Weets Eats: Feel like a royal at Shang Palace

Ever since the Michelin Guide was launched in Singapore, some restaurants have made concerted efforts to get noticed.

Sometimes the restaurant gets spruced up, menus are updated, or a new chef comes in.

Shang Palace at Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore has done all three.

It may not necessarily be chasing stars, but the hotel has undergone a physical transformation, and the updated decor is brighter and modern.

There is also a new executive Chinese chef at Shang Palace.

Chef Mok Kit Keung was most recently the executive Chinese chef of Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong, and took care of the two Michelin-starred Shang Palace there.

The food at Shang Palace has always been reliable, traditional and stoic. With Chef Mok, the presentation is purposeful, and you will get Chinese food that will not intimidate anyone.

The good thing about a creative chef is that diners can order off the menu and the chef can easily adapt

The braised whole tomato filled with seasonal vegetable and bamboo fungus ($14 a serving) may be a vegetarian option on the menu, but you can ask for it with chicken consomme.

The chicken version is sweet, tart and absolutely addictive. Another dish you will not find on the menu is the stir-fried prawns skewered with seasonal vegetable.

The prawn was perfectly cooked and the black truffle perfumed the dish. Check the price with the server when you order this.

The baked sliced abalone and Inaniwa noodles with cheese ($48 a serving) is a visual dish and available on the menu.

While I love cheese, I am not a fan when used in Chinese food. As expected, the cheese overpowered everything else.

It is a little sad that the final resting place for the wok-fried French quail fillet with white pepper and lemongrass ($36) was a nest of fried onions.

That aside, the bird was delicious, as was the nest. The meat is tender and flavourful.

My favourite item is not the prettiest, nor is it on the menu.

The double-boiled chicken broth with sea conch and fish maw looks plain but there is so much depth with each sip.

No Cantonese restaurant worth its reputation can afford to have bad soup, and Shang Palace does not fail here.

In fact, if I were a Michelin inspector, I would give the restaurant a star just for this soup.

Shang Palace, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore

Open for lunch on weekdays noon to 2.30pm; weekends and
public holidays 11am to 3pm open for dinner daily 6pm to 10pm
Tel: 6213-4473