ala shanghai

friday dinner - the two of us arrived at 6 pm but the place was already pretty full.  we had to wait a few minutes for the staff to clear a table - no big deal.  with chinese food we usually order big with the intent that we will nibble on the take home portion, so we did. a cold app, soup dumplings, a veggie dish and two meat dishes.  the cold app, drunken chicken, was on the lackluster side - essentially some cold poached white meat chicken with a hint of alcohol over it - not the most auspicious beginning.  the next courses were far better.  the soup dumplings were great - the broth fatty and unctuous without being overly salty.  the sauteed chinese broccoli with garlic was a vibrant green and, very good,  and a well matched accompaniment to the tasty meat entrees of shreddedporkw garlic sauce and orange chicken (yeah, first visit so we didn't stray too far outside the box - and we did eat a lot of garlic!) total for all the dishes plus one beer and tip was $70. service was brisk, yet polite and the room was impeccably maintained - white linen, spotless place settings and glassware.  for an initial visit i can say the experience was very positive.  my gf, having lived in china for a time, recognized some of the more regional fare that isn't always found stateside so we'll certainly have come back and move around the menu a bit.

saturday lunch. my husband and i went out for a lunch date on a saturday afternoon. neither of us had ever had dim sum and (from the reviews here) we had decided to try ala shanghai. it did not disappoint!

we arrived around 1pm and immediately were seated, honestly we didn't see anyone wait for a table, no matter how big of a party. the staff are extremely efficient and work well together - they had a twelve top cleared and reset (for 8) in less than 5 minutes. definitely impressed. the restaurant is smaller than i was expecting, it can maybe hold 60-70 people max capacity. however, the tables are not crammed on top of each other and you don't feel like you're sitting on your neighbors lap.

we needed a few minutes to decide what we wanted, and the complimentary pot of black tea definitely helped whet our appetites. however, instead of (the standard in asian restaurants of this price bracket) cheesy stainless steel pot, ala shanghai serve theirs in beautiful white porcelain tea pots - a pleasant surprise.

the menu is extensive, with quite a few pages that i know we'll be coming back to taste. we stuck to the dim sum page, as that's what we were excited to try. we orderedporksoup dumplings (6), steamed shrimp dumplings (4), vegetable buns (2), sticky rice shu mai (6), and theporkand leek dumplings (6). our meal was delivered to us within 15 minutes and it was fantastic. my least favorite was the steam shrimp dumplings, as i thought the shrimp was too chewy...however, my husband said that i was "too picky about shrimp." he had no trouble eating the other 3.

the vegetable buns were the large puffy buns filled with bok choy, leek and mushrooms. sticky rice shu mai was a little dry, but it's steamed sticky rice. they were tasty with a little soy sauce.

my absolute favorite were the soup dumplings and the pork/leek dumplings. the soup dumplings had a rich, velvety broth around a perfect bite of pork. mastering the "nibble" to let the soup spill out in your spoon and not down your chin took a few tries, but by my third one it was easy. theporkand leek dumplings were very flavorful and full of stuffing. i would go back just for these two trays.

our bill was just over $30 and we were just a bit over full by the time we left at 1:45. it was worth the hour drive and i can't wait to go again. the only downside to the entire experience is their parking lot. it's a little tiny and convoluted. the restaurant is right passed the old loudon road intersection (after the roundabout) in latham...and we missed it. we ended up pulling into the asian grocery right next door and were lucky enough to pull through into a spot. i will know for next time, but i wouldn't want to see that lot on a busy friday night!

how you going to keep them down on the farm after they've seen paris?. now that i've experienced soup dumplings at joe's shanghai in nyc, i have something to compare ala shanghai's with. i still enjoy them here, (crab &pork$7) but i'm not about to travel 160 miles just to have a larger and slightly more flavorful dumpling.

tonight we also ordered sea scallops w/ baby bok-choy ($20) - sautéed in ginger sauce; and crispy fish filet ($14) - fried flounder filet with spicy & sweet sauce.

the coating on the scallops was a little salty and the several that i had still had a grain of sand/grit. the baby bok-choy was delicious if not difficult to pick up with chopsticks.

the flounder was plentiful but mostly coating. there was no opportunity to actually taste fish. the sauce was not overly sweet and only the mildest amount of spice could be detected.

service was polite, as usual, and efficient, except for the delay in bringing out the flounder. however, the delay was recognized by management and an apology and explanation was offered without our having to comment.