One thing I love about Shanghai is that new venues open up every day and when that venue relates to some sort of dining experience, I’m doubly excited.
For my birthday, A brought me to the recently opened ‘Hamilton House,’ a French brasserie featuring Chef Philippe Leban and located right off the bund in a 1930s-era Art Deco tower. I don’t have the most favorable opinion of Bund dining, finding it slightly snobbish with sub-par service and food that rarely lives up to its name or price tag; however, perhaps because it’s new or perhaps it was the celebratory ambiance of the evening, but I found Hamilton House supremely delightful.
The brasserie’s menu itself is quite short; however, A and I still found ourselves taken with more items than we could order. I settled on an appetizer of poached eggs with spinach, shallots, and pork belly on a slice of homemade brioche. A’s selection was far healthier – boudin blanc, a freshly made chicken breast sausage. Both were done extremely well. My dish melted in my mouth (the joys of butter) – the brioche had a crispy crust but was still moist and was made more rich by the red wine butter sauce dressing it. The texture of A’s boudin blanc was amazing – less of a sausage and more of a mousse, with a mild flavor enhanced by the tomato and pesto sauces decorating the plate.
For my birthday, A brought me to the recently opened ‘Hamilton House,’ a French brasserie featuring Chef Philippe Leban and located right off the bund in a 1930s-era Art Deco tower. I don’t have the most favorable opinion of Bund dining, finding it slightly snobbish with sub-par service and food that rarely lives up to its name or price tag; however, perhaps because it’s new or perhaps it was the celebratory ambiance of the evening, but I found Hamilton House supremely delightful.
The brasserie’s menu itself is quite short; however, A and I still found ourselves taken with more items than we could order. I settled on an appetizer of poached eggs with spinach, shallots, and pork belly on a slice of homemade brioche. A’s selection was far healthier – boudin blanc, a freshly made chicken breast sausage. Both were done extremely well. My dish melted in my mouth (the joys of butter) – the brioche had a crispy crust but was still moist and was made more rich by the red wine butter sauce dressing it. The texture of A’s boudin blanc was amazing – less of a sausage and more of a mousse, with a mild flavor enhanced by the tomato and pesto sauces decorating the plate.
For our main course, I had the pot au feu of pigeon, a roast pigeon breast in a light broth on top of a fois gras ravioli. A settled on the sea bass over a fennel puree with a creamy sherry reduction. Both were done quite well, though with my fois gras ravioli, the texture of the skin and consistency of the filling made me think more of hearty Chinese dumpling than the creamy Italian ravioli I had expected.
At end the meal, A and I decided to share dessert given how full the rest of our meal had left us. It’s a good thing we did because the apple tarte tatin we ordered was both large and thick – the size of a small personal pizza. I usually order chocolate desserts to fully satisfy sweet cravings, but this tatin gives chocolate fondant a run for its money in terms of how rich it was. The thick halves of caramelized apple were set on a soft, flaky crust whose layers were melded together by the warm syrup of the apple and cold vanilla bean ice cream that topped it. The taste and experience can only be described as a sweet goodness that comes from indulging in a hearty classic dessert on one’s birthday. I enjoyed every bite.
Maybe it was the birthday … maybe it was the company … or maybe it was the anticipation of classic French food after watching Ratatouille … but my dinner at Hamilton House was definitely a highlight in my Shanghai dining experiences and a wonderful way to celebrate my start to a new year.
Hamilton House
137 Fuzhou Lu (near Jiangxi Lu)
福州路137号，近江西路
Shanghai, China
+86 21 6321 0586
http://www.hamiltonhouse.com.cn/
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