Christmas cuisine to warm your heart and satiate your stomach
Christmas is coming and the city is getting into a festive spirit. Here are some fabulous dining ideas where you can enjoy Christmas with family and friends.
M on the Bund
For Christmas, M on the Bund is offering a festive lunch, afternoon tea and delightful dinner menu.
A wonderful Christmas lunch starts with mulled wine or hot spiced apple juice. For appetizers, you can try M’s clam chowder with fragrant crab oil and spiced croutons, turkey and pistachios, or seared scallops with cucumber roll filled with pickled fish skin, apple and celery.
There’s also turkey with roasted onion and herb stuffing, and baked ham served with vegetables and cranberry sauce. You can also try the fillet of beef with spinach and mashed potatoes, or a rich risotto with pumpkin and nuts.
A delightful Christmas platter
As for afternoon tea, you can drop in anytime from 2:30pm to 4:30pm throughout December. The set menu has all the Christmas classics like crunchy ginger bread, stollen filled with marzipan, a chocolaty yule log and turkey and ham sandwiches. And don't miss the classic Pavlova and steaming pots of tea.
The afternoon tea set at M on the Bund
Stollen filled with marzipan
Celebrating Christmas with your beloved ones on the Bund is full of romance. The restaurant offers a wide range of choices for dinner. Main courses include crispy suckling pig and pork sausage with braised cabbage and pumpkin, sweet potato gnocchi with cashew nut crud and braised duck with walnuts and pomegranate. The Christmas dessert platter has all your favorites, including pudding, stollen, brandy ice cream, pavlova and ginger bread.
Reservations are highly recommended.
The festive crispy suckling pig
If you go:
Opening hours: 11:30am-2:30pm for brunch, 2:30pm-4:30pm for afternoon tea, 5-9:30pm for dinner
Address: 7/F, 20 Guangdong Rd
Tel: 6350-9988
Chua Lam's Dim Sum
Chua Lam’s Dim Sum recently opened its first restaurant in Shanghai.
For Christmas, kids can try the lifelike animal-shaped dim sum series. Through the window of the big open kitchen, you can see sea turtles, squids and gold fish buns in stacks of bamboo baskets. They’re delicious and stuffed with shrimp, pork and fish.
The pineapple bun with butter shaped like a sea turtle
One of the highlights is the signature barbecued pork buns stuffed with chashao (pork skewered with long forks). The chef makes the dim sum by hand and the barbecued pork is seasoned with homemade hawthorn sauce. Three buns sell for 29 yuan (US$4.4).
Freshness and hand making are keys to our success, according to the restaurant chefs.
Squid buns stuffed with shrimp
The roast pigeon is a must-try. Dipped in a homemade sauce made of more than 10 kinds of spices — including anise, cinnamon and leaves — the pigeon is roasted close to the fire for 30-second intervals. The chefs make sure every part is evenly roasted and richly browned.
In order to keep the tender and juicy texture of the pigeon, the restaurant chooses fresh pigeons with strict weight, shape and age standards, according to the chefs. A roast pigeon sells for 59 yuan.
Other recommended dishes include fried spring rolls with egg whites, steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce and basil, and pan-seared glutinous rice topped with eel fish.
A meal isn't a meal if it isn't topped off with dessert. Try the chilled mango cream with pomelo and pears stewed with dried tangerine peel.
Steamed rice topped with homemade green onion and ginger sauce
If you go:
Opening hours: 10am-10pm
Address:1/F, No. 6, 123 Guangdong Rd
Tel: 6333-5789
Element Fresh Vintage
This Christmas, come and celebrate the holiday season with your friends at Element Fresh’s newly upgraded brand, Vintage.
On Christmas Eve, its Xintiandi branch offers not only a set menu but also some surprising gifts. The set menu for two is 488 yuan.
Start your dining experience with appetizers like the trio plate and seabass salad. The trio plate is one of the most popular dishes, featuring a foie gras pate served on a chia seed cracker, roasted beef with crispy kimchi chips and a papadum bowl filled with hummus.
For your main course, try the seafood jambalaya and roasted chicken with truffles As a festive highlight, the roasted chicken is served with traditional stuffing and topped with baby carrots, chestnuts, broccoli and tomatoes For dessert, the pumpkin brulee is a great choice. The vanilla brulee is infused with pumpkin sauce, served with a strawberry snowman and gingerbread cookie.
The outdoor dinning area of Element Fresh Vintage (Lujiazui branch)
If you go:
• Xintiandi branch
Opening hours: 9am-12pm
Address: 181 Taicang Rd
Tel: 6326-0950
• Lujiazui branch
Opening hours: 9am-12pm
Address: 1/F, 168 Lujiazuihuan Rd, Pudong
Tel: 5047-2060
Cachet
At Langham, the restaurant welcomes you to celebrate the holiday season. Besides the dinner buffet and brunch, you can also try the set menu.
Roasted turkey rolls
Start with an appetizer like creamy pumpkin soup with confit duck legs, which will warm your stomach. If you're a seafood lover, try the the pan-fried scallops. The festive roasted turkey rolls paired with mulled wine are sure to please as well.
Christmas pudding with brandy vanilla sauce is certainly worth a try.
There are also creative activities, including Christmas cake making and live shows.
Christmas pudding with brandy vanilla sauce
If you go:
Opening hours: 11:30am-10pm
Address: 99 Madang Rd
Tel: 2330-2288
