Shanghai River 滬江海派料理

Shanghai River is the only upscale and "high end" Shanghai cuisine restaurant in Richmond. To me, their popularity started due to being the first restaurant in Richmond to make xiao long bao and wontons open for the public to see. Furthermore, people (well, larger groups of four to eight) come to Shanghai River to celebrate a birthday or for a nice "atmosphere" dinner, since on a Monday evening there were a few birthday dinners.

Shanghai River is also quite large but the seating arrangements are a bit tight and not very comfortable when the restaurant gets busy.

FRESH ORANGE JUICE ($6.00) COCA COLA ($3.00). 

Shanghai River is one of the few three or four Chinese restaurants in Richmond that serves fresh squeezed juice. Also, the ceramic teapot looks cute, anything different than the usual white teapots are always nice.

PEKING DUCK TWO COURSE MEAL ($38.80). 

FIRST COURSE, PEKING DUCK SKIN AND CREPE WITH HOISON AND GREEN ONIONS.

Now this is a must read. Is this peking duck or peking squab? Peking what? This is half a duck. There are crunchy, crispy and soggy pieces. This is half of an old duck that has been re-deep fried. Why is there an old duck that has been sitting in the kitchen? I have no clue. Maybe a table ordered some cold cut appetizer plate, no idea.

For any restaurant to serve this as the first course of peking duck is pretty much an embarrassment. I am all save the children in Africa, do not waste food, and I definitely do not speak up, but I had to this time. When I did, the waitress assured us that this is the first course, correctly made, and the duck requires to be deep fried for an extremely crunchy skin. What? Did she just say that? Yeah, I was pretty annoyed but no need to ask her again. I then ask the manager why the pieces are so dry as well as hard, and it seems like this is only half a duck. He immediately offers to cancel the order (which is very nice of him) and takes it back to the kitchen. When he comes out, he tells us it was a "bad" duck and apologizes for the kitchen trying to re-deep fry an old duck. We still wanted one but they were sold out, so I guess that is why they gave us an old duck. I just think it is stupid for a restaurant to do this. Do not add more shrimp crackers to make the dish look bigger and definitely do not try to pull a fast one on me.

STEAMED CHICKEN SOUP WITH WONTONS ($16.50). 

Oh, hello Mr.WORM. I guess the kitchen did not rinse the vegetables properly. So far, the first two dishes have not been a great start eh The soup has a light salty (in a good way) clear chicken broth and the wontons are freshly made. The wonton has a good amount of tender tasting meat and also plenty of wrap for those who like the skin.

SECOND COURSE, PEKING DUCK LETTUCE WRAP ($17.80).

Since we did not have the first course of peking duck, I thought having the second course kind of defeats the purpose. I mean, the skin is the best part right? Despite not using the same meat from the old re-deep fried duck (since restaurants never give the full amount of duck meat in the second course), the meat tastes dry, overly seasoned, salty and not very tasty. Shanghai River is supposed to be known for their peking duck too. Bad night?

PAN FRIED PORK CHEEK AND VEGETABLES ($16.80). 

I did not really have an appetite after trying the first three dishes; however, being the carnivore that I am and straight up just a piggy, I had to try this dish. The pork cheek slices are larger than most Chinese restaurants which I prefer, and have a pleasant chewiness while also retaining the shape. Furthermore, the sauce tastes very light and although a bit greasy, it is neither too oily nor salty. As for the rest of the ingredients, there are slices of onion, green onion and Chinese mushroom.

SWEET AND SOUR ROCK COD ($32.80). 

The fish is a previously frozen and deboned rock cod that is fried. As for the sauce, it tastes very light and not overly sweet, although it does lack that nice slight tanginess. In addition, despite that the fish is not overcooked, the meat tastes dry as well as stiff since it was previously frozen. Comparing the sweet and sour rock cod to Jin Jiang Shanghai and Shanghai House's, both of those taste better than Shanghai River's.

2 1/2LB GINGER AND GREEN ONION SAUCE CRAB ($43.80). 

I wanted to try the cream and butter sauce since it is one of my favourites; however, the manager mentioned that the restaurant does not make those well and possibly hinted the sauce could taste bland (which is very nice of him, most likely due to the peking duck and worm incident). The sauce has a slight green onion and ginger flavour and the consistency is not too thick. However, there was a pool of water on the bottom and the cook could have used more heat.

STEAMED PORK BUN, XIAO LONG BAO ($7.50).

The xiao long baos were forgotten and we asked for them twenty minutes before closing. Not going to lie, I thought the XLBs were sold out like the pan fried buns and was worrying. The XLBs look fluffy and tastes juicy; however, not juicy enough for me to take photos like I usually do (as in soupy). The skin has a thin layer and the meat tastes very smooth, tasty, tender and melts in the mouth.

POSITIVES
- Tasty XLBs
- Manager took the responsibility and knew the kitchen messed up with the intentions of getting away with it

NEGATIVES

- Dishes taste average or below

- Not worth the price IMO

- Service is usually a miss

- Peking duck incident

LITTLE THINGS

- Meal was not worth $170.00, one of the biggest wastes of money I have ever spent on dinner

- On the last visit, we had no service and was only one of the only three seated tables in the restaurant. When we asked for the leftovers to be packed, it was packed carelessly and everything leaked out from the containers. To the bag with a hole. To the car. It was not fun throwing everything out and cleaning the car

Food: 2.5/5 (price wise 2/5)
Service: 2.5/5