.
4.0/10 鯽魚湯 -
This was recommended by Manager and came with lots of 蘿蔔絲. The soup was quite bland despite the milkiness appearance. It had virtually no Fish sweetness, plus the fish wasn't 'fried' before dumping into the soup, meaning the soup didn't absorb in the whiteness and seafood essence filled flavours from the fish at all. VERY DISAPPOINTING SOUP, and tasted more like a plain Turnips Soup. Totally not worth the money!
9.5/10 乳付方肉 -
This is like a Tung Po Pork in a way but in smaller chunks and with transculent, half molten fatty meat that has absorbed a lot of the Fermented Beany flavours! This was a sumptious dish with an oily coating yet somehow it was 'clean' in execution, slightly Hongkong-nised but good enough to pass as the original! Both the meat and the sauce made really well. Highly Recommended!
9.0/10 紅燒圈子大腸 -
I'm not a big fan of pork chitlins, especially when I was forced to eat this as a kid for some unknown reason!! Still, personally, small intestines is preferred over the larger Intestines such as included in this dish! Objectively speaking, the 圈子 was washed just right and retained a nice elastic texture with the original offal flavour intact minus most of the smelliness! For me, its still a bit too 'smelly' powerful and I prefer cow intestines much better, since cow's eat a better vegetarian diet and their intestines doesn't carry the 'funky' and pork's unique 'ard' taste. The strong Soy based sauce was quite good though, its very Shanghainese rich in execution and flavouring!
7.5/10 菜胆獅子頭 -
Someone wanted to order the soup version but out came the Fried-then-Braised version. This was quite good, meat was grinded to the right granular size without much tendons intact, it wasn't doughy either. Its smooth, nice and fluffier than dense, the sauce was again spot on rather than Hongkong-nised light! NICE but needed more wok-chi flavours in my opinion.
5.0/10 崧子黃魚 -
Worst dish of the night by a great margin. This was quite 'frozen' in taste, the texture was completely wrong and flaky in an artificial way, not only that but it was very fishy to the point it was left untouched by almost everyone. The sauce meanwhile was vinegary stinky and very average too, rather than prepared in an artisanal, slowly-prepared and more approachable way. Even the frying wasn't done right, it ended up being quite chewy.

DESSERTS:
8.0/10 棗泥鍋餅 -
Fried without being too greasy. As unbelievable as it seems, most shops make this so greasy its inedible. Here it was spot on, plus the fillings wasn't too sweet. Although my only gripe is that the 棗泥 flavour was a bit subdued in this version!
9.0/10 煎八寶飯 -
Nice and flat and quite Black! Sprinkled with sugars on top, this was quite aromatic and I really like this dessert, particularly because its not oily either!

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OVERALL - ME AND OTHERS REALLY LIKED THIS RESTAURANT DESPITE FLAWS HERE AND THERE: THE POSITIVE THINGS FAR OUTWEIGHED THESE SMALL NIGGLES WHICH WE CAN ACCEPT. PERSONALLY, THIS MEAL WAS QUITE A LOT BETTER AND WAY MORE AUTHENTIC THAN MY PREVIOUS MEAL AT MAXIM'S MICHELIN 1 STAR 紫玉蘭 (WHICH I HAVEN'T REVIEWED, ALTHOUGH OTHERS SHARING THAT MEAL LIKED THAT THERE TOO.. EACH TO THEIR OWN). NOTE I HAVE NOT ATTACHED ALL FOOD PHOTOS HERE.

HERE: HIGH '4' TO MID '5' mostly. Some dishes in the '2' - '3' range however and lowered the final score. Would be Back, when I get paid again!

Not sure why this restaurant was so popular... No way.

The sauce for the eel was real bad, way too much corn flour on the sauce. No eel texture at all.

The vegie dumpling was real bad, no ingredient , only vegie with vegie.

used to come here for dinner about once or twice a month. think their food quality is quite consistent. haven't been here for about a year though. visited last friday afternoon.

for 3 people we ordered:

1. appetizers:

a. marinated cucumbers: very refreshing! my favorite. lots of garlic but a bit salty at first, got used to it after the second bite. GOOD!!!

b. fried gluten: served warm (some places serve it cold) - much softer than average and spongier. came with some broad beans and pre-dried shitake mushrooms (dong gu, the usual kind) nicely flavored.

c. ma lan tou (finely chopped ma lan tou vegetable + firm tofu): very good knife skills used! soft hint of sesame oil not too overwhelming.

d. smoked fish (fun yu): much softer in texture (not cruchy) than average which made the fish seem fattier. i personally prefer a firmer texture; but the way they make is good if you like softer, melt-in-your mouth goodness

2. stir-fried sauce diced chicken (jeung bao gai ding): served with lots of water chestnuts and some shallots. very nice sauce!!! awesome when paired with plain short grain (pearl) rice. definitely recommend it!

3. pak choy with shredded chicken and firm tofu shreds (gai for ju gorn si): had this since 10 years ago. very finely shredded tofu, very delicate. sweet, clear broth.

4. assorted vegetable cold noodles (7 choi lang meen): came with 3 condiments - chekiang vinegar, chili oil and soy sauce. it is premixed with a thin sesame dressing. texture of noodles itself is good - chewy, doughy - just right, gives a firm bite. egg noodles used, about diameter of spaghettini (thinner than spaghetti but thicker than capellini).

5. vegetarian steamed dumplings (soh choi gau): standard size = 5 pieces. wrapping is soft and just right in thickness. really enjoyed the filling which was purely chopped vegetables (no vermicelli nor tofu! this is a rarity!) HO!!

6. they didn't charge us for corkage so we left $100 on the table and a waitress ran after us thinking that we left it accidentally! we explained it was for corkage and she didn't seem to quite understand - point is THEY DON'T CHARGE CORKAGE! ho yeh!

so good to be back in HK, so good to enjoy my nostalgic shanghainese favorites - thank you old shanghai!

will come back again very soon! you should go too if you like shanghainese and pekingnese food!

My family loves this restaurant. We've been to this restaurant since we were little (which is like 20+ years). We recently found its food to be 參差. For example, the food tastes different on weekday nights compared with weekend lunches. We r wondering whether the chefs are on shift duty,

Food was really good!