Shanghai Delight

Note: Shanghai Delight has ceased operations until further notice

I’ve decided that the best way to judge Shanghai Delight is to see it in the context of the takeaways you find on high streets in the UK, US or Australia. The food is not a patch on the best hawker fare found just around the corner on Jalan Alor or the higher-end restaurants all over the city, but then (and I hope I’m not being naïve here) that isn’t their target market.

The location on Changkat Bukit Bintang certainly implies that they are hoping to entice the resident expatriates who, it must be said, largely feel more comfortable with familiar cuisine and flavours. And, having sampled more than my fair share of ‘English’ Chinese takeaways, I can tell you that Shanghai Delights at least ranks favourably against those abominations.

The rice may be a bit gluggy and the chicken more rubbery than is ideal but the portions are very generous and overall it tastes pretty good. The spring rolls were too oily and the stir-fried vegetables a little bland but an expatriate audience unprepared to brave the experience of roadside dining and used to a Chinese restaurant in the West is unlikely to be disappointed. Although, with this in mind, it is slightly baffling that they have chosen to be halal.

They deliver the food in those fold-up cartons that they use in Manhattan-based movies/tv programs, allowing the imaginative diner to pretend they are an extra on ‘Friends’ or something. A cute touch that means you can save leftovers for the following day when, strangely, the food seemed to taste better.

In many respects, the genius of trying to compete against outlets some 7,000 miles away is to be applauded. It remains to be seen if the cool boxes and convenience of getting your chicken and black bean sauce or beef chow mein delivered to your door is going to hold its own in a city like KL, however, the food has been progressively better the two subsequent times (I’m a sucker for a cute box) I have ordered from Shanghai Delight.

Rating: 2/6