Shang

The only reason I came here was because I had a $ 50 Groupon. And because the menu had sushi. With such high prices and the deliciousness of my mother’s cooking, I rarely go to expensive Chinese restaurants. A friend and I met here on a Wednesday night, and we were seated promptly. The atmosphere of the restaurant was quite dark – quite a contrast to the falsely lighted pictures on the website. So already, going into the restaurant, I was a bit disappointed – the atmosphere simply was not as nice as I had hoped.
Being money savvy college students, we decided to order as close to $ 50 as possible, and we ended up ordering $ 49 Starting off with the Singapore Slaw, we also ordered the California Roll, Buddhist Delight Roll (Tofu Skin, Asparagus, Spinach & Creamy Miso), and Dragon Roll (Spicy Tuna, Barbeque Eel, Avocado, Tobiko). Because our food came so late, and we had to wait so long, Shang gave us a complimentary extra roll – the Typhoon Roll (Spicy Salmon, Mango, Tuna, Yellowtail, Pineapple).
Overall, I had a good experience. I simply loved the waitress’ recitation of all the ingredients of the Singapore Slaw as he mixed the plum dressing into the huge stack of slaw as if it were an art. The Singapore Slaw was one of the best salads I have ever had; the crunciness of the fried taro bits and wontons were in perfect harmony with the cabbage and plum dressing, which, by the way, was just a tiny bit too sour.
Then came the sushi. The portions were extremely small, but that just made me less guilty for eating more. Personally, I am not a fan of raw fish, but the raw fish in the dragon and typhoon roll was so fresh and well seasoned that I honestly felt it delicious; I had to refrain from eating in the fear that I might get sick. But my favorite was the Buddhist Delight. The unique texture of the asparagus complimented well with the soft spinach and the chewiness of the tofu skin. The creamy miso seemed to hold together such different textures and turn them into pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together. Crunchy, chewy, soft, sweet, savory. All that in a tiny bite. I would go back just for that roll.

My husband, bless his soul, thinks everyone on Top Chef must own amazing restaurants. We’ve tried a few and most have been very very good. Shang is not. I don’t consider upscale restaurants in NYC hotels to be «hotel restaurant» quality. Then again, maybe I was fooling myself by thinking you could ever make Chinese food upscale.
We went to Shang for my 29^th birthday dinner on a Thursday night. Good thing we had a reservation because there were about 4 occupied tables! Phew! The wine list left a lot to be desired and we wound up just ordering separately (I had wine that was meh and my husband had a cocktail). We ordered the Satay Combo to start and split the duck entrée and the fried rice for our meal.
Service was almost non-​existent. We couldn’t get a refill on water or drinks. After about 25 minutes Seth asked what the holdup was with our appetizer and the waitress said it would be right out. Then came the entrée, then about a minute late came the appetizer. I don’t know why but this bothers me. What bothered me more was that the entrees were cold, which I think means she held them in the kitchen until they had time to make the satay so they could ALMOST come out at the same time.
The satay was really unimpressive. The chicken was tough; the beef was fatty. The duck was ok but also seemed to be poorly cooked with the lean parts being overcooked and the fatty parts being too soft.
The best thing we ate was definitely the rice. I wish I had only had the rice!
We asked to see the dessert menu because Seth always wants dessert (I just wanted to go home and pretend this wasn’t my birthday dinner) and the waitress says «We have a mango panacotta. It’s really mango-​y. Or we have sorbet.» End of dessert options. So we passed and left.
It wasn’t until we were outside that I found out the true horror of this place though. Seth had apparently called ahead to notify the restaurant that it was my birthday and to please bring me dessert with a candle (not something he typically does so I was touched that he thought of it). The manager had apprently told him «Don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it.» I’m so glad to see their version of taking care of it was to ignore us all night, forget our app, cook subpar food, have no dessert options and then let us walk out totally disappointed.
Boo. How un Top Chef.

The woman enjoyed her sushi combo dish. The flavors were good, fresh, and to her, was worth the $ 30 price tag. I got the shrimp and scallops, which tasted good, but was lacking in amount. For a $ 28, you’d expect to get full off of it, but I guess not. The jasmine rice, at $ 4, is not a bargain, but it sure tasted good. The woman went as far as to say it was the best jasmine she has had in the city! I scoffed, but she was serious.
So, I guess get a few bowls of overpriced rice and fill up off of that.
Also, $ 8 for a bottle of Stella is not a good way to build a customer base.

Their Duck is phenominal. I came here a second time and boy, how things have changed in a matter of 3 months.
I ordered an appetizer and a roll since I wasnt very hungry. My friends ordered an app and roll too. Our waiter forgot my friends app and my roll after 10 minutes of trying to flag him down. He looked at me with a puzzled look like I never ordered that. He forgot soy sauce and we couldnt get his attention. We waived frantically to anyone who would notice us, even though the space was nearly deserted (and now I know why). They only thing they got right was bringing soy sauce immediately, but they ended up giving us 3 bottles. Thanks for that service, but I’d honestly rather have you get my order right than bring me 3x the condiments I need. Sushi isnt even cooked so I don’t understand why it took forever to get our damned dinner when it was practically empty!
this place is going down the drain. I just hate it when the food is okay and the service cuts the cake. Never coing back here again.

What we had …
A Lettuce Wrap Appetizer
A Satay Appetizer: Chicken, beef and shrimp in a penang peanut sauce and cilantro mint chutney
A California Roll
A Fire Cracker Roll (shrimp tempura and spicy jumbo lump crab salad, with flakes of deliciousness on top)
A Buddhist Roll (tofu skin and asparagus, topped spinach and drizzled with a creamy miso sauce)
What I thought …
The location definitely outshone the food. This second floor walk up had open spaces that gave the establishment an upscale atmostphere. Although we did not sit at the bar, it was clear that the focus of the area was the bank of windows that flooded the sunset through the room.
Kiki and I had fun building out own lettuce wraps, burrito style, at the table. We also both enjoyed the sauce of the satay appetizer. Although all of the food was good, each dish ran towards the slightly sweet. Ultimately, nothing about the meal said, «you have to bring everyone you know back here.»
I would go back to try …
The Typhoon Roll (Spicy salmon, tuna, yellowtail, mango and pineapple)
The Stand-​Out Detail …
The good will that this restraunt’s decent food engendered was destroyed when we got the bill. The restaurant added on a $ 10 surcharge because we were using a groupon. Although we mentioned several times to both the hostess and our server that we would be using one, no one at any point told us about this extra cost. Ultimately the feeling of being forced to pay extra because of the Groupon will be the thing that I remember about this meal.
A Different Take (Guest Blogger Kiki)
Food was: acceptable but I’ve had better at other sushi houses. Nothing really delivered the «wow factor» I was expecting.
Place was: swanky.
Would she return? unlikely.

Chef Lee, your restaurant works better without you! We had a great meal here previously, and were sooo excited to be going back on a night when Chef Lee was in the kitchen. Sadly, tonight felt more like one of the early-​in-​the-​season episodes of Hell’s Kitchen than a performance from a Top Chef Master.
It seemed like all the servers had suddenly quit and the busboys were forced into their places. Service was completely devoid of the niceties and flourishes one expects from a good restaurant. We had to ask our waiter for the specials, a major area of interest as the promotional email touting Chef Lee’s arrival promised special dishes not cooked in his absence. We had to (almost) hold him bodily to keep him at the table long enough to take my order for a second drink. The calamari was greasy like the oil wasn’t hot enough. My entrée arrived, cold and 20 minutes before Joe’s. After it was dropped on the table, no one came back to ask how it was, Which was cold, and missing a companion.
Dinner was redeemed with a fantastic stupendous amazing and complimentary dessert apology chocolate wafer, with peanut butter and strawberries.
Oh but also, they added a service charge to a table of two. On the one hand I’ve been a server in a tourist location and know how some nationalities feign ignorance of our tipping customs, but I still think it’s pretty tacky.

Joann T. and I braved lightening and hail the size of golf balls just to get to the restaurant. It was worth it !! We ordered the Caramelized Black Cod, Singapore Slaw, and the Brick Roll.
The Caramelized Black Cod ($ 26) consists of three bite sized pieces of fish with miso mustard and one piece of chinese carrot cake. I was a bit disappointed because this was my entrée and I was starving. However, one bite of the cod and I was in heaven. The perfect pairing of the miso mustard and the melt in your mouth black cod was incredible! BEST DISH OF THE YEAR!!!
The Singapore Slaw ($ 18), recommended by the Unilocal community, was also pretty good. It consists of 19 different ingredients that complemented each other wonderfully. This dish can be shared between 2 – 3 people and was quite filling.
The Brick Roll ($ 16) is made of spicy lobster, barbeque eel, and scallops. It wasn’t bad, but it just doesn’t compare to the other dishes that we ordered.

If 3 stars is A-​OK, then Shang can only get a 2 star «meh» from this girl.
The cocktails: The bartender mixed up our cocktail orders, giving my friend the Pimm’s Cup and me some other fancy martini. Luckily, I loved my drink, super cucumbery and we had no idea about the mixup. My friend hated hers, so the bartender comped us a couple of drinks.
The food: Delish. We split the Shang Plate (mixed sushi, sashimi and 2 rolls), edamame, white tuna crudo, salt and pepper calamari and… hmmm, I think that’s it. I was still hungry at the end of dinner and we attempted to order some noodles… and were told the kitchen had closed. At 10:30ish. With 4 – 5 tables still eating. Cripes.
The service: Just a big huge fucking fail. I’ve never, ever had worse service at a nicer restaurant in my life. I order a bottle of cava for the 3 of us… and then the bartender asks what my friends are having. Um, I ordered a bottle of cava. He says it’s a split. I have to point out that no, we didn’t order the split, we ordered the bottle. Drinks come 20 mins later. On to ordering. We order the Shang plate with Volcano and Spicy tuna roll. He tells we just order the Volcano and Tornado roll and gets all defensive when we correct him. Now, this is after trying to order a bunch of food to split and he’s just looking at like me like I’m totes crazins. Cripey. We have to ask them to clear dirty plates, we can barely flag someone down for refill drinks, the restaurant is EMPTY and it’s just so effing annoying. I was beyond annoyed and I won’t be back.
Susur Lee may be a top chef in Toronto, but I wouldn’t expect this shit in Buffalo, never mind NYC

It has already been said… mediocre and expensive. The slaw was fine, the «signature rolls» okay and the entrees were acceptable but nothing above average. C’mon man you’re a «Top Chef Master», spend more time at your NYC spot and get it going!
Head to Chinatown and save some $. Only a handful of tables at 8:45, which was the «earliest» they could seat us, two weeks before the reservation was total bs as the dining room was mostly empty on a Friday night. Was kind of in shock as to the lack of business but then after the meal was quite clear that the word is out.
Wanted to love it but it just didn’t make the cut.

Shang was truly a disappoint and I really didn’t even have that high of expectations. Since we were on a quick overnighter to NYC and staying at the Thompson LES, Shang was an easy and convenient choice. I was a little bit excited since friends and the people we were with were raving about it. I’m always wary of Asian fusion, but I was open-​minded.
Well, I really should’ve been close-​mouthed, too, because this place was the worst. I don’t know if it was so bad because you expect something more from a Thompson property restaurant (big fan of the Roosevelt in Hollywood), the price level, or because others had heard/​said it was good. Maybe a little bit of all three.
The restaurant is on the second floor and your eyes immediately go to the two huge organic, paper-​looking lights hanging overhead, probably because it’s so dark, you can’t see anything else. We were seating at a round table with a bench and three chairs. Our waiter brought us some small menus and left. We looked at them and wondered where the rest of the menu was because it had one page of alcohol, and about 5 things as starters, 5 things for entrees and three desserts listed. The menu I got at the bar was bigger than this.
We ask him if there’s another menu. He says he’ll bring the sushi menu, but that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there’s a limited menu with their «most popular» items. WTF. Your Cantonese skirt steak is one of your most popular items? Along with edamame under starters? Are you kidding.
What wasn’t listed was the Singapore Slaw and I thought one of my dinner companions was going to cry. Luckily, when we asked, he said they could make it. Well, how come there’s a «off the menu» item for the limited days? How would you even know to ask? We had to customize one of the salads due to allergies. They brought out the wrong ones, or forgot, had to take them back and it pretty much went downhill from there. The Slaw was good, and it was probably the best thing there.
Since I had already had some salt and pepper calamari and edamame from the bar (both awesome by the way), I ordered some sushi. The Sushi and Sashimi platter for $ 31, which came with 5 pieces of sushi, 5 sashimi and a yellowtail roll. The waiter said it was chef’s choice, but I said I didn’t like everything on there. I asked him if I could choose, and he said no, but I could tell him what I didn’t want. So as I was listing it off, I was thinking that this was stupid, so why couldn’t I just tell him what I did want. He said okay. So I did. Ridiculous.
The food didn’t come out all at once. They brought out some orders, and my sushi. The sushi was okay, not the best I’ve ever had. Then they brought out a few more sushi orders after that. For some reason, they put the rolls all on one plate. Who said we were sharing? Then I had to sit around watching people eat because I didn’t get a little bowl for my soy sauce. I asked, he didn’t bring it. I had to ask again.
And don’t ask for regular sodium soy sauce. They only have the green one, because they’re «trying to be healthy.» Who doesn’t have the regular even as an option? Shang doesn’t.
And then there was dessert. Or the lack of it. We asked for the dessert menu. He brought us the same «limited» menu, with three desserts on it: Cheesecake, carrot cake and ice cream/​sorbet. Why didn’t he just tell us what they were? The carrot cake was good and the ice cream was good (chocolate, green tea, vanilla), but you don’t get any points for having good ice cream. I asked for hot water with honey. It never came. And he never asked if we wanted coffee with our desserts.
Service was a total fail. The food wasn’t much better. Grateful there was good company or else it would’ve been a total waste of a meal in an awesome city full of foodie possibilities.
Had breakfast there the next morning and couldn’t find a soul when I walked in at 7, so I seated myself. Someone showed up a couple of minutes later and brought us menus. I was almost afraid to find a limited menu. It was normal. I had bacon and eggs, and they cooked my bacon extra crispy, the way I like it. The hashed browns looked pre-​made and I got two pie-​shaped slices, that were a little too perfectly cut. Good, but super greasy. My wheat toast was not really toasted. But the waiter was much better and attentive than the one we had for dinner, and breakfast was pretty quick.
For a place named Shang (Translate: «Up») it certainly does have to reach a lot higher to even get to mediocrity.

Susur Lee’s got my love and I don’t know why he deserves all of your hate?!
Just enjoyed a lovely v-​day meal with my wife where I had some delicious Singapore Slaw — lovely perfectly crispy taro crips in a light sweet sauce among 20 other ingredients! That in itself had to be perfectly executed to maintain the texture. Our sushi was expertly wrapped, my chicken w mushrooms were well seasoned and the carrot cake was a perfect balance of sweetness, richness and decadence that didn’t leave us feeling fat. The only knock is that it was a bit pricey but hey this ain’t Chinatown, the money goes into much better trained wait staff, great décor and CLEAN BATHROOMS! Try finding that in Chinatown. I don’t understand why people keep comparing this to normal ctown fare. IT ISN’T. Why can there be a difference in local pizza parlor and upscale pizza and not with Chinese food? Just because ctown is populated by horrendously dirty sweat shop populated by waiters aka indenture servant/​illegal immigrant that happen to put out food with similar ingredients and flavors that you can actually compare Shang to them? Ludicrous. Support good clean Chinese food with sophistication. Give Susur his credit for putting up a classy joint with pretty damn good food.

One of the worst dining experiences I have ever had was last weekend at Shang! I went for Restaurant week and haven’t been treated this poorly at a fast food drive-​thru, let alone at an aspiring restaurant (that I really wanted to like) in my neighborhood.
The maître d’ left us waiting for 45 minutes after arriving with a reservation for my girlfriend and I at 9pm. After the hostess admitted to having forgotten about us, instead of comping us drinks or even apologizing, we waited another ten minutes while she continued to seat other people.
Our waitress (apparently whose first day it was) completely disappeared from the room for another 20 minutes after giving us the Prix Fixe menu (this reflects poorly both on the server and the management), which with only 9 items available, the kitchen still managed to get wrong, finally getting food after 11pm, OVER 2 HOURS after we arrived.
After informing our waitress or their oversight, she assured us that she would resolve the error. It was not resolved, and the main course came another half hour later, and as we still had not gotten the appetizers we ordered, we asked our server again. She got defensive, insisting that she had placed the order. She again promised to fix the error. Nothing was ever resolved or even addressed.
After paying the bill in full (no deductions for items we did not order) and more defensiveness from the manager, who did nothing but disinterestedly cite the «stress of «Restaurant Week,» (which in my opinion should be an opportunity to shine), we left, regretting having paid for anything, let alone sub-​par food that we did not even order, and the three and a half hours of our life we wished we could have back.

Shang, you must be in LA LA land.
I was sick. Yet, I still dragged my sorry self out of my apt to check this restaurant out and was a bit excited given that this is Susar Lee’s new establishment. Well, my sick self should have stayed home.
We waited close to an hour to get a table. There was some miscommunication between us and their wait staff, even though we had reservations. Isn’t that the entire point of reservations — to have the space ready for us? New concept to them, I guess…
The party was large; about 20 people and granted, it’s hard to manage such a large party well. However, it was obvious that the wait staff didn’t know what they were doing. They were getting orders wrong and forgetting things left and right. Yes, they were also in la la land too.
Sure, the slaw with close to 20 ingredients was good. I’ve had better with less than 5 ingredients. It’s a dog and pony show with the waiter bringing the plate out and mixing the slaw and we were not impressed, although that was probably the best thing we had that night.
My entrée arrived last; about 10 – 15 minutes after everyone else received their food. For a whooping $ 27, they delivered 4 small chunks of halibut and 2 cherry tomatotes. I’ve had a better experience with a McDonald’s Filet O Fish. It was tasteless and poorly plated.
Everyone seems to be dreaming here. Not sure what the hype is about, but get your head out of the clouds. I’d rather go to Chinatown to get better food for a fraction of the price.
To top it off, they tipped themselves over what was stated on the menu and a few of us got sick after the meal.

This review is for one dessert and my experience eating it.
Shit.
That’s what the dollop of mousse looked like on my mango panna cotta. The basil slivers looked like they were sliced by a 5 year old with a jagged knife. The fruit chunks were not fresh nor ripe. I would’ve preferred they just use some Dole canned fruit instead. The panna cotta itself was too sweet, it had no essence of the fruit, and too heavy to the taste.
I would’ve regretted paying $ 5 for this dish — but $ 12? Not even the skimply-​dressed waitresses helped soften this blow.

Top Chef Master Susur Lee’s restaurant was good yet not amazing. The appetizers, spring rolls and calamari, were decent. The sauces that went with them seemed to make them sell though, which might be a bad thing if the food can’t stand on it’s own. The main dishes were portioned well but the Top Chef Curry Chicken was a bit on the heavier side. Dessert was a little too sweet even for someone who loves dessert. Also ordered a dragon roll, which had a good amount of heat. Service is decent, waitress recommended a good wine to go with my food and the runners refilled my water frequently and wiped the table down between courses as necessary. Décor was a plus, nice layout with a full bar on one side (also a Terrace).
Food: 7.5
Décor: 8.5
Service: 8
*ratings out of 10

Is it so wrong to have high expectations for a Top Chef Master’s restaurant? Apparently, yes, it is. I’ll start from the beginning.
We open the doors to Shang, only to stare at stairs that look like they lead to the top of the Great Wall of China. Our first thought was this could possibly be disastrous walking down after a few drinks. Nonetheless, we commence our leg and butt work out up the stairs.
We are greeted unenthusiastically by two young hostesses, and escorted to our table. Our server arrives after a few minutes, and we order a bottle of South African white wine. At that moment we open the food menu to start our culinary adventure, and our eyes look up in disbelief. Wait, are we at P.F. Changs? Maybe we don’t have the full menu? Nope, this is it. We need our wine. Where’s the server? Did he go to South Africa to get it? Finally, after what seemed like 15 minutes, he comes back only to inform us that they are out of that bottle. At this point, defeated, we just decide to order from the restaurant week menu.
For appetizers, we order the crispy calamari and the Singapore slaw. For the entrees, we order the skirt steak and the «Top Chef» curry chicken. Our only dessert choice was mango panna cotta. The third person in our party arrives at this time, and we break it to her that we are literally at a P.F. Changs. She looks at us with the same disbelief in her eyes and mumbles, «I should’ve gone home.» So we add an order of the lettuce wraps.
Underwhelming is the word for this dinner. The colorless crispy calamari was bunched up on iceberg lettuce. There was no salt, pepper or anything sitr-​fried with it. Just plain battered and fried calamari. The silver-​lining was the habanero sauce that was served with it. It was fantastic! So much so that we literally asked for another serving of it to douse on all the other dishes we got. The Singapore slaw should be called crispy noodles slaw, because the tiny portion of shredded carrots really was more like the accompaniment to the crispy noodles. The lettuce wraps were typical, nothing special. But it tasted even better with that habanero sauce!
The skirt steak and «Top Chef» curry chicken comes out. I take a bite of what I thought was the steak, but then asked,“What the hell is this?” Oh, the chicken. Wow, looks like dog food, and if I were to guess what dog food tasted like, it just might be this. The skirt steak was decent, but a bit over-​cooked for my tastes. I like my steaks medium-​rare, and this was more medium to medium-​well. Once again, everything does taste a bit better with the habanero sauce.
The mango panna cotta arrives, and we are a bit weary at this point. But, okay, two good things out of this meal, the habanero sauce and the mango panna cotta, basically mango pudding. Maybe it’ll taste even better if we put the two together? Ok, we didn’t go there.
As we were leaving, we ask the staff that were gathered at the front chatting, «Excuse me, do you have any toothpicks?» No, sorry, we do not. Wait, isn’t this a Chinese restaurant? I guess they are too «high-​end» for toothpicks. So odd for a restaurant that is owned by a chef who doesn’t like to wear shoes in the kitchen for comfort.

We went here in June for my birthday and I thought it was a lovely experience. We were given a table right near the entrance and so didn’t get to take in the full ambiance. I don’t know why we got the outpost seats either, as they were not full when we arrived and no one suggested the terrace seats to us.
The waitress was very lovely and helpful. I had an excellent white wine and my boyfriend got a dirty martini he said was killer (though too pricey to have two). The dishes were all a little more expensive than I thought the quality and portion suggested. Don’t get me wrong, VERY tasty, but didn’t think the spring rolls were worth $ 9.
Entrée portions are medium sized at best. I ordered the Scottish salmon with wasabi mashed potatoes, which was much larger then the Top Chef Curried Chicken my boyfriend ordered. The salmon was delicious and even impressed my boyfriend who usually hates fish. I shared since his meal was not really large enough for a filling dinner!

I had already gobbled up dinner with my London and Toronto community manager compadres at Gobo before swinging through Shang to meet a lovely Unilocaler so I can’t comment on the food here. Well… maybe I can’t comment on the full experience since I did manage to stuff in some of their «famous» Singapore Sling slaw and hamachi sashimi. The slaw was quite delish with serious flavor and wonderful textures. The hamachi wasn’t as wonderful, but I’m used to my sashimi straight up while this was wrapped around some sort of veggies and already sitting in a sauce. Service was on point and the lychee martini disappeared in front of me before I could blink twice. It was either so amazingly good that I couldn’t help gulp it down in one fell swoop or I’ve learned a new magic trick.
The décor is gorgeous inside with mesmerizing dark wood screens and oriental red accents. While you can’t eat dinner on the terrace, my next visit I’ll plan to go with a less hungry friend so I can chill outside.
Great location for some Asian fusion fun!

2.4.09
I first heard of Shang when I stayed at the hotel in which it is housed– Thompson LES. We were informed it was the opening night at Shang but opted to eat out instead. Soon thereafter, a lot of hype started appearing everywhere on restaurant blogs, and last night we finally made it there.
I enjoyed a cocktail at the bar first, the Passion Absinthe, which was amazing and strong. The bar area was sleek, so upon entering the dining area, I was slightly disappointed. The décor was reminiscent of many a ‘trendy’ Midtown restaurant, and the crowd was Tribeca to the T. Not exactly my favorite combo. I thought it would be a much hipper scene and that the décor would be as cool as the hotel’s.
J immediately recognized one of our waiters from the now closed Wakiya (hidden deep in the bougie-​boho Gramercy Park Hotel), and then another, as well as a crossover manager from Nobu 57. J proceeded to down two Shang Caipirinhas, which were way too strong for my taste. Our waiter recommended 4 – 6 dishes for two people, and we ordered a $ 60 bottle of Chablis 1er Cru, one of the more expensive from the long cheap wine list (no other way to put it, the vast majority of the bottles were only $ 35 – 45).
We started with the highly recommended Singapore Slaw, with its special 19 ingredients. I thought the toasted hazelnuts were a standout in the otherwise OK salad. Well, more than a standout. if they packaged those and sold them, they could make a killing!
Next was the Crispy Lobster, which was served in two crispy balls atop lettuce with a chili lime juice we were instructed to pour over it. It was good, although as much as I hate to admit it, I would perhaps choose the chicken lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang’s if given the option. I suppose it was just too spicy for me, and I feel the lettuce would have been better suited if it were a crisper iceberg than a leafier green one.
After that we were served the carmelized wild sablefish, by far the standout dish of the night. It was gorgeously cooked, melt-​in-​your-​mouth pieces of fish glazed to perfection. The accompanying mustard green relish matched perfectly with each flaky bite of fish, while the salmon caviar popped in your mouth in salty succession.
Lastly, we finished with two dishes– the SHANG’s Spiced Slow Cooked Berkshire Pork Belly and a vegetable dish– Seasonal Asian Greens Sautéed in Garlic Broth (which was bok choy with delightful little squares of tofu). The bok choy was delicious; I could not get enough of the sauce or the tofu. I pretty much ate the entire thing, which was good because after one bite of the pork belly, I didn’t want any more. J liked it well enough, but there was just an enormous amount of fat on it. And not firm fat, but gelatinous, mushy fat that made me want to gag. I should note our waiter considerately informed us of this upon ordering. It was served moo shu style with a side of pancakes.
Closing notes: the food was different than what I’m used to, so the novelty was nice. I’m not sure how different it would be for someone used to Chinese food (probably a gourmet version of home cooking). Worth noticing was the perfect presentation: the Singapore Slaw in an impressively high pile about to topple over that the waiter then mixed together as you watched it dissolve into an ordinary slaw on a plate, the Crispy Lobster was served under an archway of curved reeds tied with a red bow, and so on. Also, service was very good.
I would return here if in the area for a cocktail (only on a weeknight) but probably not for dinner unless someone else picked it. If someone else did pick it, however, I would return. I would recommend everyone go just to try it once.

Shang is the new creation from renown Toronto chef, Susur Lee. The restaurant is located in the lower east side outpost of The Thompson Hotel. This snazzy destination is still being built out, so just look for a glass door with no signage that masks a steep stairwell up to the dazzling restaurant. Behind the hostess stand, you will find a small bar and lounge area. To the left, a large, exclusive dining room awaits behind a dark curtain. The crowd is very upscale — picture the next generation of highbrow society. The service is extremely professional and efficient, despite their only recent opening.
My friend and I were lucky enough to be dining next to a Canadian man, who had been following Chef Lee for years. He pointed us to the highlights of the menu and even introduced us to Lee himself!
The cocktail menu tempts with unusual concoctions containing yuzu, lychee, and other Asian specialties.
The dinner menu is just as dazzling, and I recommend sampling a wide array of courses. The Braised Oxtail Soup Dumpling is served in a rich broth with tapioca enoki mushrooms and salted pork. The bold, meaty flavor makes this true comfort food. The Singapore Slaw with salted plum dressing and peanuts is a mound of shredded cabbage seasoned to a tart perfection. The best course by far was the Turnip Cake covered with steamed eggplant, black bean preserves, and shiitake mushrooms. Each of the vegetable toppings enhanced the flavor of the turnip and the black bean preserves added almost a broth-​like bath.
The larger entrees were also delicious. The Quick Sauté Wild Garlic Shrimp with XO sauce, artichoke, rice, and Indian tomato jam had a spicy, yet not overwhelming, kick. The shrimp were crispy and fresh. The tomato sauce added more of an Italian flavor. The meal seemed like a play on Italian risotto. The Mongolian Lamb Chops were served with glazed bananas, chili, mint, carrot cardamom chutney, and peanut sauce. The odd sweet and spicy mixture took the course beyond the typical lamb chop with mint jelly dish most people are accustomed to.
For dessert, the Warm Chocolate Cake with hazelnut chocolate crumble and a vanilla crème anglaise was heavenly. The rich cake was enhanced by the nutty and vanilla overtones. The Almond Crusted Chocolate And Vanilla Custards were like little pudding cups plated with huckleberry compote and lemon/​apple cider sauce. Though I am an avid chocolate lover, I found the Vanilla Custard much more flavorful.
A dinner at Shang makes for a delightful evening of subdued ambiance and a new, more International take on how the world sees Chinese cuisine.